a rose is what

‘Is a rose is a rose is a rose': The line is from Gertrude Stein's poem Sacred Emily, written in 1913, ‘What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet’; From Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, 1600:

What should matter is what something is, not what it is called, enabling us to possibly imagine, or consider, or even contemplate the truth. But somehow in this immediate and instant environment in which we find ourselves, once a name is called and called out of context, no one seems to bother with discovering its true meaning. It is easier to assume because it was said and said by someone who hates in the same way as us, that if it is said it is the truth.

I remember somewhere in the mid 70’s, working at a Jewish Community Center, my colleagues and I had a discussion about defining our particular demographic of the American population. In the 70’s there had been a dialogue within the black community about how they defined themselves and many in the Jewish community decided to consider their own identity. Were we Jewish Americans, were we American Jews, were we just Jews, the debate went on and on. Perhaps it was a cathartic reaction to another minority’s struggle to find definition and direction, maybe a need to seek identity or perhaps it was a useless management of time in which we just wanted to sound off and sound important? What mattered was not the vocabulary in which we asked others to identify us, but how they treated us, reacted to us, and knew us. It mattered that we could work at jobs, live in neighborhoods, raise our kids and live our lives in a fair and equal community. It mattered not what we were called rather what we were, the deeds we did.

I am now Gay, or so I am told. I was once a homosexual, a queer, a pansy. It took time for the names to change, but somehow any name said with anger, fear, loathing or religious dogma seems to be the same for those who shout it as profanity. Many religious leaders identify me as disciple of the Devil, many religious families deem me a curse, many uneducated; view me as a plague on society. The names they choose denote the bigotry and bias they carry, and the names they choose permit them to identify me without ever really getting to know me. I am not any of the above definitions and I am all of the above definitions. I am as complex as those who want to pigeon hole me, and I am as simple as those who look through me and not at me. But calling me something does not define me and that is not who I am.

In 2010 and continuing into 2011, we now like to attack those Americans who somehow seem to be recipients of entitlements. Whether it is Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, Unemployment Benefits, Food Stamps, suddenly those people are defined as un- American, a burden to society, free loaders. Suddenly the poor, the unemployed the disabled and the elderly are entitlement users and draining the good name, the good graces the good will of America. Suddenly it is age, or income, or ability that we define as depleting the American economy. We never use the same negative harsh words when the wealthiest top Americans don’t contribute their fair share in taxes. We don’t accuse the corporations who pay little to no taxes as Communists. We don’t get a lynching mob out for companies like Halliburton who receive no bid contracts for war materials, militia training or the other defense contractors whose prices for anything from toilet paper to toilets to bolts and nuts are priced 10 times higher then other competitors. Somehow if you are rich, pay off politicians, provide kick backs, future jobs for politicians or prefer cronyism the benefits you receive are not entitlements, even though the government is spending money doing so. Somehow we are selective in the name calling and more selective in the definition of who is good who is bad and who is or isn’t red, white and blue.

When asked about her poem ‘A rose is a rose is a rose’, Gertrude Stein said many times "the poet could use the name of the thing and the thing was really there." As memory took it over, the thing lost its identity, and she was trying to recover that - "(the phrase finder). Shakespeare, so we are told by scholars had a difficult time in a name defining an action an emotion, or the substance, and when he said ‘by any other name would smell as sweet’, he implied it is not the name that provides the beauty or the ugly.

Our national debate is now focusing on the entitlements, but somehow just those entitlements that provide food on our table, money in our pockets, payment for health care, and the ability to live with a roof and four walls. We dare not look at the entitlements the excesses of the wealthy; but just define the day to day existence of the poor as bad for America. ‘A rose is a rose is a rose”