The Skinned Knee

A Skinned knee - remember those? I can still remember watching Fantasy Island one Saturday night in 1977 after a fall on the concrete; my knee stiff and throbbing in pain. Not only do they hurt when they happen, but the worst is yet to come. They stiffen up, ache, throb, the scab cracks and heals over and over again. Sometimes you would forget about it and accidentally hit it again or even worse knock the scab off, ugh! They are painful, they do not heal well, they last a lot longer than they should, and they leave a scar.

America - on November 4, 2008 you got a skinned knee. It hurt like the dickens when it happened. We looked down and recognized it as a really bad one. We'd seen this sort of thing before and we knew that while it really hurt right then, it was going to get a whole lot worse.

You see, there was all kinds of dirt and particles in the knee that were buried under the blood and deep in the tissue. All the neighborhood kids were running around having fun, after all, it was a celebration, right? So, you didn't bother going inside and having it cleaned up, you just kept right on playing.

Inauguration Day was like getting in the bath tub. You knew it was going to be bad, but YOW! That really stings! Unfortunately, all that dirt and concrete was covered under a new scab and there was no way we were going to scrub that stuff out.

The next morning they passed the stimulus bill and when you stepped out of bed you felt the scab crack and knew, owww, that hurt.

Through the Spring it got infected with Cap and Trade, Hate Crimes Legislation, a wise Latina Judge, and your friends told you to stop complaining about your knee.

The Summer Town Halls found you at the country doctors, who told you to pick out the old gravel and pour alcohol on the cut. It would be painful, but in the end it would heal better. You called him a simpleton and trouble maker. Your friends told you to stay away from that backward Tea sipping doctor.

The Fall finds you with a festering wound, how could this happen? It was just a skinned knee, right?

Over Christmas you got the news, they were going to have to amputate the leg. Unfortunately, all the doctors are now ticked off because even though they told you what to do in the summer you wouldn't listen. You have accused them of amputating for profit and told everyone that the government could do it better.

So America, your skinned knee now needs amputation, but there are no more doctors left to do it. I guess you will be grabbing a bottle of whiskey and a bandanna. Ah, the good old days. Bring me the saw boys, we have some cutting to do.