ANY VACANCIES?

  Well, we have almost certainly done it. We have just about reached the Rubicon, are ready to cross it, perhaps there are boats out there already, but this Rubicon is different. When we begin to cross it en - masse, well, that is a river, shall we say, of another color, the color of betrayal, of loss, of non thinking, of an enmity that should never have been. This Rubicon consists of the blood of our ancestors, our friends, our neighbors, even our families, and it cries out in despair. As the Bible reminds us, the blood of our brother does speak.

Do we even realize what we have done? Do we even care? Or are we doing it purposely? Are we so busy,  fascinated by the sound of our own voices, with the amplification of dangerous, outrageous words and concepts that we neither see nor hear the envelope ripping, our pushing it so violent - or worse, is that what we want? Do we really have so many of our own citizens whose goal is to destroy this country, to rip it apart for good?!

We have taken to twisting words, using them to push the knives in deeper, perceive victory as the total destruction of opponents, along with the destruction of this country. Even should it survive in name, it would be in name only, as all the concepts upon which it was, is and should always be founded are being crushed beneath the feet of ALL of us. Yes, Democrats, Republicans, apathetic people, non thinkers who think that politics is a game they can opt out of - all are guilty. When will they realize this? When it is too late and what we have sown, we will reap.

Yes, MLK spoke in his Dream speech of a time when people will not be judged by or for their color, but for their virtues, their abilities. He did not exclude anyone from that realization or that Camelot time. He did not say that White people should be ashamed of their skin color, though honestly, the only 'white' people, truly, are albinos! And most Black people are actually shades of brown. Does it matter? Most certainly NO!! In any case, no one is to feel personal shame, disgrace or guilt because others of their race or gender or whatever trait you choose, did something wrong.

 Yesterday is not today and our grandfathers, good or bad, our grandmothers (of course, always good), are not us. Whatever good they did, we must keep, build upon, value. Whatever bad they did, whatever they neglected to fix or did not see the need to fix, well that is our job. But nowhere, no how do we feel shame personally. 

There is good and bad in every race, every ethnicity, every shade of skin color, every division one can think of. No one is immune from this fact. We all share in the need to improve, but we need not, do not, have to feel personal shame for the deed of another. What is upon all of us, is to insure that we, today, do not repeat previous errors, or  aggravate the situation even more, thus actually go backwards in results. That is what should shame us. That is what we need to fix. There is enough going around for all to share; no need to go looking for the burdens of others and adopt them as your own package of guilt. Responsibility to improve upon, yes. Guilt? No.

Just look what we are doing these days. We are talking of redesigning the flag of this country, designing an alternate for the Olympics?! What the hell! The same Olympics that ignored safety alerts re the Israeli delegation , enabling the atrocity to take place? The same Olympics that had the games go on, never mind the slaughter? The same Olympics that cowardly, refused to confront athletes for drugging, or for countries who drugged and abused their own athletes in a twisted sense of pride? Nationalism? Sheer stupidity!? No, we honor own own flag and if we are uneasy with some errors committed in its name, well, then we fix that, but keep the flag.

If we truly are to honor the meaning of the words of MLK and others who understand that a human is a human, period, then we do not vote in restrictions to voting. The GOP has lost its way, now wandering, in a jungle of backward thinking, in vicious attempts to turn the clock back, to rescind rights that belong to all. They threaten, in their  state of delusion, that they can force a group of Democrats to vote; who have fought against this by absenting themselves from the legislature, hence canceling a possible vote - at least for now. Texas authorities, and what the hell is the matter with Texas anyway, in the voice of Gov. Abbott, says, " Once they step back into the state of Texas, they will be arrested and brought to the Texas Capitol, and we will be conducting business," . 

But democracy is the polar opposite of that. Forcing people to vote, rigging the game, crying foul where there is none, or the foul was committed by themselves, well, that is more likely to be under fascism or communism, any dictatorship flying a false flag of freedom, but most emphatically is way the hell and gone out of place here, in my America. Your America.

Why does the GOP cheer on the possibility of democracy in Cuba when they trample on it here? Why do "progressives" and that term is questionable, shout about White guilt, increasing the divide? Why have we all apparently lost our collective minds? How and why has this happened? How do we fix this situation? Can we even achieve that in any case? Or have we all crossed the Rubicon in the wrong direction already, too many to change the outcome? No more vacancies in the motel of sanity?

How do we fix a situation where truth is ignored? Where people cheer on their own deaths, reject proof, facts, as their own sicken and die, all because they, in deep delusion, believe this behavior is 'American", patriotic. How ignorant! How wrong! Or when DeSantis, a candidate, he hopes, for President in the next election - and who knows how that will work out after the wrecking ball finally stops - uses dumbed down slogans even as his state, my state, is undergoing a surge of yet more COVID, especially worrisome with the new Delta variant. But stupid is stupid, wrong is wrong. Division is division, only getting deeper, more acute, the longer people deny the truth, refuse to acknowledge their own part in this existential situation.

Want to feel shame? Want to impose shame on others? Need guilt in order to get up in the morning? Then look out your window. Open your door. There are no troops out there - as of yet. Most people can still vote. But we are attacking our own country from within, elating our enemies and dismaying our allies. We are the ones who are guilty of this. Divided as we are, we cannot unite to fight the true battles of our time. Climate change. Eternal warfare. Starvation, drought, desertification and floods, health and education, and the list is ad infinitum. We cannot concentrate on that for we are wasting our energies and capabilities, rather working towards our own demise as a democratic country. What a shame! What guilt we will then feel.

Too little. Too late. Are we there yet? The eternal cry of trips. In our case, a bad road trip indeed. I hope and pray we never 'are there' yet, or at any point in time. Perhaps a futile hope. We will see.