DEAL WITH IT!

A week or two after President Trump’s inauguration in early 2017, I confided in a friend that I was becoming more and more anxious every day over the prospect of having to live under an administration I viewed as not just morally corrupt, but downright evil.  It bothered me that America was being led by a man hell-bent on destroying everything good and noble about the country I love.  I shared my concern that Donald Trump was a wannabe dictator wrapped in sheep’s clothing, who would dupe a large segment of our population into pursuing the creation of a fascist society with “The Donald” as its deified ruler.  And then I confessed that the notion of having a sexual predator who boasted of his conquests leading the United States disturbed me greatly.

My friend responded, “Deal with it!”

There’s something about those three words that cuts my heart like a knife, and if there are three other words that can end a friendship faster, I haven’t found them yet.

“Deal with it” is a heartless retort under the best of circumstances, and it’s even crueler after the individual on the receiving end has acknowledged a vulnerability or difficulty being experienced in his or her life.

It does raise an interesting question though.  How is one to deal with the likes of Donald Trump?  Go mad?  Play dead?  Pretend he doesn’t exist, or delude one’s self into thinking the President has no power over ordinary lives?  None of those options sound healthy, or even effective for that matter.

A better answer is to find your voice.  Fight back!  Give witness to Trump’s lies and refuse to fall silent to the evil he peddles on a daily basis.  That’s how I will deal with it.  In the coming months you can count on me being heard, even if the number of my listeners can be counted on a few hands.   

A WIDESPREAD DISEASE CALLED CRUELTY

Several months ago prosecutors in Cocoa, Florida declined to press charges against a group of heartless young men who stood idly by a pond’s edge and watched a disabled man drown.  As the drowning man floundered in the water in a desperate attempt to reach safety, the young men videotaped his last terrifying moments on earth without offering assistance.  Instead, they laughed at the dying man and joked about his misfortune.  Charges were not filed in Florida because cruelty is not illegal in the Sunshine State.  It’s not illegal in most other places either, which is probably why so many people give so little thought to the cruelty their actions and policies wreak.

Cruelty is primarily born of ignorance, so it’s worth noting that according to Webster’s Dictionary, cruelty is defined as “a desire to cause others to suffer, the quality or state of being cruel, and actions that cause suffering.”  It is also worth noting that people aren’t born cruel.  Cruelty is a learned behavior, and children can learn to be cruel just as easily as they can learn to be kind.  That’s why it’s important for children to be taught early in life to recognize cruelty in all its forms and take steps to avoid it.

People say the world is a cruel place, as if that’s the natural state of our existence, but that viewpoint ignores the reality that life is largely what we make of it, and most if not all of the cruelty we experience is caused by human beings. 

Why does cruelty matter?  It matters because cruelty is a festering cancer that eats away at a person’s sense of compassion and their ability to empathize with fellow human beings.  Left unchecked, cruelty destroys a person’s humanity, and when it metastasizes beyond the individual and starts infecting large segments of society, that society’s health and well-being are gravely endangered.

Desiring others to suffer is the easiest form of cruelty to recognize, especially when the person or group or government that harbors that desire carries out a grandiose display of violence that reaches out and grabs our attention.  It would be a mistake, however, to think that cruelty is limited to the dictators and despots and terrorists of the world.  We all have our moments when we’d like to see others suffer, especially in situations where the target of our ire has wronged us, committed a horrible atrocity or harmed children.  Plus, it’s easy to confuse cruelty with punishment.  There’s a difference between the two.

Webster’s second definition of cruelty - the quality or state of being cruel – sounds like a no-brainer to recognize, but people often lose sight of their own cruelty when they believe actions  justify it.  To this point James William Fulbright, noted U.S. Senator and humanitarian once observed, “In the name of noble purposes men have committed unspeakable acts of cruelty against one another.”  Fulbright was right.  In World War II, the Nazis claimed national interests justified their murdering six million Jews.  Today, ISIS, al Qaeda and the Taliban routinely justify their cruel displays of murder and mayhem as acts in service to God.  Nor is America immune from cruelty.  In the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, American agents routinely tortured prisoners of war and justified the cruelty with claims that it saved millions of lives.  Cruelty prevails because it’s easily rationalized. 

The third form of cruelty – actions that cause others to suffer – is the most prevalent, but also the most ignored.  That’s because people minimize their own role in causing others to suffer.  Rationalization helps, too.

