The Wounds of Battle

To tell the truth I am scared. No matter how the election turns out I am scared for my country and for my sanity.

Having lived outside of the Continental US for most of my adult life I guess I had an idealized and unrealistic image of the basic principles of our country. I firmly believed that our collective sense of justice and respect for human rights placed us, as a nation and as multiple communities just a wee bit closer to Heaven and God than many countries and peoples were privileged to achieve. Acknowledging that humility was not one of our characteristics since American arrogance is a globally recognized phenomenon I was wont to shake my head in disdain for our inability to be respectful of others but understood that our unique reality of being a great nation with great opportunities and great successes isolated from others by our great size was responsible for our abundance of hubris.

And then came the Trump effect. I have watched in horror as a man who started out as a joke, a stand-up comedian’s dream come true, an icon of excess and bully mentality, an image of orange brutality and abusive behavior, a bold-faced liar and decrier of basic human decency, a power grabbing blow hard has stripped our society of pretense and bathed us in his brand of sulfuric effluence. And my horror has increased as I watch multitudes of citizens ignoring the obvious, defending his lies, explaining away his ludicrous behavior and accepting his demagogic behavior with the chant of making America great again. Where is the greatness in lying? Where is the greatness in using money and strength to commit atrocities on the vulnerable? Where is the greatness in living under delusions? It isn't as much an issue of who HE is but what he has bared to the world of who WE are. But it's done. No matter who wins we can't erase what he has done to US. From now on we will have to live with the understanding that we have embraced division and the seeding of hatred in our midst and that many, many of us have joined in his hymn of dissension and fabricated conflict.

I pray that he does not win, but America has already lost by the effect that he has had on our nation. Our wounds will outlast our bruises; our hurt will leave us with a wall dividing us within.  His platform and the thousands who chant at his side have proven that the principles of equality, fairness, justice and truth are what we gave lost. Only by renewing our faith in those principles can we make America Great Again and Trump is certainly NOT the champion of those traits.

Franklin Roosevelt said it well…"Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely."