Oh! That Circus Air

Oh! That Circus Air

The air, heavy of circus, hangs this morning in the clouds of an overcast day. Far too many years have gone by since this atmosphere last caught my attention. It has been some two and a half generations, fifty years, since I took the family to this annual event. The kids became older and on their own or Connie took them because I was always working to make a living for me and my crew.

We went yearly, sometimes twice a year, when the circus was really an event not to miss. The special pageantry of anticipation, the trumpets announcing death defying high ring performers, the clowns, the elephants and horses, three rings of excitement, the smells and sounds unique to a circus all remain with me today as it were only yesterday. 

We went yearly even though each year I promised myself not to go if I was bamboozled by ticket hawkers who could cheat anyone out of their change when purchasing tickets. Yes, each year I got taken like the last, but no matter how careful I was, I, like most, was taken. The hawkers would take your twenty and holler out "next" and, "keep the line moving" grabbing at more money rather than handing you your change while all the while your kids tugged at your pants or pulled at your hand to get to their seats inside the Big Tent. By the time you realized you didn't get you change, the hawker and his stand were no where in sight.

Funny I'm thinking of the circus these days, but I can understand the reasoning behind it, since the National News portrays a circus like atmosphere in Washington, D.C. just about every day. I do watch the news daily and feel how we, the public, are always being bamboozled by our leaders. I thought what a circus while daily watching the farce surrounding raising the national debt ceiling. Elected officials take an oath to uphold our constitution upon taking office which, in my mind, implies they accept the charge of formulating rules, regulations, and laws to move our country forward in good times as well as bad for the better good of all our citizens.

Not unlike the Bible message, that of worshiping graven images as being bad, is the present day worshiping by elected officials of some pledge to not raise taxes postulated by an unelected guy of deep political persuasion. Unfounded in our constitution are these type pledges. Those who swear to abide by these pledges are the same ones who profess to go by, not only the letter but also by the true intent, of our constitution. Hypocrisy seems to describe these officials. They could certainly make good clowns and ticket sellers as they show off their slight of hand antics and after watching them crow to their constituents about how our country is stronger with them in office; they reek of hypocrisy.

Most circuses are a thing of the past, and I suggest these hypocritical members of congress should be retired at the end of their first term and also become a thing of the past.

Ronald C. Downie