Camelot
…."That once there was a fleeting wisp of glory called Camelot"......
"Don't let it be forgot that once there was a spot for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot." *
I saw the tapes of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis just this week. She made them in 1964 or so a year after John F. Kennedy was murdered.
(For those who don't know Kennedy's administration was called Camelot. Both because of the idealism in the administration and that Kennedy liked the play itself.)
One thing that came through clearly in the interviews with Jackie is that she and her husband both wanted to change things for the better. To make the world a better place and they were in the unique position to do more than most could.
I grew up with this notion also – to make the world a better place and I thought that was what most people wanted - to make the world a better place. Except perhaps for a few evil people here and there that must fought against. And perhaps there were some people who must be taught a better way.
I've come to understand since then that most people don't care one way or the other. Making the world a better place sounds good but what does that really have to do with them? I've also found that this notion of making the world a better place seems to have gone into the background of my own life – perhaps at times disappeared completely. Perhaps more than I like to think.
I think that’s what we were expecting of Barack Obama as well to make another Camelot. And perhaps that is what he expects of himself.
I think it's time we consider this as we move forward in this world. It is time for the idealism of Camelot again and hopefully not for the sad ending. It's time again to say how can we make the world better?
I don't know that the mood in the United States will even allow this to happen. We seem to be blaming people's misfortunes on themselves. And we seem to think they should help themselves even when it is obvious the misfortune is not of their doing and they need more help than they themselves can give.
I'd like to see less waste in the government programs we have that help people. But I'd also like to see more help, more understanding and more flexibility in these programs. I'd like to see us work harder as a people to lend a hand when it is needed and pull our nation of the 'I don't care about anyone else attitude' or ' government shouldn't help people' attitude. I'd like to see an effort as a nation to view ourselves and decide what can do to make us better.
I want Camelot back again.
(*Camelot- song by Lerner and Loewe)
