America Needs An Enemy

I wrote this to a friend in China, so I thought I'd repost it here.

I think America feels it needs an enemy, doesn't matter who or what. This is just my opinion, but when you look through American history, that's how we always are.

The British were the enemies, and we broke away from English rule. Then Native Americans were all enemies, so White people massacred them and stole their lands. Then the Mexicans were enemies and we stole half of Mexico from them (most Americans don't realize this).

Then when we couldn't find anyone to hate, we hated ourselves, and the Civil War between North and South broke out. It wasn't originally over slavery like schools teach, but they were fighting because the South didn't want to be part of America anymore due to economic reasons.

Then it was any immigrant, like when famine drove the Irish to flee to America in droves, people despised all Irish and wouldn't give them jobs, then it was Jewish people fleeing Russia and coming in boatloads to America.

Then we had the two World Wars and we had a real enemy. Hate Germans! Hate Nazis! Hate Japanese!

Then the Cold War and it was Russia who was the enemy, and any Communist sympathizer was certainly a spy! Then Korea, then Vietnam for no other reason than they supported Russia. Really stupid wars!

Then Russia was our friend and people wanted something else to be the enemy, so we went back to hating immigrants, mostly Mexicans. Now it's Islamic extremists, and America's raring to go to war with anyone, even countries that have little to do with the attack on 9-11. Now it seems that's all cleared up, and people are looking at warlords in Africa, or threats from North Korea, anything!

We're willing to turn anyone, even ourselves, into enemies. Blacks versus Whites! Republicans versus Democrats! North versus South! Perhaps it's because we're a competitive society. We love ball games because we can cheer on our team. You can't like both the Yankees and the Dodgers in baseball, and if you cheer for both teams, you're a traitor to each. We're driven by seeing things in black and white, enemies and allies, right and wrong, good and evil. Those who appease to both sides, toe the line, sit on the fence, are seen as weak.

America needs an enemy! We love having a superhero who saves the day. We thrive when we can pretend we're the good guy, the hero, Captain America fighting evil around the world! And it doesn't matter what we deem to be "evil."

Trombones Are Blue: A Loud Look Into Synesthesia

An A is red.
It'll always be red.
That's what they said.
But at least for me
It's just an A I see.
That's what's in my head.
"It's not that form of synesthesia," I said.

Yet play on a horn or a violin
And suddenly the fireworks begin.
The A is orange, B-flat always yellow
Unless it is played by a tuba fellow.
Then it turns into purplish-green.
At least that's what I've seen.

My trombone is blue,
My favorite hue,
That's why I love to play an F.
For F is blue too
And when blue meets blue,
All is at peace in the bass clef.

In band, it's a kaleidoscope,
A tripping-out rainbow of hope
Smothering me in crayon-chaos cacophony.
At each rehearsal, I drown in the anomaly.
Each instrument is a hue that colors each note,
Like Skittles bubbling out of a singer's throat.

Birdsong is yellow, forests are blue.
(Don't let the green leaves fool you!)
So when birds fill the woody scene,
It all turns into brilliant green
Like the leaves in the trees,
And I hear a clarinet in the breeze.

They say my world is unique,
But it seems all so bleak
To imagine autumn not being brassy
Or red not sounding classy.
I see and hear the world differently than you,
And in my world, trombones are blue.