PLEASE: Break the Chain!

This post is for the “Ladies” – especially the “Ladies” who are my Dear Facebook Friends: 

You’re smart; really, really smart… some of you have come through unimaginable battles of all kinds and in heroic fashion. You’re savvy and have the kind of common sense that glues families together, troubleshoots and solves problems, and which ultimately provides the warp & woof of the tapestry of life.

I mean that in all sincerity. I “get” you – I am, after all, one of you.  I’m in the Cosmic Sisterhood, just like you…

Now here comes the “Bam!” Sometimes you let yourself get railroaded… and you are so nice and so genuine you don’t even see the insult when it slaps you in the face.

What the hell am I talking about??? I am talking about you being played… sucked into fake piety and absurd religiosity coupled with manipulation.

Please, please, please STOP with the insipid chain letter fake prayers, OK? You know what I’m talking about – I know you do; hell, in the last 10 days I’ve received 600 of the damn things. I get it: You mean well. You like me… you may even love me… but I like and love you too and I can’t stand to see you played for ninnies.

Let’s look closely at what exactly it is that I’m writing about: Although there have been many others, right now I’m specifically referring to the current chain letter that is circulating like an infectious virus on Facebook.

It begins: “Dear God, the sweetest woman is reading this and is beautiful and amazing. Please help her live life to the fullest and bless her in all she does!”

Yeah, OK, well that seems benign enough… but wait… immediately thereafter the sociopathy begins and the next sentence is this: “You are now on the clock.”

Huh? I’m on the clock? What clock? Whose clock? Is this God’s clock? The same God you just asked to bless me because I am beautiful and amazing???? That same God?

Then comes the subtle pressure, the shrewd psychological “gotcha’ moment” – having been prayed for, you are now being set up to perform… to jump through the hoop.

But wait: there’s something in it for you… there is a treat the other side of the hoop:

“In the next 9 minutes something will make you happy.”

 Yeah: in the next 9 MINUTES… not 10, not 5, but NINE minutes… the clock ticks on… Why 9 minutes? I don’t know but it is probably calculated so that it takes you exactly 7 minutes to read the damn thing and then forward it 15 times… so you have 2 minutes to wait for your miracle…

It never DEMANDS you do anything (at least not yet) but you will probably do it whether it makes a demand or not… why? Because this person has said you are beautiful and amazing and asked God to care for you and help you and beyond ALL THAT… as if THAT were not enough… in NINE MINUTES something will happen to make you HAPPY. What a miracle!

Does it say if you do NOT do what it is about to ask that you will not be happy? No, that would be too brazen – brazen even for the sociopath who first created this damn message… it is more subtle,  beautifully crafted for a woman’s heart: If you don’t do what it is about to ask… you will hurt someone.

You will hurt the sender. And of course there is a name attached to this message… SHE will know… SHE is keeping score…

Follow me now: You have received an unsolicited prayer and then for doing nothing but existing you also get a miracle… a 9 minute miracle no less… so even if you think that’s a bit absurd you’re a nice person and you think “oh how sweet…” and so (most likely) the majority of women will do as asked… especially since there is a “please” attached:

“Please share this with 15 girls you love. Remember, only for ladies.”

Girls? Is that a Freudian slip… the writer quickly adds “only for ladies.”

So now you need to be selective… you need 15 gender-specific people who are not just women (or “girls”) – they are ladies. This, of course, is value laden.

And WHY would you do this…???

Well, GUILT.

This wonderful friend, this lovely person who called you sweet, beautiful and even amazing… who prays to God for you and sent you the miracle of happiness in only 9 minutes… now, of course, this friend hopes you will include her in this expanding circle… because if you do not… IF they “don’t get this back…”

Well, then you’ve hurt them! You’ve pained them! You will have told them they are “not a close friend” (how can that be?! Maybe they aren’t -- but you do not want to actually TELL THEM THAT, right?).

But most of ALL: this one line almost compels performance because if they don’t get the chain letter BACK – they will KNOW you not only don’t care for them as much as they care for you… maybe you don’t have any friends… or believe in prayer… or you’re not nice…

And then the writer circles back to the original “request” only this time there is no “please” attached; it has morphed into an order:

“Once you read this, you have to send it to 15…”

You did nothing but READ THE DAMN THING but now you “have to send it to 15.”

