SOARING

     Soaring. That which we are most emphatically not, the wonderful Disney rides aside. In those we see a world that was, that could still be and the power we have to make magic in this world.
     But we are not soaring. No, for instead we are drowning in the muck of a world gone astray, gone mad. We have all stampeded, following the wrong people and as a result the only soaring we are doing is when we all run off the cliff and flail our arms and legs until we hit bottom.
     Why are we in this muck? Why are we allowing others to drive us into this mud, this filthy smelling heap of danger? Why are we not stopping these people in their tracks? Why, in fact, are there still people out there who maintain that the harmful 'leadership' is beneficial. They say that one is born every day, but so many? Why? I believe it is because we are so desperate that we will cling to any false hope we can find, so frightened of angering that which we cling to and too embarrassed to admit how wrong we were. And mind you, please remember that when I say 'we' it is a generalized term and for sure does not include me!
     Last nite Neil Diamond's iconic song "Comin' to America" was sung with great fervor by both audience and performer and as I sat there and sang along, my mind was roiling with questions. How do so many of the people sing this song which speaks so well of the desire to find a dream, to realize a dream, and the journey to the land of dreams - America - and then turn around and condemn the immigrants piling up at our borders trying to do the same thing we or our parents or grandparents did? Are these people not trying to achieve the same thing? Are they not the same as us? And speaking crassly perhaps, our work force is now inadequate to fill the empty work spots so why the hell are we still shouting that they take away jobs from "Americans"? No they are not. Most definitely not and hey, go ask Trump how he allowed it in his hotels. Shall we lock him up!!!!!
     We are drowning in the quicksand of the ever growing marsh and swamp of DC. Its ugliness has spread throughout the country. Gerrymandering so that votes are pushed aside and the issue of majority ruling in a democracy is a joke. In Wisconsin the Republican party had only 45% of the popular vote, but about 64% of the seats in the State Senate. Truly a travesty of the meaning and practice of democracy and these same crass and dangerous people, enemies of democracy, have gone all out in making sure that democracy will not be practiced in Wisconsin any more or at least until they are thrown out of office and this filth and destruction of democracy has spread to Michigan. Where does it end? Does it end?
     Our presumed leader is a world laughingstock, embarrassing himself and us. He is demented in the remnants of his mind, whatever little one he ever had to begin with. He is almost illiterate, incapable of understanding the law or his briefing reports or how things are supposed to be done right. He behaves as a toddler or a vicious bully of middle school and these are the sentiments and words not only of myself and so many others, but those of his supposed aides, his own people from his own administration. Parts of the reports of Mueller and the federal prosecutors of NY State have been released and it is clear that Trump is part and parcel of this whole thing, implicated in crimes, colluded with an enemy and violated every precept of democracy and honor.
     So as we attempt to soar all we see are the wounds and scars we have perpetrated on this orb of ours. We see the blasted mountaintops for open coal mining. We see the filthy and contaminated waters of our land. We see the pristine federal lands, our heritage, being dug up, blasted, fracked and totally endangered. We see the very air we breathe and that, my friends, is quite dangerous. It is replete with harmful particles and chemicals. We allow dangerous chemicals to be used again and to hell with the health of our citizens. Such is the legacy of destruction, of rolling in the muck even as pigs do. Destruction. Loss of a future. And remember, the walls that have been built to keep people out, are the same walls that serve to keep people locked in.
     No, we are not soaring. Dear G-d. What have we wrought?!