The Ancient Myth That Makes Today's America Feel Uncomfortably Familiar

Happy Friday! Happy Independence Day (tomorrow)!

On the day before our country’s 250th birthday, the temperature here is about 102-degrees F. And humid. Imagine someone soaked a heavy woolen blanket in warm water and threw it over you. There is very little movement in the air and what little there is brings no relief. No, it is more like a giant dog panting on your face without respite.

It doesn’t seem too long ago that I was vowing to never complain about the heat ever again. That was after a solid week of single digit temps, ice storms, and relentless wind. Anyone who has taken care of livestock (this includes horses!) knows how the winter can turn routine farm chores into herculean tasks. Frozen water buckets, pushing a full wheelbarrow of manure through heavy snow, chipping ice balls out of horses’ feet, to name a few.

Summer or winter, I am tired of extreme weather. Is this a cycle that happens every decade or so, or is it here to stay? The storms are more violent. Rain comes in torrents. The wind more ferocious… And not just in my Mid-Atlantic area. Crazy weather is hitting throughout the U.S. with disastrous results: wildfire, mud slides, freezing crops, flooding, wind and tornado destruction.

Meteorologists and other scientists no doubt can point to exact reasons for this change. I believe in science. But I also think there is much more at work in this world than what meets the eye…

Enter, the Waste Land motif.

It is a timeless mythic motif that claims the king and his kingdom are spiritually and physically linked. In other words, the ruler’s health and moral code directly dictate the prosperity, fruitfulness, and health of the land.

When the ruler engages in unchecked greed, tyranny, unjust rule, and moral ambiguity, the people and the land suffer.

Cause and effect. It doesn’t sound that crazy after all.

This “Shadow King” or unjust ruler causes the land to wither into a barren, blighted state. And beyond natural disasters, the consequences of unjust rule (cruelty, bigotry, corruption) on a sociopolitical level lead to economic ruin, social decay, and the suffering of the voiceless, powerless common people.

This motif has played out throughout history as evidenced in Biblical stories such as King Ahab and Jezebel wherein corruption led to draught and disaster (1 Kings 21); the Book of Jeremiah describes how the land mourns due to the wickedness of its inhabitants; The Arthurian Legends, and even in a Dr. Seuss story of a mad king and his green slime, Oobleck.

I’ve strayed a bit from my opening remarks about the extreme heat for our Independence Day celebrations. I hope you’ve followed me through the labyrinth of my thoughts, and if so, I want to close on a note of hope.

This country has had its problems in the past to be sure. However, we always were able to look at them, analyze or apologize, then strive to make it better. Lately, we have sunken into a black hole of denial, deception, or despair. We are tearing ourselves apart.

Sweet Land of Liberty, I still wish you happy birthday and pray for healing on this sweltering historical occasion.

Image courtesy of Brigitte Werner, ArtTower, on Pixabay