CRACKS IN THE WALL

      One character explained to another that there are cracks in walls, the walls of life. We are often in positions where we seem trapped, but there are these cracks that we must recognize, difficult as that might be. That crack is the opportunity to move on, to do better, to be a better person. It is the time when a person resists the temptation to get the immediate satisfaction of a mean statement or the release of a secret. It is a time when one grows up - though some people never do.

I wondered at that theory of life. How many of us wander through life, bouncing off this idea or that, taking petty revenge rather than moving on, being blind to the opportunity that lay before us as we ignored the crack in the wall and persisted in our negative behavior. If we ignored that crack, if we were blind to it, do we get an opportunity to find another one?

I then took an evaluative look at current events. Unfortunately, it seemed that instead of us finding that opportunity, that crack that allows us to move on, to grow, to correct errors, we consistently fall into the trap of choosing to remain within those stifling walls. We put false faces on the same old destructive behavior and think we have successfully managed to fool the world, including ourselves.

Lindsay Graham turned into some monster possessed with a new fervor to become a fierce devotee of Trump. He displayed some of the most frightening faces ever as he ranted on and raved on, all to support Trump, leaving behind the positive crack in the wall even as he bashed new ones, destructive ones. Now for the best part - he claims Trump has "magic", is magic, is the savior of the Republican party. Lord help us. What is his magic? Is it the rotting odor that arises from hatred? Is it the rending of the country, magic in the power to do that? Is it the magic Trump seems to have as he skates through life avoiding consequences?

We all seem to have lost our way, become blind to the opportunities of positive effect as we lose ourselves somewhere not in a good way.  People have no patience, allow politics to take over issues of health and everyday life, and yesterday there was a massive fight in a Bath and Body Works store, and one wonders at the 'magic' that now pervades this country, at the loss of vision of the population, of their inability to move on, to pick themselves up and carry on in a constructive manner.

We appear to want it all without taking responsibility, like toddlers who cannot understand cause and effect. A Georgia family takes on a heavily involved role in organizing transport to DC on Jan. 6, are physically caught up in the day's activities, and when called out about it, sues the one who mentioned it!! Seems it is now fashionable and allowable to do whatever one wishes and then bow out from the consequences, playing the 'who, me?' game of children sent to the principal. Is this the magic that Graham so admires? This is the same type of magic and admiration that led to a Hitler. It is the same magic that leads to unthinking lock step behavior - no thinking, no morals, no morality, only lockstep obedience to negativity and nastiness.

Life has changed. Like the character in the Walking Dead, confused, demoralized, who states that it “feels different, like everything good in the world is not on our side anymore.",  we are missing the cracks in the wall that are there before us, but also demand better vison, better thinking, and lots of hard work. She is told that if that is the case, well, we rebuild again. But today we seem to have lost that heretofore American get-go, that optimism, that energy, that attitude that allowed us to pick ourselves up and try again. It enabled us to find the crack in the wall with the positive ending, rather than to bash ourselves against the wall in insane behavior.

Folks, we need to find the cracks in the wall, the opportunities that lay before us, if only we  recognize them. We need to fix the apparent cracks in our heads, in our faulty thinking, in our humanity. And I sigh as I contemplate this increasingly ever more impossible task, so deeply are we mired in the wrong way of life, in the blindness of hatred, in the denial of the humanity of all. When 56 years after we pass a Voting Rights Act, long overdue then, we find ourselves fighting this same battle, well, wake up, folks. The cracks in the walls are closing even as the cracks in the firmament of America grow apace. We need to recognize the differences and choose appropriately. Can we? Will we? Do we even want to?

Answers? Anyone? Someone?