After discharging my democratic duty on Saturday, I came home and picked up Wide Awake, by David Levithan.
What an apt choice, for an election day.
The book is set in the (hopefully) not-too-distant future, the day after the first gay Jewish president of the USA has been voted in. In this future world, the war and the terror and the fear got very very bad. It got so bad that finally people said 'stop'. And then came the Jesus Revolution, where the answer to the ultimate question (What Would Jesus Do?) was answered. The answer was, Jesus would wave around the love, the compassion, the understanding. Regardless of who you are. There's no 'unless' that comes after 'love thy neighbour'.
So it was the Christians who saved the day, in the end. And other people joined them in their
message of love and peace and tolerance. And so the gay Jewish president was elected.
Except some official people in Kansas didn't like that (because no matter how good things get, there's always going to be some redneck fuckers out there), and they demanded a recount. So Stein (gayjewishpresidentelect) asks everyone who voted for him to come to Kansas and prove it. So they did. Millions and millions of them.
And I thought about that, sitting in the sun reading. And I thought about how excited I get when I watch the West Wing, and how it makes me so goddamn proud to be an American, even though a) I'm not an American and b) I spend most of my time spitting vitriol at the current American government. And I thought about how I felt when I voted.
And I felt sad. I wish there was a politician or political party in this country that I could get that excited about. I wish there was someone I believed in so utterly that I'd drop everything and go to Kansas just to show the world that I care.
Anyway, this wasn't meant to turn into a rant. So stop reading this and go read books by David Levithan. He has an awesome ability to tell you about how crap our world is, not by whinging about it, but by showing you how great the world would be if things were different. It's a positive and beautiful way of trying to change the world.
3 comments:
I know that feeling of pseudo-American patriotism from watching West Wing - and the lack of passion around this weekend's election.
And I just ordered myself a copy of the book (not that I'm lacking reading material at the moment) - and thus shall hold you responsible if I don't enjoy it (which is unlikely)
I've only recently discovered West Wing, and it makes me feel the same thumping down to earth afterwards. I want a politician who isn't just the least objectionable one around!
Admiration for Bartlett, Santos and Stein aside, as far as I know the Australian idiom is still "go AND read books".
No dinner for you tonight!
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