

Robinson: A fairy tale about America

I’ve always loved fairy tales, mainly because they have happy endings.

No matter how bleak things may be in the story, things turn out well at the end. I guess that’s why fairy tales are normally so far-fetched that they couldn’t possibly be true (at least that’s the general consensus).

I’ve never really tried to write a fairy tale. But I think if I wrote one about America, and I could make things turn out anyway I wanted, it would go a little something like this:

Once upon a time, in a land called America, lived people who were known as politicians.

These politicians weren’t born with this title. No, Americans would go to polling places, and vote for the politicians that they felt had their best interests at heart. And, the politicians would go to extreme lengths to get their votes as well.

They would give elaborate speeches and put on fancy shindigs (I love that word, by the way). Americans would be swept up in all the fancy talk and whatnot.

Then, after all the hoopla (I love that word, too) of the elections, the politicians who had been selected by the people would get to work to try to change America for the better.

By definition, a politician is “one actively engaged in conducting the business of a government.” Back then, a lot of the politicians were actively engaged, and some (it is rumored) were said to genuinely care about the interests of the people they served.

But other politicians fell under the second definition, “A person primarily interested in political office for selfish or other narrow, usually short-sighted reasons,” and slowly, but surely, they began to infiltrate the government.

(Insert the sounds “dun, dun, dunnnnnn” here.)

Slowly, things in America began to change.

Gasoline, which Americans use to put in their vehicles and other things, began to rise in price. It rose so much so that many Americans began having to choose between putting gas in their vehicles and buying groceries.

This choice was not easy since a gallon of milk and a box of cereal cost roughly the same as a full tank of gas.

Jobs were lost, endless wars were waged and people were taxed for just breathing it seemed. Alas, politics was invaded by the “dark side” and Yoda was nowhere to be found.

Americans were exceedingly dismayed. Some began to lose hope, for it seemed that there was no way to rid America of its politician problem, of its dark side. They wondered how they could get America back to the way it used to be. They wondered if they should even try.

Fortunately, there were rumors that there were some Americans who had not lost hope. There were those who still believed things could get back on track and who were determined to make that happen.

So, they got to work. They started becoming more involved in their communities, their states and America in general.

Many cast their fears aside and decided to run for political office themselves because they really did care about the welfare of the country. They would not sit idly by and watch America be overcome by those who did not.

They didn’t just sit at home and complain about what was happening; they became active. Yes, many decided they were going to work together to make things better, and not just try to make things better because in the words of Yoda (I’ve been watching “Star Wars” lately) “Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.”

And together, they didn’t try to change America for the better; they did change it.

The end.

Hmmm. Maybe there is something to fairy tales being too far-fetched to happen.

But then again...

Geveryl Robinson lives and writes in Atlanta.


Sat, 08/27/2016 - 11:54pm

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