Metaphors have frittered away from me. To be fair, they hadn’t much choice. In conveying messages to contemporaries over the past few years, whether speaking, emailing, texting or DM’ing, I’ve developed a necessary plain spokenness, lest the meaning be misconstrued, misunderstood or confusing. Fallout from this mind-bending prosaic language is living at a level of plain thinking, another aspect of old age (I’m 78) that I wish I’d been warned about.
While watching Joe Biden perform at the now-famous CNN debate in June, I came unstrung in the grip of knowing that Biden’s plain-thinking, plain-speaking style was killing any chance of beating Trump in the November election.
“Oh. my. god. He’s like my neighbor Ray,” I thought. Ray, who used to converse like a college professor and remember your name like you were his student, but now he talks only sports and weather. Ray, who cannot grasp metaphors unless they’re baseball sayings he’s used all his life, like “on the ball” or “step up to the plate” when he motions for you to exit the elevator before him.
On an unsually quiet afternoon, that is to say, no sirens, no gas-powered lawn mowers, no garbage trucks beep, beep, beeping as they backed out of the alley, I was studying David Montero’s new book, The Stolen Wealth of Slavery: A Case for Reparations. My book group decided to read two chapters at a time in order to absorb a history none of us had ever known. The premise that the intellect is stimulated through awe and wonder has proven true in this group, with this book. Montero’s research thoroughly tracks how the free labor of Black people in the South became the basis of the entire US economy and her dominance over world markets. His writing is loaded with similes and metaphors.
“The energies of three million enslaved people were organized into an industry, industrial enterprises were increasingly fertilized by slavery, and the output of the system was shipped across the world.”
(All of a sudden, a swift “click-clum” in the room interrupted my reading. I turned and saw a ragged chunk of dried-up old paint on the floor, fallen from the ceiling. Surely there’s a metaphor here. Chip off the old block? Chip on your shoulder? Paint the town red? Naw. Nothing. I got nothing.)
In the chapter, “The Union Must Perish,” Montero included a white abolitionist’s account of his travels to the slave market of Virginia. Published in the New York Daily Tribune in 1850, part of it reads:
“…this was the most heart-sickening sight I ever saw. I involuntarily exclaimed, “Is it possible that this is permited in my own native country—the country I have loved so well, and whose institutions I have exultingly pointed to as an example for the world. If this is Christianity, don’t call me a Christian.”
The emotons expressed are precisely what I feel now that the Trump-appointed United States Supreme Court ruled that the President is unbound from the rule of law and can freely engage in criminal activity. Our Christian Nationalist Supreme Court looks forward to the next president closing the borders to anyone but White Christian Europeans, slashing gay rights, civil rights, and women’s rights, and requiring biblical education in public schools. Echoing the 1850 abolitionist, if this is Christianity, don’t call me a Christian.
There ain’t no metaphor for that.
Regan Burke 
Hi Regan,I have been asked to supply my Word Press password. They say I am not responding from davis-steel@sbcglobal.net . . . but I am. I do have a Word Press password but that is associated with . . .another different email address. And that’s only for people who want to subscribe. I’m confused. Maybe they think I’m impersonating Al Hippensteel. I’d rather impersonate Ed Sullivan. Much more fun. Some day, I’ll have to tell you about my letter from the IRS. Here Al, jump through some hoops so we know that you are really you.
Al Hippensteel901 S. Plymouth Ct, #1005 Chicago, IL 60605312.939.8888davis-steel@sbcglobal.net
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Biden’s plain-thinking, plain-speaking style was killing any chance of beating Trump in the November election.
Regan, i’m not sure why you would feel so matter-of-fact to write this. I disagree with this statement.
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HI Regan, Ouch! We have to think positive and be optimistic that two things will happen: 1. That Joe Biden will soon willingly drop out of the race, and give good, honest reasons. 2. That the common sense of the American electorate will finally emerge and destroy the former president in November, sending him to his trials, and eventually to several years in jail. No metaphors there, just optimism and common sense. Cheers! Tony
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Very well said, Regan.
I used to love the 4th of July and the story behind it. Then, when I got more active in politics and civil rights / civil liberties, it rang more hollow. Then I read Frederick Douglass’ speech “What to the slave is the Fourth of July.” The complexity of America being freedom for some but not for all, wealth for some built off the backs of many, pushed my views of our origin story to become more complex.
These last few years —and especially the last few weeks— have made it very hard to celebrate America’s independence today. It feels more like Thanksgiving or Christmas after a loved one has died. You just want the day to be over. You want to get through it and hope (even pray) it may feel less bad next year.
So, today this is my prayer— that the American experiment in democracy is not yet over. That we step back from the brink and give self-government another chance. That we don’t sit idly by while 6 people in black robes nullify the best of our founding principles. I pray today for the country America has long had the promise of becoming.
To me, that feels like the patriotic thing to do.
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That piece of ceiling that fell while you were reading? It cries out for Chicken Little. “The sky is falling”. On this Independence Day, we’ll be hearing a lot of “I love this country” and “God Bless America” and as a veteran, I might even get a “Thanks for your service.” These things annoy me more and more as I age. I did not serve in the U.S. Navy for anyone. I did it because I was required to. I am proud of doing what Im asked to do. But, I am not proud to be an American. That’s not an accomplishment of mine. I’m lucky that I was born a white man in America. But, not proud, especially not now. There’s not a country I’d rather live in. But that just speaks to my inherent laziness and enjoyment of riches.
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oye vey. As my ancestors used to say. It is all beyond comprehension. We have lost the dream.
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tRump’s boys
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Thank you, Regan. Alas, you have captured exactly what I have been feeling for the past week. I think I will have to go find that book your group is reading. Hope you are having a good 4th, in spite of everything. Esther
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Hi Regan,
You’ve expressed my feelings perfectly. Thank you for writing this.
Maureen Schoenbeck
(Friend of Jonathan & Sandy)
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yes facts are the enemy of metaphor. It’s best not to conflate facts with truth but we don’t all the time.
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Since 2015, the continual atrocities of american society have prompted me to say over and over ‘OMG, this is not my country’ thinking that the worst thing possible has happened. and then something worse happens. To believe we hit bottom on Jan 6 is laughable. We keep going lower and lower. The county has felt in freefall over the past week. Is it possible things will stabilize soon? Doubt it.
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The weather is so gorgeous that I’m out walking around all the time. Everyone friend, neighbor, acquaintance I see greets me with exclamatory fear. And I return the greeting in escalating language.
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Regan, Regardless of one’s position on reparations, this is another dandy essay.
reb
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