To me at least, it's only natural that your siblings end up being your best friend(s). My brother is my best friend and has been every single year of my life. We were forced together really, we shared a room from the moment he was old enough to not sleep with my mother until I left for WashU, except for a glorious few months in the summer and fall of 2002 when my sister went off to college. We separated amicably, it was the least we could do after 16 years together. Unfortunately, she moved back in December and we were reunited once again.... But it's more than being forced together. As you get older, you start to realize the other major advantage to growing up with siblings your own age- you manage to get almost all of your siblings references, references that no one else could possibly understand. When I was 14/15 and just starting to try and really understand who I was, I resented my brother for liking the things that I liked, because it made me less of an original. While I was desperately trying to cut the rope attaching us together, he was busy tying it back up. Now I feel the opposite way, I wish we had more time together so we could foster the interests that we share, and so we could laugh about all of the things we remember growing up together.
So I was talking to my brother election night, MSNBC having just reported that Ohio had been called for Obama, essentially sealing the election for our current President-elect. We talked excitedly about the sheer awesomeness of a Black president, the return of an intellectual to the office, of George Bush's ultimate legacy, and the future prospects of the Republican party. Finally, we talked about John McCain of 2000, the one who stood honorably as W. and Rove diced him to pieces on the primary battlefields of South Carolina. He'd sold his soul in order to be President this time around, and I think he knows it. Many of his supporters, particularly the ones most turned on by the farce of Sarah Palin, were vicious hate-mongers. The transformation of my opinion on John McCain was the most complete I've ever had about a political figure. In the beginning I thought he'd be a respectable candidate who I disagreed with on issues- instead he and his campaign became a reprehensible, divisive force that deserved the loss they received.
But that wasn't the only thing on my mind as we talked about John McCain. I was also thinking about the last speech I saw him give on TV the day before election day. He looked tired and old, almost resigned to the fact that defeat was in his grasp and that he'd unwillingly have to cling to it like a piece of driftwood. He got to his standard closing, where he told his audience to stand up and fight for a whole host of cliches, national security, reform, change, for your country. I'd heard this ending numerous times, most notably during his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, and it always struck me as a pretty weak closing, lacking a coherent message and really any true enthusiasm. But this time, it struck me a little, I was taken aback. To call it moving would be wildly inaccurate- but I got a feeling inside myself that I hadn't felt in ages. It was a mix of sadness and sympathy, pity and scorn, with the final ingredient being a healthy dose of ridicule. His speech brought me back to a time I was 6 years old, sitting on the floor watching commercials on Nickelodeon with my brother, waiting for my favorite Nicktoon to come back on. John McCain's closing argument reminded me of watching the greatest biscupid in straight-to-video's illustrious history... the one... the only.... Timmy the Tooth!!!!!!!!!
My brother instantly knew what I was talking about. For those of you not in the know, Timmy the Tooth was a puppet that went on various adventures with his pal Brushbrush (some kind of toothbrush dog). His main enemy was the Cavity Goon and he had friends with names like Ms. Flossie, Mr. Wisdom, and Johnny Paste. Despite all of those dental names (and the fact that he was, you know, a tooth), the series wasn't even about making sure your teeth was clean. Instead of going on adventures where he'd try to foil the Cavity Goon's secret plot to make everyone eat Jolly Ranchers for dinner, Timmy would do things like fly planes, rescue Brushbrush, and go on your standard childhood show adventures. (Where the hell was the American Dental Associations marketing agents when this show came out???)
Anyway, although this all sounds bad enough, this was not the reason I felt sorry for Timmy. I felt sorry for Timmy because, I knew, in the bottom of my 6 year old little heart, that there was no way in hell that I'd ever want or ask my parents to buy The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth. Even more imporantly, I knew that NONE of my friends would want to Timmy either. The commercial was fighting a losing battle; what made the creators of Timmy think that kids were just dying to watch a talking molar? I didn't know anything about business or marketing when I was 6, so I projected all of my feelings on the subject towards Timmy himself.
"I know you're not a bad guy Timmy, but why do you have to be so lame?"
"Why can't you be cool like Thomas the Train Engine, everybody likes him."
What made it even more sad was the fact that in the middle of the commercial as the announcer is describing some of Timmy's daring adventures, Timmy gets up and says "Who's with me?" and immediately after there's a moment of silence. Just hearing him say that, in his adorably pitiful little voice and then having that second of silence where there is no sound made me want to cry. I knew full well that I and the rest of the cartoon watching world was not with him, that we did not want him, and that we were just waiting for his commercial to get off the air so that cool cartoons could come back on. And yet everyday Timmy's commercial came back on; the loser. Looking back, somebody had to be watching/buying the video, otherwise they would not have played it so often. Then again, the cost of advertising mid-morning on Nickelodeon was probably not that expensive. Either way
My brother and I had a good laugh about the Tooth/Mccain connection- so far he's the only person I know who remembers Timmy the Tooth. It's more than a bit unfair to compare the Republican nominee to a two-legged tooth puppet, especially after McCain's gracious concession speech. But it did get me thinking about the nature of lost causes, the nature of being going down in defeat in honor, about the ability to feel empathy for someone in that situation, without having that empathy turn into pity. I do not pity John McCain, but I scorn the tactics that he used. I do not have empathy for the man, but I am sad about the man he became (always was?). He could have been the Bob Dole of this campaign, a man who was doomed to lose an election from the moment he entered but did not lose the respect he had garnered in the process. It has to be tough to keep your honor when the only prayer you have of winning is to throw it all away. And, I think, the man I heard in that final speech before election day, certainly the man I heard conceding to the first Black president, knew how tough it was also.
1 comment:
brushbrush? really?
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