But, hey, not to worry: it’s not “that hard” – and of course it really isn’t that hard… if it were hard, then the chain letter would die but it is not meant to die… it is meant to endure… and the longer it endures, the more “ladies” will do as they are told… how many? Well, even at 50% that’s a lot of ladies doing as they are told… (hell, I received 600 of these damn things so right there, with just my experience, we have quite a few maids a milking…as the song goes…).

Sure, it may be inconvenient but what the hell… THEY DID IT, right? The sender took the time BECAUSE….because “Whoever sent this to you must care about you.”

So, there you have it: THEY CARE OUT YOU!

C’mon folks: you are all brighter than this!

This particular chain letter is a feminist’s nightmare. You know why it’s so carefully crafted for “ladies”? Because there’s not a man out there who would bother with this shit. Not a one; at least none I’ve never known.

There is something uniquely clever about this chain letter – about how it appeals to the heart of a woman… What a sin that is – to use those very traits that are so beautiful to manipulate so adroitly.

Friends, whoever wrote the first chain letter was a sociopath… maybe a mini-sociopath in training but they were a sociopath and the sociopathy continues… I remember when chain letters were hand-written and mailed and then after the internet became common they came to us packaged as email… and now they are delivered via Facebook. Today we even hide behind the alleged incompetency of the Post Office... "what? you didn't get your chain letter back? gee, I sent it to you the same day I received yours... how odd..."

Proving, I suppose, that shit not only happens, it adapts and persists… and may even get nastier.

PLEASE: BREAK THE CHAIN!

This chain letter, as with all chain letters, has no power over you. It has nothing to do with God, prayer, blessings, miracles, loving your friends, or being loved by anyone. It is no better than snake oil and voodoo… and if you’re a woman of faith, then you should recognize it as blasphemy.

Now, let’s talk about faith.

If you believe in a Divine Creator, that is wonderful. If you have cherished friends, that is wonderful also.

If your faith is such that you believe prayer is beneficial, again: That is wonderful. If you find it in your sweet heart to pray for your dear friends then, of course, that is wonderful.

Whether you choose to tell your friends you hold them dear and remember them in your prayers... well, my goodness, that is up to you – but if you think they will find it comforting, then please tell them – but do it in your own words and words that are respectful of your intelligence, as well as your faith.

Please let me add one more thing: I believe in a Higher Power and I believe in the efficacy of genuine, heartfelt, faith-based prayer. I also believe in the remarkable power of love and friendship and the blessings they convey.

I want your friendship; I cherish your friendship. I am especially humbled when that friendship is richly nuanced by love and if you want to pray for me… well, thank you.

I appreciate your prayers. I welcome them. Hell, I need them too…

But please, my friends, in this day when we all bemoan the effects of the Dumbing Down of America and decry what has happened to our country because so many of our fellow citizens seem to have lost their minds and abandoned all powers of critical thinking… do not succumb to the absurd and the blasphemous.

Develop a deep connection with the Divine… not a little girl’s connection, not that of a 5 year old who thinks of a Creator as another Santa Claus or Sugar Daddy… but as an unfathomable force that transcends our puny ability to comprehend but yet calls to our deeply spiritual need for connection to something eternal and universal.

Prayer and meditation are beautiful journeys… they will both take you somewhere that is special and will be unique to you. Find that sacred space in you… let it teach you how to connect with something so much more profound and meaningful than our temporal existence. 

You’ll find it so much more rewarding that circulating chain letters.

And when you get another chain letter, I won’t mind at all if you email back to the sender the link to this post.

Stopping the Dumbing Down of America begins with the little things… just like this…

Please, break the chain. 

Well, so much for the egg rolls...

Several days ago I ran into a local Chinese restaurant to place an order to go... it's a restaurant with a bar and of course a TV... as I was waiting for my order I saw Fox News was on in the bar and some blonde Fox chick was skewing the news as usual. There were 3 men in the bar and I noticed they stopped talking and started to listen to the Fox blonde blather on... I couldn't hear what she was saying but I could hear the men and one of them in particular who said "that bitch Hillary."

That really frosted me... so I walked right up to the bar and peered at the television screen for about a minute and as I did the men fell silent, watching me. Then I turned and said to them: "This damn Fox News... they have no shame. I never listen to them without hearing at least one lie about something."

DEAD SILENCE.

The more inebriated of the 3 (but not so drunk he was incoherent or falling down) said under his breath "fucking liberals..." and the others laughed.

I turned and looked at him and asked, "What did you just say?"

He sneered at me for a second and then said to his buddies "fucking liberals... where were they when we were in 'Nam, huh? Smoking dope in Canada..." and the others sort of did a "yeah atta' boy."

