I had to do it sometime. It's been well over a month since the election, and there has been a silence from here. Except for a couple of status statements right after election day on Facebook when my feelings were still completely raw, each time I sat down and tried to put into words something to say, and then after staring at the blank screen in front of me, nothing came. I wanted to wait until something inspirational came along. Nothing did. Then I wanted to wait until maybe I thought I had something to say that might have a bit of meaning to it or perhaps be a starting point for healing, if for nobody other than myself. Nada. Finally, I did not want to put something out in the blogosphere that would sound whiny, sore loserish, or simply another complaint about what we can all see coming. I am still waiting for that moment.
In the long run, however, this is my space, my thoughts. If it sounds too bad, too whiny, too woeful, well... too bad. It's my space. It's my thoughts. I do not need to apologize for that -- ever, even if I really did want my ramblings here to be more upbeat than this.
A little less than a year before the election, we were in England for the wedding of some good friends. I was asked at the time about our now president-elect, and told the folks there to relax. We might be a lot of things, but we are not that dumb. The morning after the election, I posted this:
"believe it or not, we all fervently hope we are wrong, and that he will rise to the occasion and do what is best for the country, that all of us will move forward and heal the nation and ourselves. right now, there is a rawness inside that is not quite ready. while i accept the results of elections and he is going to be the president whether i like it or not, i for one cannot yet bring myself to even say his name right now. my hope is that he will show me something very soon so that i can. believe it or not, i hope he can show me something so that i can actually become proud that he is our president".
We are now only two days away from the meeting of the electoral college. I was wrong before the election, and it looks like I am still wrong. Yes, he has not even been sworn in, let alone officially elected, so there is still time to think he will do something that will allow me to be proud to say he is my president, just like I thought when George W. "won" the election in 2000. I would like to think that, but this time it feels different.
The election has unleashed a viciousness that was previously lying below the surface. We are seeing and hearing things we never thought would reappear in America. Bigotry has roared back, if it was ever really gone. Our "leadership" is not only not forcefully condemning it, not only not taking action to combat it, but is encouraging it via passive-aggressive acquiesence. In some cases, they are actually encouraging it. We have a top advisor, who apparently puts his kkk hood on the coat rack when he arrives in the office in the morning. Then there are the cabinet selections, almost none of them seeming to have any qualifications for the position other than the fact that they have tons of money and are willing to grovel at his feet.
So what does this election mean for me -- and the corollary, what do we do?
For one, we certainly do not participate or encourage armed insurrection, as some have done during the Obama years. For my family and I, we return to our roots. We marched in the 1960's against racial injustice. We marched in the 1970's against the Vietnam War. We then "grew up". We raised families. We have created careers and lives for ourselves. We have bought cars, houses, fancy computers, cell phones and trinkets that in the long run kept us warm, safe and dry, but did not mean all that much. Along the way, we lost ourselves and our values. Right under our noses, we let the simmering viciousness of the past fester and the lid has been lifted allowing it into the open. So now...
We march again today.
We march against bigotry, because when we do so, we march for all of us.
We march against ignorance, because when we do so, we march for all of us.
We march for all the women amongst us, because when we do, we march for all of us.
We march for intelligence, for education, for health care for all, for climate change, for science, for thoughtfulness and for forgiveness, and most of all, for peace.
We no longer look the other way when he appoints another rich ignoramous into office.
We finally do what we were supposed to do all along.
We do what is right. We stand up for the values that make us who we are and made our country what it was. I do not mean the "values" that those who call themselves "values voters" mean. I mean we support the downtrodden, not spit on them and ask the police to remove them from our sight. We educate our people, and start that education with the alphabet, mathematical tables, history lessons and what we used to call civics, which I take to mean teaching how to become polite and contributing members of society. We do not start the lesson with "In the beginning..."
We remove guns from our streets, and if we cannot get the politicians to grow a spine and pass laws that remove guns from our streets, we vote and remove those politicians from office.
We heal ourselves. We heal our people. We pass universal health care, because that is what every person deserves.
Most of all, we learn respect, and what the word actually means. You don't earn respect by making a ton of money and then bullying people. You don't earn respect by twittering, tweeting or whatever it is called at three in the morning because somebody called you a silly name, or just disagreed with you. You earn respect by honestly listening to people, hearing what they have to say, and then explaining yourself without demeaning those who disagree with you. You earn respect by treating people with the respect you want for yourself.
Finally, I apologize for the length of this diatribe. I also apologize because it probably is not as well written as I would have liked, and much of it probably makes little sense. There were some things over the last month and half or so, however, that just had to get off my chest and get out there so I could breathe again, let alone write. I will try to do better next time.
As I said, it has been a while since I last posted. I had hoped to have fun with this blog. I still might. After all, at the moment, the Giants have a winning record.