Now that we know what cruelty is, it’s time to recognize the vast amount of cruelty that surrounds us and own up to the role we play in allowing cruelty to propagate.  It’s cruel to rip children from the arms of their parents and lock them in cages (12,800 as of this past August) for following a mom or dad across a line in the sand.  It’s cruel to mock the disabled for the crosses they bear in life.  It’s cruel to denigrate the sacrifices of soldiers, just as it is to devalue the humanity of one’s adversaries.  It’s cruel to take food from the mouths of the hungry.  It’s cruel to prevent the sick from access to medical care.  It’s cruel to deprive the elderly of their dignity in the waning years of their lives.  It’s cruel to sexually molest children, just as it is to tolerate or sweep it under the rug.  It’s cruel to leave a child suffocating in a car on a hot summer day with the windows closed, and it’s equally cruel to suffocate future generations with an atmosphere too heated and polluted to breathe.  It’s cruel to poison a person’s food or drink, and it’s just as cruel to do so on a global scale.

We see, hear, and read about cruelty on a daily basis, and maybe the constant bombardment has desensitized us to the pain and anguish cruelty creates, but being oblivious to cruelty is not an acceptable excuse when it comes to the suffering of fellow human beings.  Like it or not, we are our brother’s keeper.

A WALL FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP

It is not very often that President Trump’s wishes align with the wishes of liberal-minded people like me, but when they do it bears noting and taking time to consider the possibilities generated by that alignment.  President Trump wishes to live behind a 30-foot high wall and he wants people other than himself (preferably Mexican citizens) to pay for it.  Occasionally, the President has even suggested that the wall be topped with barbed wire (to prevent would-be rapists and criminals from crossing it) and again, his wishes align with the wishes of liberal-minded people like me.  That might seem a bit unusual, even foolhardy to suggest, but really, it’s not!  According to a survey of Americans conducted across the political spectrum in late 2016, almost sixty-six million Americans agreed with the need for President Trump to get a wall, and many were liberal Democrats like me who thought that America needed all the protection it could get.  Yeah, that’s YUGE!

There has been much discussion over the past two years regarding the kind of wall that would satisfy the President’s demands.  In fact, eight prototypes have already been erected near the Otay Mesa port of entry in San Diego, California, just across the border from Tijuana, Mexico.  If you Google “wall prototype images” you can take a look at them yourself.  If you ask me, those prototypes are aesthetically bland and fall short of the standards befitting a President like Trump.  First of all, none of them are gilded in gold, so that’s disappointing.  Next, the all-cement versions look like an open invitation to graffiti artists on both sides of the border, and the last thing we need are graffiti artists messing with the border’s natural beauty.  The vertical slat prototypes are similarly underwhelming.  They remind me of the cheap vertical blinds that beach-front condo owners regularly install.  Blinds like that have a habit of breaking whenever something bumps against them.  I worry that a similar kind of wall at the border would allow drug cartels to slip their products through the slats with ease, and emaciated children from Central America could slip through, too.  Both would provide bad optics for the President.

And it’s not like there aren’t better wall options available.  Officials in Florence, Colorado have already built a prototype wall that fits all the elements demanded by President Trump.  It’s big and it’s beautiful, and while it meets the height and protection requirements that Trump envisions, including barbed wire, its biggest selling point is that a person can actually look through the wall and gaze upon the majestic snow-covered peaks of the Rocky Mountains.  It’s the kind of view folks kill for. 

Many of my liberal brethren were initially skeptical of Trump’s campaign promise that Mexicans would pay for a wall, especially when the Mexican President at the time said, “That ain’t happening!” (only in Spanish)  Even today, many liberals question why President Trump had to shut down the US government over a demand for a $5 billion dollar wall down-payment from Congress, when the money was supposed to come from Mexico.  Shouldn’t Trump be shutting down Mexico’s government instead?  I admit there’s a certain logic to that way of thinking, but many of my liberal brethren simply do not get the fact that President Trump doesn’t need logic or critical analysis to justify his decisions.  His gut suits him just fine!

FOX news has reported that a GoFundMe campaign for the President’s wall has already raised $17 million dollars, which might sound like a lot of money, but that’s just a drop-in-a-bucket given the $18 billion dollar price tag that President Trump’s wall carries.  That amount also pales in comparison to what we liberals would raise to make the President’s wish to live behind a wall come true, if only he would log off Twitter long enough to act presidential and recognize that he’s got more in common with Big Mack-eating liberals than he realizes. 

