Today's Casablanca - November 6, 2006

I wrote this review 5 years ago, but I still feel this way. I enjoyed writing this review and welcome discussion.

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Today I saw the great "Casablanca" for the first time. Originally written as a play called "Everybody Comes to Rick's," the film, while dated in appearance, is poignant in both theme and morality.

I thought as I watched this film, "How many people have been stranded by the latest battles around the world? How many lives and loves have been shattered and separated? How many of us have done the right thing in response?"

There is no simple answer to any of these questions as they relate to our current international situation. To compare, we previously had a clear enemy and a clear objective. Now, we are uncertain of exactly who we are fighting, and what outcome we hope to achieve. However, I do not find this situation is to be blamed exclusively on decision-makers. We have a great responsibility ourselves.

We as consumers have demanded such amazing technologies, some of which begin through military experimentation as terrible weapons. The more terrifying and impersonal these weapons have become, the more fearful we are of the slightest knock or noise. We walk on eggshells as an internal defense, attempting not to offend people of differing opinions or circumstances simply because we fear an unexpected retribution - legal or violent, we expect the worst because everyone is now prepared to provide it for the protection of his own pride and way of life.

We prepare amazing defenses designed to strike out at the first sign of impending attack. Atom bombs, H-bombs, and worse - terrible attitudes towards our fellow man, law suits and letters of complaint. While its true that we can never predict when a crazy, self-proclaimed messenger of God will appear and try to kill everyone, does it benefit any of us to be constantly on guard with our emotions and generosity? Is there some protection of the law that says we have a right not to be offended, and if we are, the government should step in and fight for us?

Some say we are fighting the war because the U.S. wants oil, and they stick it to us at the gas pump. Then we say we are trapped because we have no choices, and I think that is far from the truth. We have a choice, we are simply unwilling to pay the price necessary for that change. What kind of SUV do you drive? If you boycotted your gasoline engine until the government legitimately subsidized a real alternative fuel program, do you think we could be ignored? "But the oil companies have the politicians in their pockets." Because you keep giving them the resources to lure our decision-makers. 

Don't shout from the window of your Hummer that the president doesn't care about the soldiers or the American ecosystem. It's conjecture unless you know his mind. Besides, he would obviously be protecting your interests. So many, even in Hollywood, on their high horses talk about the terrible G. W. Bush and his poor action in this war. Many of those people were shouting for action after 9/11. Can we really have it both ways?

I think Casablanca shows us a reality of decision making that we take for granted. Rick's represented America, and how safe we feel here. Protected by our power and connections. 9/11 was like the Nazi's coming in and changing the dynamic of our everyday operations. Rick represented each of us, knowing what is right in his heart, but hurt by the reality of he wanted and the understanding that he is losing it forever. We have lost two things, just like Rick. One, we have lost the safe haven that the"United States" once provided through its relative insulation. Two, like Rick when Ilsa revealed that she was, in fact, married when they fell in love, and married still; we are now disillusioned to what freedom is and the true price of being in her company.

I think this is what makes this latest series of conflicts so dangerous to our society and to our soldiers. We were scrambling to understand a very strange world. As we drank heavily and wore our pants backwards, the world changed in such a way that it was no longer afraid or incapable of reaching us. We are not insulated any more, and we are not immune. And like Rick, we will each of us come to a point where we must make a decision.

War is an inevitable part of human existence, mainly because there are enough people who are, "nasty, brutish, and short-[ fill in the blank]." Let the old notion of Lady Liberty go. She doesn't exist as she once did. Where we have demanded so much in her name, we've left a wrinkle, scar, or crow's foot for every thing we have taken from her. Choose a side; stand and fight; and agree upon no action when there is neither a victor nor consensus. But let the battles relate only to the situation and to the opinions that set us juxtaposed, because a person in America who has researched and considered enough to have a well formed opinion is one of the greatest assets remaining in our country, a citizen with a vote. And it is in that way that we are now equal. No princes or paupers, no generals or civilians, no black or white, male or female but rather a people with decisions made and a voice to speak, and a ballot to cast.

It is with trust in your hearts that the Almighty God has a plan at you can safely cast your ballot. That while the country continues to love Him first and trust in Him, that we will continue to make our paths straight. Some of you don't believe that He plays this role, and you are entitled to think that way. You are equally entitled to ignore everything I have said and supplant it with your own reality. But you cannot take it away from me, change it, or prevent me from teaching or sharing it. And that is what is supposed to make this country great. That is worth fighting for. That is what happens at the end of Casablanca when Rick must defend his choice and right to give his exit visas to Victor [the truth] and Ilsa [the freedom].

Perhaps once we eliminate our barriers and defenses of comfort and self-assuring preconceptions, we too, will be able to see, as one, the RIGHT and not just the GOOD course of action.