Are We Only in Remission?

 

Like many, I have been genuinely concerned about the future of our Democracy and the state of our nation. Witnessing the growing division and growth of partisan vitriol on both sides of any given issue was painful. The outcome of the election has produced an entirely different painful reaction. It feels like what a cancer patient must grapple with when they are informed that a new, experimental treatment can push their cancer into remission, but it could come back even more virulently. Do they rejoice and celebrate the good news or fear the possible return of the disease?

I have tried to understand how a large proportion of our citizens could overlook the obvious flaws of #45 and still endorse and embrace him. What could possibly prompt good people to decide that lying, cheating, bullying, abusing, manipulating, etc., etc., etc., were less important than (fill in the blank). I know many Trump supporters and I know they are not racist, misogynist, cheaters, liars, dishonest people. But they are willing to support someone who undeniably is. Why? What was so compelling that they looked the other way? What cancerous malaise invaded our population so that a man so narcissistic that he cannot recognize his own incompetence could not only aspire to the highest office in the land, but gain it?

I believe it was that very narcissism that clouded our ability to see beyond the boisterous braggadocio. We came to believe that it was about HIM. We failed to look behind the man, to excise his person from what his supporters think he represents for them. They did not vote for lying and cheating. They voted for what the lies promised them. Because his announcements were always about himself, about how great he is, how astounding his intelligence is, how respected he is, we failed to extract him from the lies and genuinely consider the reasons the lies resonated. Over 70 million people voted for a deeply flawed man AGAIN; that’s over 70 million people who wanted to believe the lies, KNOWING they are lies. If those who worked and prayed for an end to what was clearly a nightmare for us want to ensure that the cancer does not return, we must search for ways to treat the source of the cancer. We must root out the carcinogens that threaten our collective well-being. Those ranting, chanting hoards of rally goers are still out there. They still believe that government status quo ignores them. We better not.

The Force of Evil

In 1960 my family moved to a small suburb north of Paris, France. In an effort to spear our learning of French our parents enrolled my brother and me in the local public school for our first year there. We were immediately immersed in all things French; learning that paper tissues were frowned on, that teachers expected us to bow our heads when we passed in front of them, that the preferred doneness for steak was nearly raw and that only 15 years prior there had been a terrible war that changed the lives of everyone around us. I was 12 years old and I suspect that I became aware of the pains of war and the hatred that perpetuates man’s cruelty to others a lot sooner and a lot more vividly that most of my compatriot American school children living on the mainland.

To add another dimension, we had moved from Baton Rouge, Louisiana where we relocated after living three years in Cuba. So, when we started saying “Oui” instead of “Si” I had already witnessed a revolution in Cuba and had felt the racial inequality of Louisiana; confusing my youthful mind. To me, racism was obviously wrong but here I was in a place where doing wrong was supported and approved by many, either tacitly or directly. Why were so many people around me oblivious to the obvious?

In France there were constant reminders surrounding us of the battles and inhumanities that had only recently been perpetrated there. Fifteen years after the end of the war there were still bombed out shells of buildings as testament to the ravages of war. At a very early age I began to ponder the question of evil; of the force that can influence and motivate mankind to engage in and perpetuate bad behavior. It is easier to understand how one person can be evil than how that one person can entice others to join in the evil. Hence, an early preoccupation with the phenomenon of Hitler. How was it possible, I would wonder, that so many people followed this man? How could it be that everyday people who were engaged in earning a living, cooking food, raising children, taking care of aging parents, enjoying a soft breeze and stealing kisses from loved ones could allow, even promote, the institutionalization of evil? Eventually, I concluded that Hitler and his success was proof that a quantifiable force of evil DOES exist and that it is capable of entrapping, ensnaring and deviating the human soul, en masse. Some would call this force the Devil. I also believed that whatever the force was that deviated the souls of so many during WWII it would never again invade humanity because the world had seen the Devil incarnate, had witnessed the power of evil and had suffered the consequences of allowing evil to wield its power. Mankind would never be so guileless as to allow their collective souls to become entranced and misled again.

But I was wrong. It is happening again. Multitudes of everyday people are once again embracing inhumanity. Behavior and tactics that are blatantly immoral and improper are now cheered and supported by hundreds of thousands of people who only a short time ago would have rejected, forthright, even an insinuation of accepting such behavior. Once again decent people have been lulled into accepting abuse and cruelty as the norm, malfeasance as a logical strategy to success, and mistrust and lies have overtaken confidence in authority and reverence for the truth. How does one do battle against a force of evil? How does one help lift the veil of confusion that has engulfed so many and led them to forego the values they have been raised to revere and respect?

As history repeats itself and we witness the gradual destruction of decency one cannot help but mourn the demise of the ideal that gave birth to our nation. The desire to ensure strong national borders is valid, commendable and even necessary. But there is a right way, a humane way, a way that sustains the belief that the United States is the beacon of hope and the defender of human rights. And there is a wrong way. A way that manipulates the truth and abuses the vulnerability of the least of us. A way that saddens the soul and confirms that THIS iteration of evil has so twisted the hearts and minds of those it has grasped that many angels will be required to bring it under control. Lord, have mercy on us.

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."