A 2020 Vision

As scary as these political times are here in the United States of America with a whole party apparently willing to be complicit with a lying, grifting, dictator-loving, Constitution-shredding president, I still have moments when I wonder how effective a single voice can be (especially on social media). Then I come back to the Einstein quote my oldest daughter taped on the door to her room:

“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.”

We must speak out. We must resist. Silence always favors the oppressor and condones the ill treatment of minorities, women, handicapped people, veterans and all others whom the president has despicably attacked.

A new outreach tactic I’ve tried is to present a single issue for discussion versus a long list of justifiable grievances against the GOP. How ‘bout gun control? It is sad that parents can have moments of paralyzing fear just sending their kids off to school.

“I get stressed Every. Single. Morning. of Every. Single. School. Day,” wrote my Nashville cousin.“[My kids] are in 1st and 3rd grade and regularly practice hiding in their classrooms during Lock Down Drills, often coming home bragging about their hiding spots being the best.”

The knee-jerk reaction of all too many people to the topic of gun control will be to reference the 2^nd Amendment, even those who haven’t read it and don’t know that the words well regulated and security are among the first nine. I say a right is a right, but still in question is the degree of the right. Can we legally own and park a howitzer out on our front lawns? I think not.

I took this issue in the form of this Sandy Hook video to a younger cousin, who lives in North Florida. If you go by the latest Quinnipiac polling (separated out for white without a college degree), he would be 58 percent likely to approve of the current occupant of the White House. My hypothesis was my cousin’s reaction would most likely include one of the following responses:

A) I don’t really pay attention to all that [political] stuff.

ONE TRANSLATION: I’m a certain type of person who can afford to not be engaged and/or ignorant because my rights aren’t in jeopardy next day/week/month/year.

B) I’m sick of both sides.

TRANSLATION: Both-sides-ism is garden variety conflict avoidance, a lesser but still reliable shelter of white privilege. OR you know your political party is totally off the rails, so you cite how an opponent is not perfect – and who is? – with the conflation allowing you to sweep it all under the rug of wrongness and proceed to your next brainless talk about music or sports.

C) No response

TRANSLATION: None needed. See conflict avoidance. And perhaps more proof that with so many more ways to communicate in this modern age, we still often don’t.

And my cousin’s response was [drum roll please]… alas, a combination of A and B: “Honestly, I haven’t really been interested in politics since 2016. It just seems like the politicians have gotten real childish since then.”

Then he offered a ray of light, some caring consideration: “I like talking environmental issues more than foreign or domestic policy. If the earth can’t sustain itself, all these other things people argue about are irrelevant.”

Maybe, just maybe the kids are alright.

Photo by Yassin Mohammadi on Unsplash

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The Man of the Year

Thank you, neighbor, for your great example and impact on others.

It’s been said that the measure of one’s character is how you treat the people who can do nothing for you. I’ll take that even further: tirelessly giving to and aiding others when you yourself are hurting or desperately in need. My friend and neighbor Colin is that type of person.

“She has had the year of Job,” said a partner at an Atlanta-based marketing communications agency. “Really just the year from hell.”

He was referring to his employee Heather and Colin’s colleague, who in the very first week of 2019 suffered a catastrophic heart valve failure. Colin was there at the scene to render aid and also in the hospital room for many long hours after the 29-year-old received emergency open-heart surgery and while the out-of-towner’s family traveled to be by her side.

Colin was also there in Dallas about 10 months later when a tornado ravaged Heather’s neighborhood. The good neighbor and Good Samaritan ended up at his coworker’s condo helping her salvage as much as possible. Imagine Heather with all that the year had already thrown at her seeing her car totaled, ceiling caved in and precious mementos destroyed. This time Colin was the out-of-towner following his huge heart and lending a helping hand when the stakes and stress were so incredibly high.

During this whole stretch Colin’s only brother was dying of cancer. In fact, my neighbor barely had enough time to fly home from Dallas, turn around and rush down to South Florida to say goodbye to him.

Colin would write about his brother’s “mindset of service… that he touched so many, impacted so many… All we can take with us is the impact we have on others.”

Amen, friend. It’s definitely and thankfully a strong family trait.

 

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