I never advise wading into danger or provoking a fight but honest to God something sort of clicked in me and as I looked at those 3 very average men, probably all 3 of whom would kindly stop and help me dig my car out of a ditch in a blizzard, it hit me: Those guys are my PEERS. We grew up together. Maybe not literally but we're close in age and share many, if not all, of the same American cultural experiences.

How did we get to where we now stood, in our 60's, sneering at each other with so much contempt and misunderstanding?

The idea that I didn't care about him or all of the other kids who served in 'Nam just broke my heart but it also infuriated me.

I cannot begin to count the letters I wrote to so many kids with names like Mike, Steve, Chris, Kirk, and Bob -- kids from my Northside Chicago neighborhood -- who served in that goddamn idiotic war... or how many times I baked chocolate chip cookies and packed them in popcorn and sent them overseas... or how many times I got into trouble at my Catholic girls' high school for writing a letter in a class or study hall when I should have been focused on school work. How many times did I cry myself to sleep? How many times did I watch, grim-faced, as Dan Rather spoke to America from some godforsaken rice paddy and told us all the ugly truth? As a freshman I wrote to the older brothers of friends... over time, over four years... I began to write to a boy I loved... dearly, dearly loved.

But most of all I cannot explain what it was like to be on the military side of Chicago's O'Hare International Airport as the flag draped casket of a 19 year old boy came out of the belly of a cargo plane... and the years after... all the years after... 

"My country: love it or leave it" was often said in those days... but I remember saying "NO! I'm not leaving! I love my country and that is why I HATE this... " (or that...). I have always understood that patriotism is treasonous when it is blind because it tears away at the fabric of a nation like acid on cloth... patriotism must be an embrace of responsibility, a demand for what is just... it can be nothing less or it fails.

And as I stood there waiting for shrimp egg foo yung and two egg rolls I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that those 3 angry men would not harm me.

You may say it was naive but it's not: If you had been there, you would have seen what I saw -- just some old guys who once were young guys... guys who received chocolate chip cookies packed in popcorn by sweet young things like I once was... so long ago.

Oh we were all such nice kids then... they were handsome and brave and girls like me were sweet and naive... oh God that was so long -- so very long -- ago. 

I spoke softly but firmly:

"I want to tell you something, OK? When you were in Vietnam people like me, and our very intelligent liberal leaders like McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy, were doing everything possible to get you home, preferably in one piece -- you know, before your legs or balls were blown to bits in a damn muddy rice paddy? You get that right?"

They were silent; I continued: "Frickin'-A you get it. Frickin-A."

The silence had grown most uncomfortable.

"You hate liberals? Well, I hate old men who send young men off to senseless goddamn wars... wars that kill boys like the one I once loved so dearly... yeah, frickin'-A right I do. And now look at you: You're here today and probably collecting VA benefits or Social Security because of the fucking liberals. Wow. What terrible people we are. Fucking liberals. Liberals who didn't want you to die and now don't want you to starve. Fucking liberals."

Then I saw a totally horrified-looking little Oriental lady holding my brown paper bag with my order in it.... (and I think the people who run this place are actually all Vietnamese, not Chinese)... seriously, the poor dear looked stricken.

The silence was deafening... another Oriental, a man, came out from the sliding doors behind the bar; he wore a dirty apron and held a humongous cleaver... he looked more puzzled than stricken... and he and the woman holding the bag with my dinner in it said something to each other in what I think was Vietnamese while the 3 American men averted their eyes.

I took my order and said "thank you" to the lady and then to the 3 angry American men I made it a point to say "Merry Christmas, guys. Glad you made it home."

But as I walked out the door I heard one of the men snarl "fucking liberal bitch" one more time -- only this time the other two didn't laugh.

Two out of three: Well, that's a start I guess.

I got into the car, steamed up with Shadow's panting hot breath on a freezing cold night, and said to him as we drove away: "Shad, the good news is I think we can recover the high ground one day... but the bad news, pal, is I don't know where the hell we're going to get egg rolls anymore..."

I'm Furious with so many of you...

You know how as a parent or aunt or uncle or grandparent, even as an older sibling, you naturally respond differently to dumb-ass accidents versus truly egregious stupidity?

Your parents did that, right? So did some of your teachers. Haven't we all stared dumbstruck at the teenager who suddenly acts no brighter than a cabbage? You think, "What the hell happened? Did he just sustain a blow to the head?"

