It Don't Come Easy [View all]

[H2O Man]

“Got to pay your dues if you want to sing the blues
And you know it don't come easy
You don't have to shout or leap about
You can even play them easy
Forget about the past and all your sorrow
The future won't last
It will soon be your tomorrow,”
Ringo Starr; It Don't Come Easy


My (ex) sister-in-law and her husband took my sons and I to watch Ringo Starr's concert in Binghamton Tuesday evening. Every song the All Starr Band played was fantastic. There is something about watching the 78-year old former Beatle that brings back good memories. And I know that most of the audience – and the majority was of my generation – were reliving the same memories. Thousands of people were singing along, and hundreds were dancing throughout the arena.

In these strange and often terrible times, it is important to take time to recognize and experience the good that is around us. That's not to say we should ignore or somehow forget all the bad things around us – that is not possible. We are in one of the most intense conflicts in our nation's history. We see it played out in the media daily, with Trump, Kavanaugh, and the spineless republicans in the House and Senate. They are the spores of a poisonous plant that have taken root in too many communities across America.

Yet, at the same time, we are witnessing a powerful force on the rise. At great risk to herself and her family, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford has come forward to expose Kavanaugh as the scum he is. I had watched part of his testimony to the Senate committee with my youngest daughter, a psychology major studying women's issues. My daughter said, “There's something creepy about this guy.” I said that there is generally something creepy about conservative christian republicans who obsess over, and seek to dictate, other adults' sex lives. Kavanaugh is a prime example. I am so thankful that Dr. Ford is stepping up despite the very real risks entailed.

Georgetown law professor Heidi Feldman started a GoFundMe account to pay for the security costs that Dr. Ford has due to the numerous death threats she has received. There is a powerful force rising, to counter the poison that is violence ….and making death threats is indeed an act of violence.

I'm impressed by Dr. Ford's attorney. Likewise, with the member of the House of Representatives and the Senator that have assisted Dr. Ford in bringing this issue to light. By no coincidence, all three of these people are women. They are channeling the power that is rising in our lands.

Likewise, it is no coincidence that those publicly supporting Kavanaugh are ethically-dehydrated old white men, those very conservative christian republican toxic spores. They seek to spread and empower the most negative base qualities of our species. They fear the power of Dr. Ford, as it threatens to bring their ilk's behaviors to a dead end.

I'm old now, older than any of the songs Ringo sang. I was disgusted by the way that Anita Hill was treated not that many years ago. Certainly, those dried republican snake skins in the Senate will attempt to disrespect and insult Dr. Ford in the very same manner they did to Anita Hill. That won't change. But everything around them is changing, and they are incapable of stopping this cycle of power from rising. In terms of the November elections, I am reminded of the old Irish saying: “They're fucked.”