A lazy Saturday.
That’s what I thought when I woke up this morning, and it was true for the day.
I stayed in bed as long as Sophie would let me, dozing and thinking about what
I’d do once I got up. Like fix myself corned beef hash—a favorite breakfast—and
make the pasta salad I’ve been thinking about for a week. And, of course, write
my thousand words for the day. I did all that and had a good, hard nap. I hadn’t
slept well during the night, and I dreamt during my nap of my nephew and his
kids and then of running a coffee house—my, how the sixties sometimes come back to
haunt us. Or maybe the domestic violence of the sixties was talking to me.
Highlight of the
day came when neighbors said they were coming for happy hour. They even brought
the wine and some really good cheese, and we had a lovely visit, a happy hour
that was truly happy.
But all day troubling
thoughts were beneath the surface of my activities. While Europe suffers
through terrorist attacks which unite countries in a determination not to be
beaten, we are a divided country with Nazi sympathizers and white supremacists marching
through our streets. And our president makes their hate okay to display in
pubic. In seven short months, America has gone from being the leading world power to being dismissed as a joke….and a bad one at that.
What kind of
animals honor the Third Reich? They must see the pictures of skeleton-like
people, humiliated and demoralized to the point they lack humanity, lined up
waiting to be shot. Of holocaust camp victims. I have read the theories about
fears of white genocide, men feeling disenfranchised and wanting to return to
the day “when blacks knew their place,” all the excuses for this current white supremacist behavior. None
merit a moment’s thought.
Equally as bad to
me are the people who claim the counter-protestors are anarchists and
communists. Many are people of faith, religious leaders who fight violence by
silent protest, and others, everyday citizens who, quaking with fear, feel
called upon to do protest evil. Lord protest them.
I am troubled also
by the frenzy to erase all signs of the Civil War. I’ve read those theories too—the
symbols are offensive, they weren’t erected to honor Confederate heroes but to
frighten blacks. When Six Flags amusement park forgets history and takes down
not only the Confederate flag—it was the battle flag and not the official flag
of the Confederacy—but also the flags of Spain, Mexico, France, and the revered
Republic of Texas, the madness has gone too far.
What matters is not
how things were in the past but how we treat people today—and we’re doing a
damn poor job of that, with racism, immigration laws that tear families apart
and target innocent citizens, gender bias that would govern our bathroom
behavior, laws that cut funding for the least able among us. There is an evil force at
work, dividing us, making us less than we are. Please. Let’s recognize evil and terrorism where they are, here today, on our streets and in our laws, and
fight those forces, not tilt at statues that are no more than windmills.
