OCR Text |
Show Needed: A New Voice of Leadership (This is the first in a series of articles by prominent Americans giving their views on The Condition Condi-tion of the American Spirit today. The writers include social critic Marya Mannes, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., civil rights leader lead-er Bayard Rustin, Father James J. Kavanaugh, novelist Saul Mellow, Mel-low, Rev. Billy Graham and psychoanalyst psy-choanalyst Erich Fromm. The Chronicle features this series by special arrangement with News-day, News-day, Inc.) At a suburban movie theater, eight unaccompanied children from 6 to 10 years old see "Bonnie and Clyde" and follow with dazzled eyes their bloody search for identity through murder. In a hotel ballroom, leaders of culture sit on gold chairs and listen to panelists conclude that culture is part of life and must be supported. sup-ported. In a bedroom strewn with mattresses, mat-tresses, six teenagers get high on pot, adrift in fantasy. Kill Whitey , In city ghettos black militants yell "Kill Whitey!" and not too far away white youths hurl rocks at civil-rights marchers and scream, "Christ was white!" Teachers revolt, priests revolt, citizens revolt for reasons as diverse di-verse as they are complex or obvious. ob-vious. An increasing number of Americans Amer-icans view the war in Vietnam with emotions ranging from doubt to horror, while other millions believe in military solutions leading to victory. vic-tory. Why? Why this ferment bordering on anarchy in the richest and most powerful nation on earth? Why, even among the passive or apathetic, apa-thetic, this pervasive unease? I think it is largely because a lot of things we used to believe are no longer so, and because our wish to cling to them on the part of some and our wish to discard them on the part of others has produced a civil war of the American Amer-ican soul, with tragic casualties in sight. It is a cold war on many fronts. Between the young and the old, between be-tween rich and poor, between black and white, between Right and Left, between law and anarchy, between reason and violence. No Postponement On all these fronts the war has become a hot war because its conclusion con-clusion the future of our society can no longer be postponed. In fact, the war is the disastrous result re-sult of postponement. For years during which the fabric of our society so-ciety has been fraying and rotting, most Americans have been clothing themselves in a series of assumptions, assump-tions, whether liberal or conservative, conserva-tive, which are just as threadbare when exposed to reality. Here are some of them, with their shadow-questions: Money buys security. (Against crime? Against pollution? Against congestion? Against addiction?) American Dream The pursuit of happiness is the great American dream. (Whose happiness? Your or theirs? Can the individual be happy in an unhappy un-happy society? Can he remain well in a sick one?) Welfare takes care of the poor. (Does it? At what cost to us and to them?) Under free competition, the consumer con-sumer gets what he wants. (Does he? Or are his wants manipulated to large extent by the great Sellers? Sel-lers? Whose Morality? Democracy and capitalism are the pillars of a free society and therefore morally right. (Right for whom? At what stage of development? develop-ment? In what part of the world? Whose morality?) Socialism and communism are morally evil and therefore threaten our existence. (Because their ideas are stronger than ours? Because they use force and we don't? Don't we? If we are both strong and morally right, what are we afraid of?) Prime Function Man's prime function is as provider, pro-vider, woman's as homemaker. (Does either of these functions fill their lives or complete their beings? be-ings? Are these still valid images for intelligent young people in a society demanding their involvement? involve-ment? Everybody should have higher education. ed-ucation. (Even when he doesn't want it? Even if his talents lie elsewhere? Even if the education itself is outdated?) And so it goes, in those American minds not closed to doubt by doctrine doc-trine and dogma, by smugness and complacency, or by the dangerous incapacity to put themselves into the minds and hearts of others. A Sickness But to most of us now, nothing seems stable, nothing certain in the bewildering, tormented chaos of the present except close human relationships rela-tionships and a love of country which makes its present convulsions convul-sions even more painful. For they are symptoms of a sickness as yet undiagnosed. Doctors insist that a national health plan would be "socialized medicine" while an acute and growing shortage of physicians, nurses, and hospital facilities leaves leav-es an increasing number of Americans Amer-icans without adequate care. Labor unions demand higher and higher wages while standards of workmanship in many trades fall lower and lower. (Who hasn't spoken or heard this phrase: "They don't care anymore"?) Where To? All over the country the conservatives con-servatives bemoan the lost values of an earlier and simpler America while liberals are begining to wonder won-der where the line can be held between be-tween equal rights and equal lawlessness. law-lessness. Where does "law and order" become repressive force? Where does freedom become anarchy? an-archy? There is, alas, nobody to tell them. There are plenty of voices telling them different things but no real voice of leadership in the nation clarifying the issues, demanding de-manding of Americans the best that is in them, requiring of them the kind of effort and restraint without which no civilized society can endure. en-dure. Faith of Youth No less so than any other form of government, a democracy reflects its leadership. And when that leadership loses the trust and heart and will of its people especially of its youth deep divisions splinter splin-ter and weaken the national core. And what of the wise men of society the poets and philosophers, philoso-phers, the scientists and artists, those who through their creative insight have so often shown us the truth long before political leaders and the people themselves have perceived it? With a few notable exceptions, the intellectual community has helped to compound our spiritual chaos. We are told by many voices that standards no longer apply, that there is no good or evil, right or wrong; that the function of the artist art-ist is to express himself rather than communicate with others, others, that it is enough for him to reflect the violence and anarchy in our life without providing a vision vis-ion of a better one. In the name of a culture where no distinction is made between the amateur and the professional, between the serious ser-ious worker and the doodling exhibitionist, ex-hibitionist, between shock for effect ef-fect and the shock of truth, we are told that what is new is important and what was past is' dead. We are f told (by our government as well) f that what the average citizen ( doesn't understand is good for him. I New Resolution ' The state of American spirit? I would say it was in turmoil, frustration, frus-tration, doubt and suspension; waiting wait-ing for . a brave and enlightened voice not only to acknowledge its anguish but to lead it forward into new resolve. The American spirit is capable of anything; including the self-disa-plines and generous instincts wnicn have produced the finest hours fl our history as a nation. If qualities are not soon evoked'J" violence -which has always been so near the surface of the American soul will take their place and pe come its chronic climate. For tn . all of us guilty or innocent, wai ; or white, rich or poor, conservau i or liberal will pay bitterly. j (C) 1967, Newsday, Inc- j |