THE POINT OF NO RETURN

     How many times have we used that phrase or heard it in shows or read it in books. It is a point wherein the harm that has been done, or the path that has been trodden, has brought us to a tipping point, a point where there is no way to stop, to return to that fork in the road where we took the wrong one. That is the point of no return.
     The question today is whether or not we have reached that point and if so what to do about it? If so, do we just give up? Do we make all the new accommodations, the ones that will sap the very souls, the very humanity out of us or do we decide that there is a way to stop the reckless and seemingly no return path and fix the mess. Read the following excerpt from an excellent novel - The Man From Berlin - and see if it helps you formulate thoughts that have been roaming around your mind these days.
     "So the question is this:If a policeman is allowed to act without restraint - to the boundaries of what is permitted, and perhaps even beyond - will he do so? If not, what will constrain him. What holds him back?Will the law, will his society, his conscience, show him clearly not every goal sanctifies every means? And perhaps
even there are means that cannot - ever - be sanctified.
….What I am saying to you, is you have reached this boundary. You may even have gone over it before. ....It does not mean you must always do so. There has to be something to come back to." 
     Herein we perhaps have asked and answered, even given us encouragement along with the scolding and the warning. Not every thing under the sun is worthy of crossing the line for and yet there are some that do demand that action but, a great big but, we must be able to measure and evaluate. We must also make sure that there is nothing of the selfish and harmful for personal reasons within the action and its reasoning.
     The main character of this novel, and two that follow, and hopefully more to come, is a man who is lost within the fog of war and the war with his conscience as he attempts to deal with his losses and his job. He felt "that the track of his life was a scar that hid what was and what might have been. ...Was there a chance? To change the track of that scar, alter it...? The past was what it was, and what might have been, could have been - should have been - ....The past could not be changed, but the future was different, and it was here, now. It always has been."
     This is a dark, yet rosy, take on life and what we can do to change situations, especially those that are wrong, evil, seemingly past the point of no return. I wonder about that as I read of the efforts to tally just how many kids we separated from mothers and fathers, how much permanent trauma we have inflicted upon them and upon the soul of the nation? I wonder how the GOP members sleep when there are kids out there homeless and hungry, tossing and turning, perhaps part of that mile log homeless encampment along a bike path. Most homeless do not want to be there but have been driven there through the malevolent winds of society - and that society is composed of us. Period. We cannot say we are cutting the budget and do it on the backs of the weaker elements of society, especially when we cut the taxes and give more money to those who do not need it, who have multiple homes throughout the country and the world, who can spend thousands upon thousands of dollars at posh hotels. Palm Beach County alone has spent $13.7 million for trips to Mar a Lago, for golf weeks as\nd weekends, this for the man who chided Obama for playing golf and meanwhile he has way, way played more - and tweeted more garbage and hate than any other public government figure that I can think of.
      The point of no return. The point wherein the poison spewed forth on a second by second rate from that man's mouth is contagious. It is the scarring of our past and our present. It is what happens when, as they say, "good men do nothing", but it is more than that. Good men need to DO something. We here in America are at a point of no return. We have already crossed the lines so many times, allowing the criminality of this man and his henchmen, the absolute moral shame of the Senate and those who lie and cheat for this man, for his power to so overwhelm us, that deeds and remarks that would have destroyed other presidents are washed off with the next breeze.
     If we are to succeed in changing the immediate present and the future, we must act. We must do. We must leave no law unturned to bring low this man and his cabal who would destroy our America, our democracy. Think I exaggerate? Not so. What do we say when the National Archives!!!!! changes pictures of the first Women's March on Washington, blurring the anti Trump signs, blotting references to vagina because "children might be shocked and harmed' - by what, perfectly correct language? Better to spew hate and nasty names? Censorship is here, powerfully so. It is already hiding much of what has made us a great country, endangering the Constitution that has kept us going. What next? What next?
     Only we, you and I, can answer that question. Act. Protest. Write officials. Join marches. Get out the vote. Vote for a strong woman just as well as a strong man. Make sure you vote for one who will reunite our country rather than further the divide. Vote for one who is inclusive of our diverse society. Remember the salad bowl of our fifth grade class, describing the strength of our society? We need that again, not the plates and dishes which separate us into separate, never mixing compartments.
      It is our choice. It is our responsibility. We must force the curve on that road to the point of no return. We must, for if not, our children's future is lost - due to our inaction, stupidity and greed. We have been patient, more than patient, for more time than we should have been. Now- "Beware the fury of the patient man." (John Dryden) Let us fulfill our destiny, our responsibility, our hope for the future, set and be an example and inspiration to the world, and cover over the scar that has been made to this point. That scar of a misbegotten reign must be stopped, it having reached the point of no return and met the power of the people.