Have Some More Tea

From Bob Dylan's Ballad of a Thin Man:

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

Initially we had the reports of rape, murder, and mayhem in the Superdome during the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Then we had news that all of that may have been exaggerated. Now, we are left to ponder what the episode means.

We construct a reality that does not capture all that is real. This constructed reality comforts us and makes us feel safe. Something happens that exposes the constructed reality, shatters it, or destroys it. That which was there to protect us is no more. What was this reality we so carefully built for ourselves protecting us from? The world and ourselves.

We like our placid everyday lives even though we complain about it. We suppress images of disaster and the potential we might be at the center of that disaster. We suppress those images even though we have read, seen, and heard about disasters from secondary sources. The images live in a backroom that we seldom enter. Some of the images are of despicable crimes against humanity.

Disaster strikes. We hear of the total breakdown of civilization. The images in the backroom enter the parlor and spoil our tea party. We try to set things right. We want our old reality back. How do we do this?

We reflect on those people who were trapped in the Superdome. We say, well that explains a lot of it. They are not like us.

The ugly images who have invaded our tea party are all shaded gray though. The gray color of the image is universal and part of our common human unconscious. Some of us deny it. Some must deny it to restore order to the tea party. Polite society must be reinvented.

We receive more news later. Those trapped inside the vortex of the disaster reacted out of an instinct for survival, yet also acted heroically. Altruism did not flee the scene of the disaster. However, order has been restored by the time this latest news arrives. The dark gray images have already been locked into their murky backroom. Reality has been reinvented and forgotten.

Would you like some more tea, Mr. Jones?