You cannot begin to fathom why in the name of God an intelligent child just did something so colossally stupid it's mind blowing -- and you find yourself saying in the most withering parental terms, "Have you lost the brains God gave you?" and "What the hell were you thinking?"

Maybe he thought it funny to give his little sister a cigarette or a beer... maybe he thought it reasonable to ride a mountain bike off a steep hill into the field of possible death...

We all know that the same child who once demonstrated the most remarkable insight, calm response in a crisis, or common sense far exceeding his or her years can suddenly, almost over night, seem either possessed by the devil or suffering organic brain disease.

This morning I woke thinking of a dear friend's son, Neil. When he was only 5 years old, Neil demonstrated astonishing intelligence and calm that saved his babysitter's life. His sitter was a 17-year-old girl who went into respiratory distress from a life-threatening asthma attack.

Neil called 911 and reported his babysitter, Lisa, "can't breathe right" and "I think she's choking" (his exact words). We learned later that the 911 dispatcher told Neil to stay on the phone with her but he said he couldn't do that; he told her (and this is the funny part) "hold that thought, OK? I have something to do..." -- and so he did: Neil had the amazing foresight to put the family's German shepherd in the basement because he knew the dog would not let anyone into the house unless his parents were there. Then he unlocked the front door so the paramedics could enter and went to the end of the driveway to wait for them. When he saw them he started jumping up and down and waving them into the driveway lest they miss the house.

As to the dog, Neil explained later that "Baron would never let them in the house and they'd have to shoot him to save Lisa." It was true: Baron was the best dog in the world but there would be no way in hell that 105-pound German shepherd would allow a bunch of strangers to storm into the house in all their first-responder outfits and gear. Baron would have died before that happened -- unless of course he was told to stand-down... but Neil said he didn't think Baron would obey him because (as he also explained to his parents), "You weren't here and Baron loves me. It's his job."

Let me repeat: Neil was five years old. Actually, I think he was 2 months short of being 5.

Now let's fast forward to the day, ten years later, when I prayerfully sat in the Surgical Waiting Room with Neil's distraught parents and grandparents as a team of surgeons tried to put Neil back together again. That 17-hour surgery saved his life but Neil would have to undergo many more surgeries over the next 4 years.

I was there when the police explained to his flabberghasted parents what actually happened; they pieced it together through the tearful admissions of Neil's remorseful friends and the more coherent testimony of two adults who witnessed it. The adults, a couple who were hiking the trails that day with their dog, said they saw Neil at the top of a high hill clearly preparing to ride down the hill the wrong way... it was a treacherous path that would hurl him directly into huge rocks and boulders in front of a stream with a fast current (the stream, by the way, was relatively shallow and also loaded with rocks).

The adults started yelling at him that he was going the wrong way (to the jeers of his friends who were egging him on with "Do it Neil!" and "I dare you Neil!"). Neil ignored the adults and unable to execute an Evil Knieval over the boulders and then land in the stream, proceeded to smash his body into the boulders -- some of which were the size of a small car.

Neil, one of the smartest little kids I've ever known, fractured his spine in 2 places, broke a dozen other bones, and suffered a brain bleed.

There was no cell phone coverage in that area and that delayed calling for help. Also, it took almost 2 hours for the emergency responders to reach his smashed body down that dangerous ravine, stabilize him for transport and bring him up to the ambulance.

I remember his parents' relief when one surgeon from the surgical team told us the surgery appeared successful and Neil was stable and in recovery. His mom sobbed and his dad just stood mute, still in shell-shock.

Eventually, as the full measure of Neil's recklessness and sheer stupidity set in, I saw the parental anger set in also -- and boy did I understand. It's when the crisis stabilizes somewhat and you have time to think about "what could have been" and you say a really furious "WTF?"

Neil's dad was particularly angry. He kept saying "I don't get it... he's such a damn smart kid..." and then came "If Neil survives this, I swear I'll want to kill him myself..."

I think all parents get this...

Neil had clearly somehow lost those proverbial brains we like to believe God gives us all at birth.

And here's where I'm going with this... Neil came to mind this morning as I realized how angry I am; how really, really damn angry I am.

I am just fricking furious.

I see myself standing over a shattered entity on life support and through my tears I am coming to terms with another feeling I do not want to have and yet I do... and I hear myself whispering, "America, what the fuck were you thinking?"

America, have you lost all the brains God gave you?

Boy, if you survive this... I swear to God I'm going to want to wring your bloody neck...

