We seem to be a flawed people. Call it Original Sin, genetic disposition, poor herd instincts—whatever—but we have a darker side that from time to time just flashes at us, from time to time explodes. We see the worst of it in examples like Nazi Germany, in Rwanda, in Kosovo. We see the little flashes in our herd reaction to things like the current H1N1 “crisis”, when thousands of people seem on the verge of losing their grip. You start to see that, while many people do behave rationally, as a herd there seems to be a fine line separating us from lynch mobs and swarmings.

Part of the trouble is that we like it. No doubt, our great successes are too few; the causes for celebrations are too few. We get a glimpse of what we could be with the pleasure and excitement of the Torch Relay crowds, but even that we smear with allegations (or probabilities?) of political interference and manipulation. The dark side seems always there.

If our loves go well, we seem content to keep it to ourselves. If things go wrong, we want to sing it, wail it, publish it. It’s not just confined to country music that most songs are of love lost, though that field does go to excess (“What do you get when you play a country record backwards? You get your woman back, your dog back, and your truck back!).
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I don’t suppose you noticed a certain lack of trust creeping into our world lately. As I scanned through Saturday’s paper, examples of why this might be the case leaped off every page.

When scandals break, I always wrestle with the question of, “Is this something new?” Our world is a goldfish bowl, particularly for anyone who is in a leadership role, and the cluster of news reporters and camera people permanently camped outside courts and police stations is evidence of that. Is it just that we are finding out more? Is the behavior nothing new, but is the scrutiny, with technology exposing more and more, bringing what was always there to our attention? Or, is it that at the same time, technology is allowing those who would betray our trust to expand their deceit to new areas?

In Nova Scotia, every news report lately is from the pack snarling at the heels of Bishop Raymond Lahey, disgraced prelate of the Antigonish Diocese, Chancellor of St. Francis Xavier University, caught two weeks ago entering Canada after what appears to have been a “sex-tourism” jaunt to southeast Asia, his laptop computer containing explicit photos of children engaged in sex acts. This betrayal of the trust of those he led was an extreme betrayal for many, since he had just recently brokered a settlement with young men abused by local priests in the past, acting as a person these victims could finally “trust”.
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So we are on the threshold of a “pandemic”?

Several students from the King’s-Edgehill private school in Windsor, Nova Scotia brought Swine Flu home as souvenirs of a visit to Mexico, resulting in media focus on them as Canada’s first group of victims. Word now is that these students have mainly worked their way through this, as they normally would with “The Flu”, though, again like normal flu, there has been spread to others.

I have to feel things are a little over the top with “Swine Flu”, now officially dubbed H1N1– a wonderful name for the man on the street to remember. This Influenza is another strain of Influenza-A virus. Health officials in nations all over the world have been threatening us for the last decade with horror stories of “pandemics”, and no doubt they are now excited about having something to act on. The “pandemic” term refers to the spread of the virus into a number of countries, unlike an “epidemic” that might be restricted to only one area.
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The pomp and ceremony leading to the inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States has started. Today he’s leaving Philadelphia by train, mimicking the trip that brought Abraham Lincoln to Washington. On Sunday in Washington there will be a concert with a “who’s who” of the music world performing, stars reportedly all eager to be a part of the celebration. Monday is Martin Luther King Day in the US, and Obama has asked for people to devote the holiday to community service. Tuesday is the inauguration, which Obama has indicated will be the most “open and accessible” of any held to date.

Like a lot of people watching the events from afar, I find myself thinking about a possible new age in the US. Obama is one of the best speakers to appear in quite a while, and it’s not hard to get pulled into the idea that something truly different and exciting is about to happen. Certainly he comes to the job with possibly more work facing him than many presidents have had: two wars on the go, an economy that is staggering on the edge of collapse, continuing conflicts in the world that the US must take a stand on, the need to be less dependent on oil, and hotspots like Iran and North Korea always seeking attention. The US, and to some extent the western world, is looking for great things from this man. Great challenges can bring out the best in a leader who is capable of handling them.
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