There used to be such things as universal truths.
For example, no matter where you go, there you are.
One in every seven days is (thankfully) a Friday.
Just because you have the answer, doesn’t mean it makes sense.
There’s no need to state the obvious.
Wait. Let’s go back to that last one.
There’s no need to state the obvious?
Excuse me while I challenge the universe.
It seems the obvious is no longer as, well, obvious as is used to be.
In today’s hypercritical, media-soaked, overly sensitive, paranoid, schizophrenic world of bomb threats, cult suicides, political correctness, school shootings, snipers and terrorist attacks, we can no longer rely on the obvious to explain itself.
Nothing makes sense.
Inevitably, falling back on this particular “truth” leads to yet another, greater one: Somewhere, someone will always be offended by something someone did or did not do.
And rightfully so.
Case in point: the Portland State University Faculty Senate.
Last week, in an effort to affirm the active political participation of PSU students, faculty and staff, as well as others, the Faculty Senate called upon “public officials, national, state and local, to refrain and to direct all others in their employ to refrain from making any further statements or taking actions which discourage political participation, dissent or nonviolent political action, or which prejudice the right to a fair trial of any accused persons.”
Are these not rights – freedom to participate in our government, the right to a fair trial – already guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution?
Are these not things we, as Americans, have come to expect?
Are these not obvious liberties?
Sadly, it appears they are not, since the senate was forced to demand these liberties from officials who should, by nature of their positions, uphold them in all they do. Or at least stand for them. Or at least pretend to.
But the Faculty Senate claims their repeated use of “inflammatory” terms such as eco-terrorist and terrorist “serve to prejudice judge, jury and public.”
This is what the universe has come to.
We are a society built upon labels.
This is not my universe.
Challenge, discourse, fighting for right, wrong and everything in between: This is America in its idealistic glory.
I have refrained from addressing the events of Sept. 11, 2001, for two reasons. First, I started writing this column five weeks ago, well after not only Sept. 11, 2001, but its one-year anniversary, as well. And second, I didn’t feel as if I could add anything new to the dialogue.
The PSU Faculty Senate has proved me wrong. It has made me realize that Sept. 11, 2001, was more than a day than altered lives, a day of terrorist attacks and victims.
It was a day that Americans started acting and speaking and thinking in an entirely different way.
Not different-better, just different.
Dare I say, different-worse?
Before Sept. 11, 2001, we were ignorant and proud and full of spirit and zeal.
We were boastful, life-affirming and ready to take on the world in that typical my dog is bigger than your dog; my car is faster than your car; my house is prettier than your house; our cities have brighter lights, produce more, tower taller, than all the cities in the world-American fashion.
Our public officials may have forgotten, but the Faculty Senate has not.
We are more than this.
Kudos to the Faculty Senate for keeping America diverse and honest and, most importantly, not at all obvious.
They’ve given rise to another universal truth: Learn to expect the unexpected, and never cease to be delighted in it.