A One Thousand Four Hundred Sixty One Day Reflection
I am in a reflective mood today, hours and counting til our four year national nightmare is over. Yes there will still be remnants of the bitter, cynical and misinformed, but much of the tone, national dialogue and attitude is formed by our President.
For me these past four years have been both a national tragedy and deeply personal in many ways. As an immigrant and the child of a refugee, what trump was espousing cut to my earliest identity. But is deeper than that, as a nation, the Lady Liberty (To use a metaphor) has been weeping. We lost sight of those lofty words at her pedestal: "give me your tired, your poor..." Then we watched in shame and embarrassment as other nations collectively shook their heads at our xenophobia.
Our family was personally effected. I was put on the no fly list in 2018 and had the validity of my naturalized US Citizenship questioned and had to seek counsel. I was blest that I had the resources to do that, but I know I could have easily been counting time in an immigration detention center.
Enough about me., I watched with many of you, some in silence, some in vocal protest as to how the administration treated those in the field of science, those who had special needs, the poor, the immigrant and other. I looked in horror as the administration lied 30,000 times and denied the lethal capability of a global health scourge that has killed 400,000 of our nations souls. I could not believe my eyes that a president would enrage his supporters to commit sedition against our nation.
I looked in horror as to the greed and corruption that manifested itself on a daily basis. I stared dumbfounded at the pettiness of a president who should have been the "chief servant" among us.
The earliest political quote I learned was that of John F Kennedy when he exhorted us on that cold frosty Jan 1961 morning; "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" it is my prayer that we will live up to that challenge and distill it even further. What can we do with and for each other.
To harken to a biblical phrase: "Weeping may endureth for the night, but joy cometh in the morning" Our 1,461 nights of weeping will be over. How appropriate this phrase is for me at this moment. Don't get me wrong, I am not deluded enough to think that all of our problems will be over, or that some may ever be solved. But the solutions won't be blocked by cynicism or self aggrandizement. There is hope in me, there is excitement in my soul and there is a promise of brighter and more healthy future to come.
JMHO
HAPPY INAUGURATION DAY TOMORROW!!! Mike C
