OF WINDOWS AND DOORS

     Windows and doors. Ways to get in and out of a house or room, ways to beautify one's abode or ways to lock oneself away from the world. Whatever we make of them tells us a lot about ourselves and the state we are in.
    We all know the one that states that when a door closes a window opens and versions of such. Trite, possibly true, but also not necessarily so. Today we are in a situation where we are more than gradually shutting windows and doors, blocking off the light from them as we make the home we choose to live in a site of separation and abandonment. Within that fortress of our own making we have closed off the windows and doors, made it a prison for ourselves and a trap for those who would break it open and let in the sunshine and the fresh air. Jamie Lee Curtis had nothing on  us in her fortified home in the new Halloween. We have made ours far worse and more frightening.
     Living in the dark, by choice or by force, causes a lessening of eyesight and vision. That is the situation we are in right now. We have chosen a damaged personality to lead us who has corrupted our windows and doors and is busily engaged in blocking off the rest. Instead of welcoming the lifeblood of the country, new immigrants, the same people who use democracy themselves and vote - yes, VOTE - to re-form the caravan, Trump shuts them out, demeans them, dehumanizes them, using the same techniques of dictators throughout history. And the sad, very sad and dangerous thing is, that those who follow seem to be ignoring history and we all know what that means - repetition and not in a good way either.
    We have a Trump who lies and lies and the truth never passes his lips. His tongue is forked in the vilest manner. He insults people in a personal manner and thinks he is oh so clever, even as he is simply vile and ignorant. He can neither read nor write nor speak in any kind of proper manner and the situation grows worse. Just follow his speeches and his tweets and this downward trend is easily visible. He believes that it is okay to renege on promises and use Native American names as an insult, ignores the truths of science in every field one can think of and yet, one wonders why he is still in office.
     Our windows and doors are not permanent nor invincible. We must work hard at keeping them open and operating, clear and available. We need to choose the correct windows and doors to keep our society visible and viable. We need to keep our treaties, not pull out of a nuclear armament one. We need to deal with the opioid crisis rather than approve another, even more addictive one as we are just about to do. We need to stop this nonsense of tax cuts and fake tax programs even as the rich get more and more privileges, becoming like the nobles of old who paid no taxes, but the peasants and the middle classes sure as hell did!
     We need to honor the truth. Honor the journalists who seem to have become prey for the dictators and haters of the world. We need to hear the truth about their deaths, the war against them and not believe the lies their murderers tell in their denial. Hear the truth. Believe the truth. Demand the truth.
     And we need to keep the hope of a Democratic victory this election. The Republicans are whipping their hate filled masses, their deluded souls, urging them to get out and vote, to keep out the rest of America. We, those who still hope for a country that we remember, that we learned about, that we valued and treasured, that gave us pride in being her citizens, WE must get out there and counter their votes. WE must vote the right way, the only way that will insure our future and in fact, the future of the world. 
     Closing the windows of science does not stop that science from becoming true. Closing the windows  of love and honor, of truth and justice, of morality and hope does stop the good dead in its track.   Graham Greene, in The Power and the Glory, says that  "There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in." I believe that, but also see that there is a time in supposed adulthood when we can close that door to all that is good about humanity and destroy ourselves.
     Salman Rushdie, in The Moor's Last Sigh, states, "In the end, stories are what's left of us, we are no more than the few tales that persist." The question is here whether we will allow those few stories that remain to be positive or negative. Will our stories be those of opening windows and doors or of nailing them shut?
     Want to open those doors and windows? Want to keep them open? Want your story to be a good one, a positive one, a proud one? Then you know what to do.
        VOTE       VOTE        VOTE