Elian, what price freedom?
“Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose…” Janis Joplin. Being an American can be difficult. Race, color, creed, national origin or religion plays little or no role in “Being an American”. The ‘American’ title supercedes all other brands. It is with the title of American that we can exploit, improve, advance or crush others to our mutually exclusive advantage.
Politicians and Lawyers take sides to champion a cause. What motivates them? POWER
The more aware the general public is of your name and affiliation with a cause the more powerful you become. Want to keep a political office? Be on the correct (i.e.: PC, Politically Correct for the moment, because even this changes) side of a sensitive issue. And the opposite is true, wrong side of an issue will find you’re soundly defeated in the next election or even worse up for a recall election.
What motivates relatives? No secret here, the Miami relatives do not like the father. They turned on him as soon as it was obvious that he wanted his son back and when he arrived in the USA, they became nasty. The sub plot is the relationship between the relatives and the father. The fuel is ‘Little Havana’s’ hatred of Castro. The political climate between American Cubans and Cuba is volatile at best. For the ‘silver lining’ it is noted that this crisis has brought America and Cuba closer together politically. If ever a plan to make Castro look bad failed, it is this one.
The tragedy is Elian lost his mom; he watched her die. The mom did a poor job of planning their escape. She failed her child. Had she lived none of this would have ever happened, they would not have even been mentioned in notes of a writer on the Cuban invasion. Had Elian not had a father, would the Miami relatives have been so adamant in keeping Elian? Yes, I believe the answer is yes, but again not even a footnote to history. Yes, a grand few seconds on TV with the rescue, nothing more.
Of course, let us not forget the rights of the fisherman; excuse me? Something is missing here, ahhh, yes, the rights of Elian and his father. Lost in the shuffle, trampled and forgotten, the rights a father has to his child. It did not take me an instant to side with the father; I am a father. I placed myself in his shoes and became a very unhappy camper. I am an American; does this put me at odds with my feelings for Cuba? No, not at all, I am as anti-communist now as I have ever been. I will not mourn the loss of Fidel Castro, but he is another story.
Elian is our story. Politicians, lawyers, political activists are using him and a brain washed public to make a political statement. Add to the mix a free society ruled by law, power hungry lawyers and politicians, six-year-old Elian, a hated Cuban dictator and liars for relatives and you have the makings of another great American Soap Opera, Prime Time. Wonder what the ads would sell for? The outrage is that the same people using the law to their advantage followed the law as long as it suited them. As soon as the law favored the other point of view they defied it. The Justice Department traveled the extra mile and then traveled it again. The Miami relatives dared the Justice Department to enforce the law and lost the gamble.
Instead of an amicable exchange in the best interest of Elian, we had an INS raid. The raid was in the best interest of the media, ratings and news worthy discussion; not to mention the freedom to riot and destroy property. Even Castro came out looking grand. And how convenient; Elian had his own UPI photographer spending the night with him. Hmm, I teach acting; I wonder if I have a kid that could play Elian in the TV movie coming out next week?
Freedom is everything for an American. It is next to impossible for us to comprehend living in a society where the word free can get you executed. Freedom is not a word for nothing left to lose. It is the word Americans fear of losing. Cuba will be free one day. Freedom is the natural evolutionary state. Elian may live in a free Cuba or chose to come to America when he is older. Till then he will live in Cuba with his stepbrother, step-mom and father.
No one won. The war of words and images was nasty. However, in the long run Elian will recover from the trauma inflicted on him in the name of love by his self-serving relatives, the self-serving Cuban community and the Powerful Politicians. The more lasting trauma is the dramatic loss of his mother, something; apparently, I am in the minority caring about. All else pales in comparison and Elian can best find comfort in the arms of his father, even if it is in Communist Cuba.
JB Corn
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