I cannot believe that I am sitting here, February 2nd, 2026, in the state of Florida, the land of sunshine and warmth. I am freezing. Seeking out a pair of gloves. Wrapping a winter jacket around me. Never in all the years that we have been coming down to Florida and/or living here, have we faced such cold. Adding to the nastiness of cold weather, is that we are facing a deep freeze, a true Burrrrr, from the rest of the world.
Once we were the center of a circle of friends and allies. Even those who did not truly want to be there knew it was a must. Today, however, that demented man posing as a president has caused ice to form, causing pressure upon the circle and the alliances among the circle, intruding into the cracks between, breaking this circle apart. Huge chunks of floes and icebergs raise the height of possibility of danger of collision. Alliances are reformatting themselves, with former enemies talking trade deals to replace those lost due to the intransigence and stupidity and arrogance of Trump.
Strangely enough, even as the temperature around the world gets colder and colder, the temperature within the nation is heating up. At ever a faster pace, faster than even the direst pessimist had thought possible. Paradoxically, the temperature of the nation both plummets to the deep freeze at the same time that it is flaring into flames ever stronger, ever closer, ever more powerful and widespread, eminently more than capable enough to burn this nation apart. Furthermore, the Phoenix will not rise from the ashes of this conflagration. No heat of creativity and rebirth. Any such possibility will be smothered, frozen, rendered impotent by the ice remaining.
A major newspaper asked yesterday how did we get here? The answer is truly not difficult. Simply all we need do is look in the mirror. That is how we got here. We, the people of this nation, fell down on the job. Abdicated our responsibilities. Focused on that which need not have a focus and lost focus on that which was desperately calling out for attention. Waves of uncertainty began to waft over the land. They began to grow in size, power and noticeability. Foolishly, as mobs in the street, we just ran after one who called out how wonderful he was and lied about the good he was going to bring forth upon this land, even the world. We did not do the proper research necessary to avoid the catastrophe that he has brought upon this nation.
We now have more than the beginning, more than the sparks at hand sufficient to incite a Civil Rebellion. Within this nation! Unthinkable, and yet, here we are, at the point where the word revolution begins, where we recreate our own Fort Sumter and the roar of the guns deafen us all. We have deserted our core ethics, the principles that held us together as a nation, that tied us together as one unit, made even stronger by the powerful knitting and weaving together of the various strands that made up this nation.
We glommed onto easy excuses as to why this nation was going through rough times. We forgot who we are. Who we were. Who we are to be. And began to accept the categorization of people as subhuman, not worthy of being called Americans. As we forgot that at one time our ancestors, be they Irish, Italian, Jewish. Polish. Russian. Scottish were also deemed not worthy. But the nature, the very foundation of this nation allowed for the melding together of these strands and we moved on and upward. Accepting the best and building upon it. We all became Americans. No hyphenated forms of that. Until suddenly, the hyphens took over.
Perhaps it had always been there beneath the surface. Either that or nasty names with which they were dubbed. We forgot in our arrogance that we too were not native to this land. That we sprang, originated, from somewhere else. Even the Native Americans, the indigenous, came here from elsewhere. Thus, the question remains as from whence did these hyphens come? Why have we allowed them to separate us? No longer all Americans. But xyz---- Americans.
Perhaps much of this ugliness was given fresh life during the first half of the 20th century when world wars separated the populations of the world. It became Japanese Americans. Irish Americans, Italian Americans. Jewish Americans. Etc. It seems that we never lost the fear or the mistrust of someone who had possibly recently arrived. First or the second generation. And that distrust was exacerbated by the ugliness of World War Two. Japanese Americans. German Americans. Foreign nationals. Dubbed so, even though they had lived here. For decades. Or were even born here. But look different. Live differently
That ugliness has never gone away. It has been exacerbated by the fact that many of the more recent immigrants seeking the same things that our ancestors have different names. Different religions. Different ethnicities. So many differences. Thus, it was easy and remains easy for too many to call them out, to cast suspicion upon them, to blame them for that which they are not to be blamed for.
Their languages set them apart. Their clothing set them apart. Their prayers set them apart. Their skills set them apart. Easy targets. And Trump took that easy target. ratcheted it up in full force. With all his might. And convinced too many of us to follow along. To take the easy way out, rather than to look deep within ourselves, within our nation, and see where we went wrong, what we must do, what we had to do in order to retrieve our true selves. to find our souls once again and cleanse them.
Somewhere within one, then two, then 10, then 20, then a 1000, then tens of thousands found the truth within. Remembered who we are. Reminded ourselves that immigrants are people, just as our immigrant ancestors were. Just as perhaps we ourselves were and are. When and why did this national shame morph into government approved murder. Approval of fascistic traits and tendencies. Masked and armed. Criminals parading around with federal approval. Violence in the streets. Civilians vs federal forces. Forces which disgusted any sane and reasonable person, anyone who saw in those beatings the beatings of others, perhaps their own at other times in other ands. We allowed this and now must try to find a way to stop it. Before we become what would shame us forever in the annals of history.
And we woke ourselves up to the other ugliness. The return to dictatorial authoritarian governmental rules, forms and edicts. Of privileged characters of determination to keep the rest down. To take privileges for the privileged. None for the rest. To allow the crudest among us to declare, demand a brutalizing of the levels of culture. Of taste fallen into the deepest depths, the lowest common denominator, garish and tasteless, vulgar and self-serving.
We allowed these people to do that which was forbidden. To tear down the buildings of our nation. The White House. National Historical Buildings. The Rose Garden. And now the threat to the Kennedy Center which that man has already demeaned, debased and trashed, now planning to tear it down and rebuild in his own image. The American Ramses. Even to the point of interfering with the Smithsonian and its displays, cross the country actually, going deep into the education systems of the nation, far beyond what is necessary and allowable. That imbecile, that boor is singlehandedly along with his coterie of suck-ups, transforming the land into what it was never meant to be.
Where does this all end? Is there an end that can be seen? Can we pull ourselves out of the muck? Haul ourselves to an erect position and put aside the differences we have ginned up unnecessarily? That had been forced upon us, and that we have swallowed. Can we become Americans, one and all America as it was, as it was dreamed of and fought for and built - until, the destroyers of today arrived on the scene.
If the answers to those questions and concerns do not come up as a positive, as a yes, we can, yes, we will, then in the very near future, nearer than we might be thinking, we will have dissolved our essence. Our 'Americanness' and diluted its value with the pollution generated by Trump and his cohorts. Not only our country, but the entire world as he fractures the world order with bizarreness and havoc.
Time is a fleeting, folks. At ever faster rate. At ever faster pace. The further we go, the more difficult it will be to find our way back. Perhaps at some point we will not be able to do that. And we'll have lost ourselves to a history which was not what we wanted. Not what we strived for. And not, certainly not, what we wish to pass on to our descendants.
Wake up, folks. The alarm is ringing again and again and again.
When we forget the truth of yesterday.
We lose the integrity of today.
Make impossible the best of tomorrows.
Ticktock. Ticktock.
No comments:
Post a Comment