Pretending Not To See

I had just explored the Arctic areas of the world in an expedition ship, but was returning to the states by plane. Going through customs and immigration in a western provinces' Canadian facility, the customs official told me that he was pretending not to see the skeletal bones I had put in my suitcase. On a remote Arctic Island, perhaps unexplored for many years, I had retrieved what I thought was an elephant vertebra and the jaw bone from some animal. knew, just as the customs official knew, that I was not supposed to remove any bone from any island and certainly not supposed to bring such back to America.

He looked at this mostly blind man and said, “I know you don't know what is in your suitcase, and I know you don't know that you are not supposed to bring what looks like whalebone to America. I am going to pretend I did not see it.” Often, in the military, where a large part of a retiree's pension is based on disability, you will have malingerers, those faking a disability of some sort. In the case of vision, since I was a vision specialist, I was asked to qualify and stipulate the disability. It is difficult to fake any medical problem, particularly a visual problem. There are too many instruments, too many ways to check. Most do not realize that retina impulses from each eye makes a cross over at the optic chiasm. With a tangent screen you can rapidly discover if you are being played with, people pretending not to see.

We do not like to see anyone turn a blind eye to, pretend not to see, anything. Particularly a surgeon pretending not to see diseased tissue, a dentist pretending not to see cavity, an optometrist pretending not to see an lens opacity. So much of the expense of living is from shoplifting in the stores, many store employees turn a blind eye rather than get involved. In fact, it is easier to turn a blind eye, pretend not to see, than to involve yourself in many things.

It the famed television program Hogan's Heroes, Sgt. Schultz of the German POW camp would often say, “I see nothing.” Parents had rather pretend not to see misbehavior than to administer discipline. A pastor pretends not to see what is going on with a church member or church family rather than having to face or confront it. Often, teachers see the signs of abuse and pretend not to see. My niece stopped teaching school after her first year because of abuse she saw concerning children. She had her mother, my sister, go to her school and observe one small black child...so abused, so wanting love and attention. After her mother investigated, with her knowledge of county government, the child suddenly disappeared. God alone knows how many children are abused, or are even killed, in a destitute home.

It has been said that Abraham Lincoln could not understand the loss, the deaths from the Civil War until his child, Willie, died. Mrs. Lincoln never mentally recovered from the death, and the President probably never recovered either. President Lincoln had only one child to live past the age of 18. He professed that it was only after he experienced death in a real way that he did everything possible to bring the war to an end.

Often, particularly on patriotic holidays, we pretend to defend the indefensible...the warts of our democratic republic. We know we have been drawn into military conflict because of the greed, power, and decadence of the military-industrial complex...the very thing which President Eisenhower warned the country about. Foreign entanglements, the very thing that George Washington warned the country about. We are so anxious to honor the promoters and achievers of our great superpower status and wealth, the defenders-patriots of the homeland, that we turn a blind eye and pretend not to see the disease affecting capitalism.

We can understand John Dewey's mantra, the communist mantra, “the end justifies the means.” But we pretend that we have not swallowed this decadent doctrine hook, line and sinker. Like the judiciary (legal minds), the pastors (spiritual minds), we have become so politically correct, “go along to get along” in our fantasia of survival, exploiting any avenue for revenue. Jumping out of the recession bubble machine, we pretend that God does not have an “all-seeing eye” even though it is on every piece of fiat (almost worthless) currency.

We pretend not to see or not to know that the RAND Corporation, now mostly financed by the government instead of private endowment, has reportedly developed tracking computer programs and equipment which can keep up with mileage on vehicles, boats and many other areas of life in order to support expanded taxation. In my lifetime I have seen efforts to “save the children”, “save the animals”, “save the poor”, “save the environment”. It was only a historic snowstorm in Copenhagen, historic blizzards across North America which saved us from global warming taxation.

We are learning just how fast a person's life can go into upheaval...the most tornadoes in history, most earthquakes in history, meltdowns of nuclear reactors. In the time of modern man we have sicknesses from the most primitive effects of sewage (water contamination, cholera, radiation, etc.). Not in history have we ever witnessed such weather bombardment, thunderstorms across Africa, flooding in South America, drought in Australia, typhoons across Asia, tsunamis and earthquakes along the Pacific rim, tornadoes, which are inland hurricanes, across America (1200 reported, 875 confirmed tornadoes in 2011).

God left us His Book, written by His hand, by His dictating to others, a love letter, guidebook, answer book. Still, He talks to us again, in language which anyone should be able to hear and see, are we still pretending not to see, are we still turning a blind eye?