I'm just a little writer, a five-foot nine writer,
sitting behind my computer punching keys. I didn’t come over on the boat, but
my ancestors did.
I write, not because a ton of people read me, but with
writing perhaps I will gain some understanding. For as Isaac Asimov said
“Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers.”
After the Republican nominee was selected in 2024, I
went into mourning for a month. My daughter and I were railing against the
possibility that that nominee could be elected.
Then, when Kamala Harris spoke at the Democratic
Convention, I leaped for joy. For a moment the heaviness lifted. I believed in
possibilities. Joy could again ring throughout our land.
I was wrong.
I thought women would rise up in mass, "No
way." They would say. "You are not disrespecting us again. You are
not taking away our rights to medical help in times of need. You are not
allowing our little girls to be impregnated and then allow them no choice. How
many of those pro-lifers have had teenage sex? How many single mothers raised
their children alone? How many old farts have gone to sex parties where they
were served underage girls?"
I was wrong. Not enough women said that.
After the election, I figured I wouldn't read about
what was happening or write about it.
I was wrong about that, too.
But the rattling sounds came to me from the Midwest to
the West Coast—it was of democracy being attacked, of freedoms being
dismantled, of people being frightened and shipped off. Like a train wreck, it
was impossible to ignore.
And then a lady Bishop, like David standing up to
Goliath, spoke out to the giant to be merciful to vulnerable people.
That took courage.
Now she is being attacked for disrespect, for speaking
from the pulpit, her turf, the church.
If she had called out the President in private, it
would not have caused a ripple.
Yes, we have separation of Church and state, but this
was a person-to-person comment and having an assemblage of governmental people
waltz into a church under the guise of tradition certainly brings the image of
the state into the church.
And the complainers probably don't know that in 2022,
this Bishop, while ministering to a group of protestors—bringing masks and
such, were dispersed, (security brought Billy clubs and tear gas), so that the
nominee could walk safely to the front of the church, the very church where
Bishop Budde officiates, and hype his Bible for sale.
Didn't the Christ of the Christian Bible throw the
money changers out of the synagogue?
I understand that many thought politics was corrupt,
money was running the government, our administration was funding the wars, that
the rich were getting richer and the poor poorer. They saw that the middle
class was melting away.
We were told we were living in garbage cans, our
cities were insulted, lies were flying, data couldn't be believed, people were
being demonized, science couldn't be trusted, and there were differences of
opinion regarding Earth Warming. Yet, probably lurking in the backs of many
minds was the probability that the earth would not survive, and thus, neither
would they.
We Homo sapiens can handle fear and stress in
small doses, but when it is continual, it wears down the spirit.
Without HOPE, the spirit dies.
Our still small voice, our intuition, our spirituality
was drowned out by the blooming of rhetoric.
Time was ripe for a despot to step in and
tell us he could "Make America Great Again.”
Americas didn't see that America was great
already.
Our country is like a living individual; it makes us
ashamed sometimes, does wonders other times, it grows, evolves, and sometimes
takes one step back while taking two ahead. But underneath it all, we know it
beats with a proud heart, and that it is step by step, inch by inch, moving
forward.
But Americans wanted a quick fix.
We, the people, were peddling as fast as possible to
keep our family together, raise our kids properly, keep them safe, manage our
finances, make ends meet, and worry about the media's effect on us personally
and the country in general. It was bombarding us at every turn.
When a pandemic hit, it brought on an
entirely new set of problems—deaths in our family,
fear for our lives, our elders at risk, and when inoculations came, many railed
against them saying they were not safe that they would damage us, they weren't
tested sufficiently. We were sick because of additives in our food, we didn't
eat properly, and we needed someone to save us.
We lost jobs. We lost businesses. We lost
our support systems. There was a rift between friends, spouses, and lovers. All
the while, the media kept fear in front of us.
We knew that Russia had influenced the earlier
election, but I guess not many believed that they would do it again. Keep those
Americans off-kilter, and they are easily manipulated.
One side said we were being lied to. The other side
said the same. We knew we were being lied to. One man was clear with it. We
could see lies coming directly from his mouth. At least we knew what he was
about.
Was it an entropy (a gradual decline into disorder)
that happened? Was our system wearing down? Did we allow our morals,
truth-telling, and respect for our fellow man to be eroded? Didn't we hear the
bashers coming and didn't stop them? Did we feel powerless and, therefore,
needed someone to save us? Couldn't we tell the difference between a despot and
a Messiah? Did our belief systems totally blind us to other ways of thinking?
Did we not see that opposing forces were beating on
our doors while we were allowing the media to tell us what to think?
Looking at it, it's no wonder we are in a
mess.
It's time to put on our big girl panties
and get to work.
Will we let a group of big-money people tell us what
to do? We are Americans. We built this country with our bare hands. We tilled
the soil, moved west, championed women's rights, and put Unions in place so
people would be paid a living wage, and be treated properly. We freed the
slaves, brought about Civil Rights, and had our lives saved by the black,
white, red, and yellow physicians, chemists, and researchers.
We've been inspired by all races and sexual
persuasions —writers, songwriters, entertainers, motivational speakers,
ministers. We gave women the right of choice with their bodies, we saved cancer
patients, we eradicated Polio, and we gave new body parts to people who had
faulty ones. We have seen children born with defects live their lives through
science, research, and innovation. I once held a little baby with leukemia.
They knew he would soon die, and he did. Now, children with leukemia are being
saved, living out their lives through the advances in medicine. My sister-in-law
died of breast cancer in her 40s, and now women are living beyond it. I lost my
mother to cancer when she was 48. Now, although not eradicated, there are many
cancer survivors—my husband being one. The present administration is attacking
cancer research, too.
Don't tell me America isn't great. We brought water to
people who needed it. We brought food to those who were starving. We are
Americans. It's time we looked at what's good instead of what we don't like. We
have the power to change and to advance; we've done it before. We will do it
again.
Remember Grassroots?
They changed our culture, our medical field, and our
nutrition.
We were all immigrants at one time. We came here to be
FREE.
We ought War Bonds, we gave pots and pans to help
defeat Hitler. We protested wars we felt were wrong. We won't be brought down
by someone who does not understand all this—a man who has no empathy and has
never walked in our shoes. We have mercy. We care for our neighbors. What in
the heck are we doing folks? We forgot for a moment, but now we remember.
We're Americans.
And we were once smart enough to chase the
fox out of the hen house and to fortify that structure, so he never got in
again.
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