All Clear after Security Alert at White House… that was the headline from a Reuters article this morning. It talked about the fact that the White House was temporarily shut down for the third time in one day due to somebody leaving behind a mysterious package. Same thing happened about two weeks ago, and last week they arrested that guy, Brian Lee Patterson for jumping the fence for the third time. Granted, Patterson seemed to be a half-bubble off plumb and reportedly was trying to warn the president about something. But, I think that Brian and all the packages seem to be sending a message.
I find it very interesting and almost soothing that the White House in all of its bluster is brought to its knees with empty boxes. Brian’s quote as he dodged Secret Service officers I also found to be dripping with irony: “I have intelligence information for the President. I’m not afraid of you.” He was of course referring to the Secret Service men, but taking the liberty of taking ihis statement out of context, I think it can apply to over half of Americans now in reference to the President. Could this not also be the same message that three or four careless tourists have intentionally conveyed with empty boxes in the last few weeks.
An association with Kos’ book, Crashing the Gates comes to my mind. I haven’t read it yet, and from what I understand it really has nothing to do with this train of thought. But, as I am want to do, a snarky little fantasy springs to my mind (and mind you, I’m not advocating anyone actually do this and risk imprisonment). Just suppose that everyone who had a thought or idea that they felt the president ought to know about would simply place it in a box and leave it at the White House. It seems to me that this is really about the only way that one person might be heard by this administration. If enough people left their packages of ideals out front of the White House, BushCo would come to a grinding halt in short order. Or… they would install “cardboard detectors” along the length of Pennsylvania Avenue, and Bush would simply grind everything up and use it as mulch for the rose garden…
What would be the contents of your box? Would you enclose a condolence card for America? Perhaps the name of a loved one whose blood was needlessly spilled in the sands of Iraq, or maybe the name of an innocent Iraqi whose blood was also needlessly spilled. Or, perhaps you would send a small piece of moldy sheetrock from the ninth Ward in New Orleans. I think mine would just be an empty box… symbolic of six years worth of empty rhetoric, empty promises, and empty threats. The empty ones, I think are the ones that they fear the most…
I feel very tired tonight, but as Dave Letterman used to say “it’s a good kind of tired…” I really am beginning to think that we have turned the corner on this domestic terrorism war leveled at the hearts and minds of the citizens of America by its own government.
My other question tonight is, what are you going to do when the war is over? For the first time in a long time I think I can see an end to this insanity and the Bush administration appears to be crumbling before my very eyes more and more every day. I always jokingly said that when it was over I would hang up my mouse, and Photoshop no more… and just go back to playing video games. But, the more that I think about it, I think I have been changed by this particular war and my life will never be the same. I find myself more alive and yearning for other options. How about you?