Phallic symbols and America

Born down in a dead man’s town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
End up like a dog that’s been beat too much
Till you spend half your life just covering up

I am not sure why the opening lyrics to Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born in the USA’ are whistling in my ears this morning. Perhaps, like my recent entry, I am thinking about the fallen, their potential successes, how great they might have been had others thought or behaved differently.

Imagine, in ancient times, instead of peoples busy with conquest and power

They focused on collaboration,

Instead of the futility of war,

Of building trenches, they built houses

And just got on.

 

Our primitive urge to compete for whatever can be fought-for,

Our desire to squabble over the smallest article of land or possession is what leads to our downfall.

Showing-off;

Look at my intercontinental ballistic missile – it is bigger than yours;

 

If Freud could see us now, he would be laughing at the priapic posturing of America, North Korea and most recently Iran.

Sabre rattling.

 

And so too in the workplace.

 

Instead of letting others get on getting on,

There are folk whose egos are a point of instability,

Who care more about their tiny patch of land, or office or empire

Than they successful outcome of their people.

 

Is this inevitable?

If it is, we are doomed.

 

Yet, in 1962 when the generals were shouting at JFK to drop the bomb,

He held-back;

Admittedly the assassin’s bullet the following year did not spare him, but he spared us.

And,

Stanislav Petrov

who opted to ignore the Soviet nuclear missile early warning system

Telling him the Americans were attacking

And who was later vindicated

As it was a glitch,

Sunlight reflecting off satellites that almost caused the end of the world in 1983.

 

There are folk out there who will sacrifice themselves for the cause,

Who will put the people, humanity before their own fear of extinction.

 

Let’s celebrate them

And downplay the others.

 

 

Photo of Petrov: By Queery-54 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6239402 6

Born In The U.S.A. (Remastered) lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC