As Usual

All is quiet once again as the twins are back home in Susanville. It was nice to have most of the family in the pool on Saturday; that is what the pool is there for. Oh, I will still take the occasional dip on a warm morning, or definitely after mowing the orchard. But our enjoyment of the pool doesn’t include a lot of laughter. We’re kind of quiet.

Last night, at our discussion group meeting at the Federated church, we watched a PBS special on Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple and the resulting mass suicide in Jonestown. That was so long ago, almost 30 years, but it still has the power to shock you. And one of the things that I found to be most telling was the fact that politicians of the day were so eager to embrace Jim Jones because of the fact that he could deliver a thousand bodies for any popular protest; as needed and on time. If a politician needed a crowd for a speech; Jim Jones was the go-to guy. And they rewarded him with status, giving him access to other politicians who would smile and shake his hand for the photographers. So some things never change.

We all wonder what could cause over 900 people to give up their lives so easily, but the fact is, most people are sheep and love the comfort of not having to make hard decisions or to question those they have chosen as leaders. ‘He said so’ is usually good enough and the parallels in history are many. No, ‘the sheep’ are not always asked to give up a life, but they are dependably quiet, don’t ask questions and they follow orders. Politicians love them!

It was an interesting discussion, though very few made a connection with the possibility that Jim Jones was mentally ill. He was ‘devious’, ‘evil’, and he was ‘cunning’; planning all of this for… what reason? Mental illness never gets top billing.