Post election, America is deeply in need to unify itself. The world is watching because what happens here will have a profound impact on all countries around the globe, in more ways than one. Friends of the USA are concerned while its enemies are constantly calculating what measured steps they can take to advance their own cause or spread their influence. A divided country lays bare its belly to those looking to venture on a chance to dislodge it from its perch of influence and power. The danger, however, is not so much that there is one country that can, at this moment, pose a credible military and economic challenge, but that one may miscalculate that will draw the entire world into a maelstrom that history has recorded many times before. Alas, history had not always been a good teacher. If it were, the world would have learned by now.
Or, is it simply that human nature is a poor student and only has miscalculations for its tutor.
We take our cue from that last one sentence paragraph. A divided country, right down the middle, at this particular point in its history, must make a critical decision. After each of the last six or so presidential elections, the winning side always basked aglow in ecstasy while the other was left whistling down the wind. But first, since I chose the title, I must explain. And bear with me for just a minute because I hope to get it all together.
"Whistle Down the Wind'' is a 1961 British film directed by Bryan Forbes, and adapted by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall from the 1959 novel of the same name by Mary Hayley Bell.
It was set in a small, deeply religious town in Louisiana of the 1950s. A poor farming family led by father, Boone, and his three children--Swallow, Brat, and Poor Baby--have recently buried their mother and they are still struggling with the grief".
The plot revolved around the mistaken belief by a group of schoolchildren that a fugitive criminal they had discovered in hiding was in fact Jesus. In a tale heavy in Christian symbolism, the criminal was eventually inadvertently given away by the children and re-arrested.
It was made into a British film in 1961 that starred the author's daughter - Hayley Mills - who won Best British Actress for that role. Almost three decades later it was turned into a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber. From that came the song, "No Matter What". More on this later.
"... to 'whistle someone/thing down the wind' is to cast it off to its own fate. Or, abandon".
One political party, in this case, the winning one, must not make the mistake of casting off the ones that lost. As history tries desperately to teach, eventually the pendulum always swings the other way. It is always a mistake by either party to whistle the other down the wind. The widening chasm must halt and both sides must work to close the gap between the eighty million and seventy million who voted because the fate of 330 million citizens is what is at stake.
Back to the story set in Louisiana. The deeply religious children in a comedic scene mistook the man whom they found asleep in the barn, after being startled, as the personification of the second coming. The story revolved around a world through the eyes of their innocence. In the musical version the children in their effort to ward off the adults' disbelief or absence of support, they went on to sing:
No matter what they do
No matter what they teach us
What we believe is true
However they attack
No matter where they take us
We'll find our own way back
Related to the expression is the one below:
"TO WHISTLE UP A WIND - To entertain false hopes, such as in trying to borrow money for a spree or run ashore. From the sailors' superstition that a wind could be raised by whistling for it; the meaning has long since been reversed, so that 'whistling up a wind' will produce nothing".
As we can see, both expressions give us this cautionary admonishment. Either party must never be led to believe that only one has the answer for everything. At least, not in a democracy. One side should never make the mistake of whistling the other down the wind, and neither should be whistling up the wind just because the last election went their way. Coming together is the only antidote to what ails this republic.
As mentioned earlier, the song from the musical became a popular pop song performed by the British group Boyzone. "No Matter What", as performed at the Royal Albert Hall (London, England) in celebration of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 50th birthday, has so far garnered over 5.5 million views. It is worth listening to. Copy the link below, paste it on your search bar and click the YouTube link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogjFSW7PqRY
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