56 YEARS LATER

     It has been 56 years from Bloody Sunday, the day of the Selma march. Dogs, hoses, batons, brute force, blatant hatred - all unleashed on the marchers for civil rights be they Black, White, man, woman or even child.100 years after the end of slavery, and rights to live as people still being denied. Twenty years after WWII and the horrific concentration camps, and here we were in America, doing the same things - beating on people for who they are, for the color of their skin, for their daring to ask for equality.

And what have we learned in the 56 years that passed since then? Not a great deal - that is for sure. Hundreds of bills passed in Republican dominated state legislatures, all attempting to restrict voting rights, access to the polls, all aimed at possible Democratic oriented voters. 56 years later and what have we learned!!! What the hell are we doing? What are we allowing to happen? Why do we think it okay to move backwards in time and attitudes?

The outrageous backwards movements of people in our country encouraged people to attempt to overthrow the government in a violent upheaval on Jan. 6 and on ridiculous but dangerous visions of success on March 4, May 20, or whatever other dates they can conceive of in their benighted and deluded world. Now that these attempts failed, Carlson goes on to sing a paean of praise for them, for QANON adherents, the same ones who bashed the police, who trashed the Capitol, who hunted for victims, shouting threats to kill and even prepared a noose! But Tucker Carlson calls them "gentle people waving the American flag". Wonder if the families of the dead and the wounded will back that up.

These Big Lies continue to grow in amount and depth of gall. We even have the 'I am an orphan' defense. An 18 year old claimed that he learned his lesson and he will never do it again, never trash and invade the Capitol, never be seen inside the chambers with his looted swag or hold a baton at the ready. 2,000 pages of election related tweets and postings by Republicans re the election and the denial of the Biden victory. Acknowledgement of the role Trump played, inciting all with his violent language. This young man claims to have learned his lesson, promising he will be a good boy from now on, ignore the urgings of Trump to fight and 'take back' the country. After all, he never had left his parents before!! Really!! Allow me to do my damage and then make excuses, like the orphan on trial for killing his parents!! Claims his short stay in prison awaiting trial has taught him his lesson and isn't that what jail is for!! Gotta' love it!

There has been no lesson learned at all. 43 state legislatures are busy at work attempting to restrict rights. The denial of the truth grows apace. People try to draw a line between the language used and the actions taken, but there is no line. Words speak loudly. Words encourage people to either right or wrong and well, we know what happened. Amazingly they now say, see nothing happened on March 4 so ease up the security. Well, nothing happened because of the security, because of the lesson learned on January 6. Hear that orphan cry again?

"I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning to sail my ship." So states a character in Little Women and so must we all realize and state the same. We must learn to sail our own ships. We must learn to distinguish between right and wrong, between truth and lies. We must learn to ignore falsehoods that support twisted beliefs and learn to walk with the truth. If we do not, well, you think ahead and see if you like the picture that you see. Always remember to include the fact that hatred never ends, knows no boundaries, and is always hungry, opening a maw filled with the fires of that hatred and death.

56 years later and this statement is still pertinent. The monsters of this statement are still around, perhaps even within our own selves and/or those we love or know. Neighbors who will stand aside or participate, friends who turn into enemies. Read and think.

"What is revealed to us as the conscious mind is no more than a flicker in the flames of the subconscious. Beneath our awareness lies a forest of terrors, of all the darkness of nature. In rare individuals, these ghostly drives break free and monsters climb out of the abyss."

(The Psychology of the Subconscious Drives, by Dr. Nicolas H. Lagrand) 

I fear the petty monsters that join forces when emboldened by these leader monsters. Happened before and can happen again. It has been said that  a person does not step into the same river twice, and yet think how often we repeat the horrors and wrongs of history. Perhaps we refuse to recognize that same river or do not even care or worse, wish for it.

56 years later. Bloody Sunday. Bloody Jan. 6.