Was That an "I Told You So"?

I remember a time when my mom was making sure that I felt the consequences of one of my poorer choices. I said, “’Consequences, consequences!!!’ Why don’t you just use the word ‘grounded’ like everyone else’s parents?”

She told me that one day I would thank her. And I did. In the years since, I’ve had the opportunity to teach many, many children whose parents don’t do the kind of parenting work my mom did, and their futures look bleak. They never learn from their mistakes, and the older they get, the more cataclysmic the potential consequences of their choices become.

There’s sort of this understanding in our society that saying “I told you so” when things go very wrong is insensitive and counterproductive. I think that’s true when you’re talking to someone who is fully, excruciatingly cognizant that he has brought calamity upon himself. But when he ignored warnings and warning signs and still refuses to see the connection between his choices and the consequences?

A few weeks ago, I read in the New York Times that approval ratings for Bush’s handling of Iraq were at 37%, one point higher than LBJ’s at the lowest point in his handling of Viet Nam. So, even a few weeks ago, I was thinking, “What’s up with this?” The President told us when he ran for office that he would “stay the course.” We all knew what “the course” was. He was going to continue sending insufficient troops to Iraq with inadequate equipment. The war would continue being waged without any visible sacrifice from Americans, and in fact, with extra perks for the wealthy. He could articulate no goal and no end game during the campaign, so we all knew that we would be in Iraq for a long time with no idea of how or when it would end or what would define “victory.”

A slender minority of us screamed that this was a VERY, VERY BAD IDEA!!!!!!!! But a tiny majority was okay with it, at the time. So where did they all go? What’s up with a 37% approval rating of the plan that the majority of Americans granted the “go-ahead” on?

And now, we’re faced with Katrina. Yes, my post yesterday smacks of “we told you so.” Do not confuse this with saying “you deserved this.” I happen to think that life deals consequences that are way beyond what anyone deserves. For example, I don’t think that having unprotected sex with the wrong person merits the death penalty, but with AIDS, sometimes that’s the consequence. None of the people in LA deserve what’s happened to them. Quite the opposite—the vast majority are decent, hard-working, loving people. The soldiers we are sending into Iraq don’t deserve to die or be maimed or suffer PTSD, either.

I’m not even saying that Bush or anyone else really could have done a great deal about Katrina. I said earlier that I’m not going to Monday morning quarterback, and I meant it. All I’m saying is that the man in the oval office is no more or less than the man this country elected. It’s a little late now to realize that he lies, refuses to accept responsibility, and is an inept leader. Maybe now people will understand why Bush opposers were so deeply bitter about his victory last fall.

Read Kate Rothwell’s response to my blog entry yesterday. She, too, was outraged by last year’s election. She says she’s trying to get past the anger as she watches the too foreseeable results unfold at horrific human cost. I can’t even begin to try to get past my anger.

There have been some huge consequences for the choice we made last year—consequences to all kinds of innocent people. Yes, the government is accountable, but so are we who chose this government. If we don’t learn from this, we’ll just keep making the same mistakes, and innocents will continue to pay for them.