Day 969

Today is the 969th day that Trump has been in office.  969 days ago I wrote my first blog post about the first day that Trump was in office.  I said we would all be okay and questioned if we could go back in time and pinpoint what got Trump in the presidency and if we could would we blame his parents?  His grandparents?  

On day 969 more than 2 weeks after concerns over Sharpie pens and a massive hurricane I think I would like to revisit my comments.  After 969 days I have more to say.  Here’s what I want to say...It isn’t all Trump’s fault.

I know, I know, that sounds almost Republican.  I want you readers to just take a moment and hear me out.  After 969 days of building a wall (that I don’t approve of), of mass shootings (with guns I don’t care for), and ignoring a climate crisis (that I believe is a reality) I just don’t think it’s all one guy.

When I take a peek at the news I see people who are afraid.  They are afraid of letting foreigners into this country.  Why?  I don’t know.  Perhaps they are afraid of losing their jobs.  Perhaps they are afraid of stealing- either that immigrants will steal the benefits our country/government provides or actually outright stealing.  Perhaps they are afraid of disease.  In spite of these fears people are people.  We are all the same really.  The majority of our country came from immigration at some point.  So why would new immigrants be different from our ancestors?  I don’t know.  The world is full of refugees and immigrants.  We see other countries having challenges with the influx of a refugee population.  That said immigration is inevitable.  People want a better life.  Not a better life for no fees but a better way of life.  They want clean water and healthy food.  They want their children to have an education.  They want to be free from extreme violence.  So why wouldn’t we want others to have those things?  I know the reason I live in the US is I was lucky enough to be born here.  I could have just as easily been born in Mexico, Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, or Myanmar.  I could be running from war, sex trade, or poor farming conditions.  Why wouldn’t I be allowed a better life?  Is it fear that I would take the resources from another country?  Who gets to say that one person is more allowed to inhabit a part of the earth than another?  I don’t know.

When I see all the mass shootings going on in this country I am sad.  I am concerned.  I have friends who live all over the US.  I have children living in different cities than my own.  I can’t protect people.  I don’t know what advice to give my children to be safe.  I find myself more cautious around strangers.  Who knows where the next mass shooting will be?  Who knows what issue will set that person off?  (Will it be an immigrant who starts it?). Is the answer to have better gun control?  Is the answer to ban automatic weapons?  I don’t understand why people are allowed to go out and buy automatic weapons.  I don’t understand how banning them will become an effort to ban all guns.  Some folks feel that way.  Most of all I don’t understand why people want to kill other people. I don’t know where all that hate is coming from.   I sit in my nice house and type these missives on my iPad where I ask why there is hate.  I haven’t lived the life of someone who can’t pay their bills or who isn’t sure of where the next meal will come from for their children.  I haven’t been in their minds trying to make ends meet and been frustrated with my country, my world.  I have made mistakes and I have owned up to them.  I have also made mistakes that I am too ashamed to share.  Perhaps shame drives shooters to shoot?  I just don’t know.

I see the earth is dying.  The earth gives me so much.  It is my home, my food, my sanctuary.  There is so much beauty on this earth that is slipping away.  I know our relationship with the earth is much more about the earth giving to us rather than us giving to the earth.  However at this point I see the earth being abused.  So much trash, so much stuff, so much gas being burned for the sake of burning.  Car pool suggestions are being ignored, reducing isn’t happening, recycling is being thrown away, farmlands for produce are being used to graze livestock or build condos, crops are grown that hurt our forests and ecosystems, and starve people who deserve the goodness that all people deserve.  These facts are in our faces yet we seem to have a disposable mentality.  I think nothing of buying packaged foods or ordering from Amazon.  How is that impacting the earth?  

So getting back to that Sharpie...

A couple of weeks it seems that a major blunder happened.  Our president used Twitter (his favorite method of communicating with the American people) to bring fear and dread to Alabama by stating that hurricane Dorian was headed their way.  Why Twitter?  Is the president a super fan of communicating via sound bites vs. thoughtful missives?  Or is it because so much of our society reads Twitter?  Our news comes out at an alarmingly fast rate these days.  Our phones buzzing with the latest feeds.  Often the news is so fast that it’s incorrect or needs revision.  It’s no surprise that our president uses Twitter to quickly get his word out.  “But he was wrong and he kept repeating his mistake and insisting he was right!” News outlets have been shouting.  When the president heard the news outlets shouting about his mistake he insisted they were reporting fake news.  The president was so insistent that he wasn’t wrong.  It was as if he was afraid to admit he made a mistake.  He was afraid to admit he was human.  I mean really, we ALL make mistakes.  Even presidents.  So why are we being led by fear?  Do we as a country believe our leaders have to be infallible?  Do we fight against vulnerability?  It sure seems so.  We don’t want to let vulnerable immigrants into our country, we don’t want to admit we’ve messed up our earth, and we don’t want our president to make mistakes. 

I think it’s time to let compassion into our hearts.  I can’t force that.  I can’t go out on the street and yell, “You!  In the red sweatshirt!  You need to be more compassionate!”  But I can start with me.  I don’t need to scapegoat the planet’s problems to one guy. I can accept more diversity into my community with outstretched arms and a listening ear.  I can do more to help my home the earth.  I can hold space for the angry and listen and help to calm.  I can accept the mistakes from others.  My intention is that those actions will support others.  Hopefully those actions will motivate even more people.  At the end of the day it starts with me.