President Trump has also been critical of Democratic opposition in Congress to a wall being built, but I think the President is overlooking the forest for the trees.  Millions of liberal Democrats like me support a wall for Trump.  I have personally spoken to eleven of my like-minded peers and we are of the unanimous conviction that President Trump should get the wall he deserves.  In fact, all of us would volunteer to start digging the foundation if Congress would finally get off its butt and make it happen!  

IMPRISONED BY THE WALL

Tomorrow, we Americans will build a wall.  The day after tomorrow, we will send our soldiers to guard the wall.  The day after that, our soldiers guarding the wall will start shooting anyone who tries to cross the wall.  The day after that, we will celebrate the wall's efficacy, and the day after that, our President will proclaim that Americans are finally free to live as our forefathers intended us to live - safely behind a wall guarded by soldiers who shoot anyone trying to cross it.

Many years ago, people built a wall between east and west in a place called Berlin.  The next day, soldiers appeared to guard the wall.  The day after that, soldiers guarding the wall started shooting anyone who tried to cross it.  The day after that, the wall builders celebrated their wall's efficacy and their leaders announced that those living behind the wall were finally free to live safely as their forefathers intended.

Many years later, an American President named Reagan scolded a Russian President named Gorbachev and demanded, "Tear down that wall!"  And when the wall in Berlin was torn down, the people living behind the wall were filled with elation over their newfound freedom.  They celebrated with singing and dancing in the streets, and when the last bit of the wall's concrete crumbled, they wept for joy till dawn.

For centuries, men have built walls to keep people out, only to discover that walls function best to keep people inside them.  And those inside are not free, for they are trapped behind walls of their own creation and imprisoned in a fortress with precious little room to breathe.

Americans have spent centuries expanding their horizons, and when they reached their physical limits, they began to spread their message of liberty across the globe.  They even reached out to touch the stars, but that was yesterday.

Today, we Americans are a fearful lot; a people seeking the false promise of protection from a wall that will imprison us.  Hopefully, years from now, a Russian President will scold an American President and demand, "Tear down that wall!"  And when the wall is torn down, our children and our grandchildren living behind the wall will be filled with elation over their newfound freedom.  They will celebrate with singing and dancing in the streets, and when the last bit of the wall's concrete crumbles, they will weep for joy till dawn.

CHILDREN, GUNS AND LEADERS

Great leaders will sacrifice guns to save children.  Poor ones will sacrifice children to save guns.

THE STATE OF OUR DIS-UNION

My fellow Americans, it gives me no pleasure to acknowledge that the state of our union is cracked and divided, wounded and festering, dysfunctional and chaotic. We have trashed and discarded many of the principles that have made this Nation great – compassion, intellect, fairness and a recognition of individual dignity.  Instead, we have elected to engage in the narcissistic pursuit of money and power. We have abandoned the noble goals of pursuing life, liberty and happiness for everyone in favor of securing those bounties exclusively for ourselves. In the process, we have shredded the fabric of our society to the point where it is barely recognizable, because America is no longer united. You can “boo” if you like, but remember while doing so that you are booing the man or woman in the mirror.

Albert Schweitzer, the Nobel Prize winning theologian, philosopher, physician and accomplished church organist, famously noted that “the purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.”

Unfortunately, here in America, a land blessed by God with abundant natural resources and a boundless sea of human ingenuity, we’ve corrupted life’s noble purpose of serving others to one dedicated solely to serving ourselves. It’s a sad state to be in, but one of our own making. The poor and outcast are no longer pitied for their suffering; they are despised, scorned, ridiculed and unfairly stamped with a mark of shame that labels them as lazy, ignorant leeches sucking at the public’s teat. Is it any wonder that against such withering attacks on human dignity, broken communities and broken families and broken individuals would sink to the lowest depths of human despair? Jesus would say, “Open your eyes to the suffering that surrounds you,” but for far too many Americans, such words are repugnant and revolting. This is why America has lost its soul.

And then, there are aliens…not the Martians or creatures from a distant galaxy, but the poor, tired, huddled masses, yearning to breathe free, tempest tossed as they seek the sight of our Statue of Liberty’s golden door.  Those are the same aliens about which Exodus so eloquently commands, “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” Or what about Leviticus, which millions of Americans are so quick to quote – “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” I mention those passages because you cannot pick up a newspaper without reading that President Trump says that immigrants from our southern neighbors are all rapists and criminals, and other politicians are complaining that Syrian refugees, tens of thousands of which are women and children fleeing the ravages of war and starvation, represent a grave danger to the American way of life and should be turned away without mercy. This is why America has lost its heart.

