I know you.
You do your best to be a good employee, spouse, child, parent, friend and neighbor. You pray, often at odd times because you feel like you just can’t catch a break. Every time you get $100 ahead of the bills, there’s a doctor bill, or a mechanic’s bill to make sure you’re back to square one. Even though sometimes it’s harder than you thought, you never let despair overtake you because you simply can’t afford that. Too many people are relying on you.
Despite your struggles, you rarely pass a person stranded on the highway without stopping or at least calling to report it; you’re the guy/gal who sees an empty paper cup in the parking lot and stops to pick it up and toss it in a waste can. You teach your children to respect others, to respect themselves and to respect the earth. You never let them leave waste behind when you take them camping. You’re proud of your fishing/hunting skills, knowledge of the weather patterns and the outdoors -- wild-growing plants, herbs and animals. If you had to, you could live off the land.
You like a good joke, enjoy the company of friends and family at a simple barbecue, and watching TV with your spouse or the kids curled up next to you. You have the capacity to love.
But the past decade has been a tough one; an hour of the news and you’re ready to scream. You don’t know what to believe – who can be trusted. Every talking head has a spin. Generally you stick to the channels that claim to reflect what you believe, whether that’s liberal or conservative.
I know you.
You’re like me. We both look back wistfully to a time when employers were loyal to hard-working, loyal employees; when there was no such thing as cellphones or I-Pads and people had to actually visit, or write letters, or take road trips to connect; when you knew all your neighbors by name and could count on them to watch out for your kids, take in your mail when you were out of town and water your lawn. We both blink at some of the shows – even commercials! - on TV, shocked at how standards became so relaxed. We remember when commercials for bras were either animated or bras were shown on mannequins; when shows entertained, made us laugh, or caught us up in drama and when even the word damn never made it on the airwaves.
You’re like me. We are both frustrated with what’s become of the world - although perhaps for different reasons – and we’re both being infected.
Times have changed. No longer is optimism the order of the day; no longer is the news just the news. Day after day, night after night, paper after paper, we are given facts mixed with one-sided fairy tales and rhetoric which is divisive and hateful and which puts us on edge.
You’re like me. When you hear accusatory or derogatory rhetoric that starts with “white people…”, “women [men]…” or “Muslims…”, “Christians…” or “Conservatives…” you feel that stab of hurt. Because you know that’s not you. And it’s not fair. More importantly, you recognize that any attempt to defend YOUR honor is futile. Because people are no longer treated like individuals for purposes of rhetoric and reporting. We are – often unfairly – lumped together based on our race, gender, profession, religion or politics.
But not all whites are racist, not all blacks are violent, not all Christians are judgmental or crazy, not all women are bitches, not all conservatives are mean and not all liberals believe in big government.
And therein lies the rub. And the infection. Those same stereotypes uttered here and there by celebrities or politicians that are so immediately and roundly denounced or applauded (based on which channel you watch) are repeated by those same damned pundits in stating their position in other segments.
I know you. You just want it to get better. You just want to be less anxious. You want everyone to be less angry.
I know you. You want to return to a time when government worked – for you, when a letter to your congressman or senator was read and responded to, when you knew there was some shenanigans in DC but accepted that a certain amount of that was necessary to get things done. So do I.
On 11/8, we both voted for the candidate we thought would achieve the best outcome for not only us but for each other – our fellow American – the guy who helped push my car when I got stuck in the ice; the gal who paid for your coffee and thanked you for serving our country; the woman that fed our kids with hers; or the kids of hers that we took with ours to the movie. Average, lovely people.
Not corporations, millionaires, donors or billionaires. They made out like bandits and what did they do with their wealth? They stowed it away -- overseas, where they don’t have to pay taxes that support vaccinations for kids or school lunches. They got so greedy they fired Americans took manufacturing overseas where they can pay people $2 an hour for a 12 hour shift and find all the bodies they need. They cheated – using our money to make risky business deals and line the pockets of executives. And they bought power – they donated huge sums to DC politicians fully expecting – and receiving – their due for their generosity.
What did they do with their power? They didn’t think about kids being hungry or the couple making $7.50 an hour each trying to keep decent housing and put food on the table. They didn’t look at a planet teeming with people that has finite resources and say “let’s clean it up and see if we can’t use solar or wind” – they bought legislation that allowed them to dump waste and drill, and dig, and inject chemicals in the ground that poison our water and crops. You see, they can afford bottled water even if me and you can’t. If Enron and Worldcom and the bank failures should have taught us anything it’s that most powerful people can’t really be trusted when there’s money on the line.
Can we agree that each person should be defined not by how they look, who they worship or what they say – but by they actually do?
What’s going on in DC right now – today – is utterly unprecedented. No, not the treason part. Treason is not unprecedented; nor is lying, favoritism, nepotism, conspiracy, cover-ups, graft or corruption.
What is unprecedented is the in-your-face openness with which it is being done. There is no attempt to keep things in the shadows anymore; there’s no attempt at even a modicum of credibility, respect or ethics.
What is unprecedented is the total disregard for your welfare, opinions, positions or desires – and mine – and millions of others with which decisions are being made that impact not them – but US.
It is not their children, but OUR children who will suffer from a Secretary of Education who believes in a voucher school system designed to favor upper-middle class folks which will divert funds from the public schools that OUR kids attend.
It is not their families, but OUR families, who will get sick from contaminated tap water, bath water and crops. We can’t afford house-wide water filters, bottled water or “all organic” produce.
It is not their neighbors who will get a brick thrown through their windows because of color or religion. It’s ours - the same guy who we barbecue with all summer and whose children play with ours.
It is not their parents or grandparents who will, after decades of work, be forced to increasingly stringent financial straits because of cuts to their Social Security or healthcare. Their parents/grandparents are either already wealthy in their own right or those rich, powerful decision makers take care of them.
It is not their wives who’s chances of dying from breast cancer will be increased a hundredfold because mammograms are stripped from insurance. Their wives will get mammograms because they can afford them.
It’s not their kids’ futures they’re worried about. Their kids will go to the best schools and, because of who mommy/daddy knows will have cushy jobs waiting for them; their kids will inherit their wealth.
It’s not their relative or friend who, for one stupid mistake, will get caught up in a for-profit judicial/prison system and bear a record. Their relatives/friends? Their cases “go away” courtesy of $500 an hour lawyers; their records are “sealed” because of affluenza.
I know you. We both want a return to ethics and morals and decency and human kindness. So, how about this? How about we set aside those media-driven labels and agree on just that. Can we both agree that no one can live on $7.50 an hour? That every child should get basic healthcare and at least one good meal a day? That seniors made a contract when they spent 40 years paying into Social Security and paid insurance premiums for coverage they didn’t use while they were young so our parents could get healthcare? Can we agree that what we do in our homes, bedrooms, and doctor’s offices is our business and not the government’s or anyone else’s? Can we agree that the Deity we worship is our business too? Can we agree that no one should be forced to work 2-4 jobs to keep food on the table and a roof over their head?
Can we agree that what’s going on – right now – is a blot on our values, our laws, our Constitution and our country? That it’s an insult to the generations of men and women who shed blood and lived through sacrifices to defend America and her citizens?
Can we agree not to get caught up in the divisiveness that keeps us distracted from the real truths? The real harm that Washington politicians are doing to our families, our neighbors, our safety and our environment?