ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 12, 1997 TAG: 9702120115
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MATT CONN
HOW APPROPRIATE that the O.J. Simpson civil-trial verdict came down as President Clinton fulfilled his constitutional duties by presenting the State of the Union address.
The words of our president were falling on deaf ears as America watched and waited, again, for the mockery we call justice, in this case, to hand down a verdict. So reminiscent of the cheers of support during O.J.'s famous white Bronco slow-speed chase.
The true state of the union is not in how soon or how well our children can read, how well we can defend democracy around the globe and protect our freedoms at home, or how quickly we can reduce the nation's debt to better our children's children.
Rather, the state of America has been aptly exposed by this verdict and the 2 1/2-year carnival that led to it. It showed Americans are transfixed by sensationalism, speculation and by who wins and who loses, and not concerned with truth, values and just plain doing what's right.
The Menendez brothers, Tanya Harding, O.J. and countless talk-show subjects continue to be the latest in a growing line of tabloid topics that fight for America's attention. Are we really that shallow and mindless that we actually care about these things? Do we really care what the latest swimsuit styles are, or who the hottest hunk is? Are our lives so pitiful and boring that we need to boost ourselves up by comparing ourselves to wrecks of society? Why are we so mesmerized by everything that doesn't matter?
We put so much attention into what we as Americans place on pedestals that we don't bother to look down to see the pedestals themselves are tattered, cracked and in need of repair. The very foundation of America is jeopardized.
I once heard some advice that was hard to take: "We fill ourselves with noise so we can't hear our own voice." It was hard to take because I knew it was true. We pay more attention to the things that don't matter in our lives and ignore or miss the important things happening in our own back yards. We must rid ourselves of the dumbing noises that have no effect on our individual lives, and pay more attention to the things that do.
We know we need to help more in the community, we know we need to spend more time with our children, we know we need to be better to ourselves. We know, yet we do nothing. Think how much time we all waste filling our minds with courtroom sidebars, trailer-park dinner theater acted out on the talk shows, poor excuses for what's called quality prime-time television programs, and left- and right-biased radio shows, instead of searching for the answers to the question we are asking ourselves.
Alas, searching would be too hard. We just spoon the easy stuff into our mouths like a toddler learning to eat. Someone else will clean up the mess, and we call ourselves full. We don't care what the food is, as long as it tastes good.
Well, we should start caring because as the old saying goes, "we are what we eat." We are also what we feed our brains. After looking around at our society and seeing what is considered important, I think America has a bad case of indigestion, a bad taste in our mouths, and it looks like we're out of Tums and Tic-Tacs.
Matt Conn, of Boones Mill, is director of public relations at Ferrum College.
LENGTH: Medium: 64 linesby CNB