And what happened to American intellect and our wealth of human knowledge? Sadly, it has fallen in value to the lowest common denominator known as ignorance. Americans champion ignorance. We really do. Take the term, “ivory tower.” It originated in the Old Testament’s Song of Solomon and was used to connote noble purity. Today, it's mostly used as a derogatory term describing individuals who have pursued higher education, suggesting they are foolish and disconnected from the realities of the world in which we live.

The ancient Greek philosopher, Diogenes once claimed, “The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.”

“Hogwash,” we reply as a Nation, often espousing an even harsher sentiment whenever out tax dollars are asked to support the teaching of our neighbor’s children. And when we do reluctantly open our wallets, we insist on teaching a sanitized version of American history, a stilted and incomplete analysis of our human bodies, a censored rendering of American literature and a review of the principles of science and nature that sounds more like an Aesop’s fable than a  rigorous exercise of examination and questioning. This is why America has lost its intellectual advantage.

“What of fairness,” you ask? “It’s gone,” I reply. Fairness is being just.  It’s impartial.  It’s honorable and tolerable, even pleasing. Fairness is the opposite of discrimination and social exclusion. It is recognizing inequality in all its insidious forms and making a concerted effort to rectify the situation. Unfortunately, all the virtue that lies within the principle that Americans used to call fair play has been cast aside with all the pomp and circumstance of manure on a dung heap. America's justice system is knee-deep in racial and economic prejudice, but a majority of Americans are more concerned with maintaining the right of government clerks and bakery shop owners to discriminate against their patrons.

There was a time in America when fairness meant that people who worked hard were entitled to a living wage for the fruits of his or her labor, but tens of millions of Americans…let me repeat that, tens of millions of Americans are working a forty-hour week and aren’t being paid enough to raise their heads above the poverty line. And then when the working poor start clamoring for a raise in the minimum wage, the captains of industry and investment cry foul, along with the politicians they bankroll, and claim they cannot afford to pay the bill. Never mind that the top one percent of Americans control a staggering forty-three percent of America’s wealth. This is why America has lost its drive for equality.

I wish I could say that America stands as a beacon of truth, but I’ve seen enough television commercials and political ads to know that, paraphrasing the words of Jack Nicholson’s character in ‘A Few Good Men,’ Americans can’t handle the truth. That’s why we keep deluding ourselves with such notions as “reducing taxes on the rich creates jobs,” “poor people are lazy,” “people who go to church are the virtuous ones,” “money in politics doesn’t corrupt,” “intelligent design is good science,” “climate change is not our fault,” “more guns are the answer to violence” and “people who don’t think and act like we do have no value.” Yes, those are the notions of a seventh grade intellect, but hey, at least they’re not living in an ivory tower.

The recognition of individual dignity and human worth used to be considered a virtue, but in America it’s not any more. My beliefs trump your beliefs, or your beliefs trump mine, depending on who holds the reins of power at any given moment. Compromise has become a dirty word, not because we’re incapable of achieving it, but because inherent in the concept is a recognition that other people’s beliefs have value, too. That doesn’t work in today’s America where getting one’s own way is valued more than the collective aspirations of our entire society. This is why Americans are no longer united.

The First Amendment to our United States Constitution guarantees every individual the freedom to practice the religion of their choosing, or no religion for that matter, and religious tolerance has strengthened the fabric of our society over the course of our Nation’s two-hundred and forty year history. Sadly, that fabric is rapidly unraveling under political pressure from large groups of American Christians who display no tolerance for or appreciation of the religious beliefs of others. Religion is supposed to be uplifting and inspirational to help us connect with God, build a better world, and improve the lives of our neighbors in the process, but far too often in America religion is wielded like a battering ram, destroying the lives and limbs of all who stand in its way.

If I sound cynical, it’s because I am. Moral and theological purity were never meant to trump the necessity of being kind to one’s neighbor, but you’d never know it by tuning into Sunday morning radio or the self-identified righteous who foul our public discourse with the stench of their hypocrisy. There’s a reason Christ hung out with the poor and the ostracized, and it had little do with their need to be saved. It turned out that they were the genuine folk, the people who could look their neighbor in the eye, understand his or her predicament, display true compassion, and with little material wealth to share, reach out a helping hand. .

Many of you are wondering whether all is lost in America, and my answer is a resounding, “No!” There are millions of people in this Nation who are still guided by the hand of empathy and compassion. Millions more appreciate the intrinsic value of education beyond the number of dollars it adds to one’s wallet. Others understand the need for universal justice, the kind guided by fair play and available to all who seek its protection. There are many people in America dedicated to seeking truth, wherever it is found, and in whatever form it takes, and who are willing to speak that truth, no matter the opposition or consequences. And there are many who, in the deep recesses of their hearts, want the courage to hear the truth, if only we could find a way to empower them. They represent my hope.

I remember the idealism of my youth, and I’ve witnessed how years of human misery, and broken dreams, and the resulting distrust can chip away at the veneer of all that is good and possible in this Nation. I still nurse a candle of hope, however, because in the words of the English poet, Joseph Addison, “Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.”

GOODNESS OVER GREATNESS

Winston Churchill once remarked that “good and great are seldom in the same man,” and given the popularity of the recent campaign slogan – Make America Great Again – it might be prudent to question whether that observation also applies to nations. After all, history has bestowed the title “great” on numerous countries and empires over the centuries, but that accolade was largely due to grand military conquests, longevity, vastness of land holdings and the number of subjects under thumb, not on the innate goodness of its people, its ideals or its deeds. That is why scrapping a national drive for greatness in favor of seeking simple goodness seems like a worthier cause. At the end of the day goodness, not greatness, is the better virtue.

On its surface the pursuit of greatness is an understandable endeavor. Who doesn’t want to be number one, with all the accolades that accompany such a lofty position? But here’s the thing - greatness without goodness is like a trophy collecting dust on a bookshelf. You can look at it and wax nostalgically over glory days long passed, but futures aren't built on trophies. That's because trophies dont last. Ask any archeologist what things withstand the test of time, and he or she will tell you it’s the simple things that last – molded stones, pots, pans, eating utensils and tools. Occasionally great artifacts are unearthed, but do your history and you will find that those too were created mostly by commoners seeking nothing more than having a bit of goodness in their lives. The great people got the credit. The good folks did the work.

Still, you can’t argue with the notion that seeking greatness offers a measure of satisfaction that seems to quench a person’s thirst for power and control over events and situations that are largely beyond their reach. It’s part of the human condition and of growing up. I remember with great fondness when my youngest daughter was three-years old and took on the mantle of a superhero, who along with her sidekick “Super Shadow” (her stuffed puppy) rescued many a victim in distress with the assistance of a bright red cape and a felt Mickey Mouse cap from Disneyland. She wore her cape and cap everywhere – to church, the grocery store and even daycare – and no amount of pleading or cajoling could convince her otherwise. My daughter is now a grown-up young woman.  Her childhood desires for superhuman status have given way to mature aspirations to do something meaningful with her life. She recognizes, and wisely so, that a cape and super powers are no longer necessary to leave a positive mark on the world. All it takes is the desire to do good and the willingness to put forth the effort. It would be nice if more Americans felt that way.

Maybe my horizons are not that broad, but as it turns out I don’t know a single great person in this world. What I do know are hundreds of good and decent folks with kindness and empathy in their hearts, who are not callously indifferent toward the suffering of others and are genuinely committed to bettering the lives of everyone they meet. These good and decent folks are not interested in greatness or the accolades that accompany being the person or nation on top. They are not a band of Silas Marner enthusiasts, collecting treasure as an empty measure of self-worth. Rather, they are people who make the conscious daily choice to open their hearts, and yes even their wallets, to the possibility of bettering the lives of all humanity. Good folks do not revel in the hollow notion of supremacy. They understand that the difference between good fortune and calamity is often the product of forces and circumstances beyond their control, and but for the grace of God go they.

Does goodness involve a measure of naiveté? I think it does. Why else would our Christian messiah caution that only those with the heart of a child would attain salvation? And why is it that only the meek and the mild shall inherit the earth? Isn’t there a special spot in Heaven reserved for a nation that can kick butt and destroy humanity three times over in the space of an hour? Doesn’t possessing a majority of all the wealth on earth count for something? A lot of people think so, but I’m not one of them.

There is no goodness in denying food to the hungry or access to medical care to the sick as the powers-that-be in Washington are preparing to do. Building walls and degrading women and killing enemies are not paths to goodness, despite what politicians might say, and if that’s what it takes to achieve national greatness, don’t expect my support. I’d rather be good than great.