Hold that thought; I have things to do but I'll get back to you...

We can get THERE from HERE

I've needed some time... I've had so much to process and I have so much to say... what I've already posted here and on Facebook are but the tip of the iceberg...

Each time anyone tells me how much they appreciate my words, how I've hit home in their hearts or minds, or given them encouragement, I am so greatly pleased and also humbled... Writing for entertainment is one thing... but writing to help fortify and educate and encourage another...

I can't always do that and of late I -- like you -- feel the life has been sucked out of me. I haven't felt that I've had much to give... except perhaps anger.

But now it's time to move into that which is proactive.

Today I’d like to share these thoughts: 

I am against censorship. I support a free and unfettered press. I believe in the "marketplace of ideas" and the right to be stupid.

However, I also believe that, unlike Joe Schmo with a computer and internet connection, major institutions of influence and power have a CIVIC AND MORAL DUTY to be truthful. Mistakes happen; messages get blurred -- but a repeated, brazen cycle of Fact-Free News and Toxic Political Spin is killing this nation.

Fox News is a Fact-Free News Source; a Propaganda Machine Extraordinaire.

You know that is true... and you are frustrated... so am I but we can take a stand. 

People keep asking me "what can we do?" and "what's next?" and "how can we fight Trump?" etc.

There are many ways but the easiest that could have the most long term consequence is a public protest against Fox.

Here's how you start: Please pay attention to where you are at all times: are you in a doctor's waiting room or sitting in a surgical waiting room for family in a hospital or are you waiting for attention in an ER? Are you at the dentist? Are you in a restaurant or bar? Are you waiting for your tires to be rotated or your oil checked at Jiffy Lube?

Almost all of those places -- and many more -- will have a television and almost of them, about 9 out of 10, will have their TV on the National Default Channel: Fox News. I don't know how this happened but I have seen this for at least 10 years... I have experienced this constant assault by Fox News in IL, WI, IN, MI, KY, PA, NJ, NY, NH... in Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, LA and San Francisco. FOX NEWS IS EVERYWHERE but we're going to singe their tail feathers, we may even ground them entirely. 

I've been doing this for years in public spaces. I have no reservation about asking anyone to change the channel. I've asked waitresses, bartenders, hostesses and other service personnel to change the channel and if anyone looked at me weirdly or I think they are going to protest I say this: "I'm very sorry but I have a terrible allergy to lies and propaganda."

In many places you can change the channel yourself -- DO IT. If anyone else is in the waiting room then announce your allergy to lies and you might also add this for good measure: "You do realize, right, that independent studies have consistently proven that Fox News almost never tells the truth." I also sometimes add: "Fox News has greatly contributed to the Dumbing Down of America."

Announce it firmly, with authority.

To this date, NO ONE has ever challenged me. Why? Because first of all it is unexpected and they will be taken by surprise but most of all because no one wants to actually say: “Oh, I don't mind lies; I like lies…” or "Hey, I like being Dumbed Down and Stupid."

And here is what you do as well: In your own home watch Fox News for a little bit each day and catch all of the LOCAL AND NATIONAL SPONSORS… MAKE A LIST (change your viewing schedule; advertisers choose different time slots).

There will be commercials for local businesses and services... roofing, car sales, hospitals, lawyers... get those names... then you and everyone in your family and all of your friends should call and write those sponsors and very firmly tell them that you detest Fox News because they are a bunch of lying So&Sos. Announce you and others are FED UP. Tell them you are prepared to BOYCOTT anyone who advertises on any Fox News affiliate and you are going to ask every single person you know to do the same.

And say it like you mean it – because you do mean it!

Then go for the big national advertisers: Geico, Liberty Mutual, Exxon, GE, Schwab, Merrill Lynch, all the large banks…get those names.

Same drill for them: “We will boycott you if you continue to advertise on Fox News.”

Remind everyone how this hurt Rush Limbaugh's sponsors. Remind them.

Always say this:

“We are demanding TRUTH IN JOURNALISM AND NEWS REPORTING and are going after every national media source that willfully and repeatedly lies to us or spins facts to advance a political agenda. We will not tolerate this anymore. You, Mr. Sponsor, are in the LINE OF FIRE. We suggest you get out of the way….”

Now, let's roll... 

Welcome to my Pulpit (Again!)

THIS POST WAS FIRST ENTERED IN THIS BLOG AS A PAGE; I AM REPUBLISHING IT AS A POST.

SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE!

Yes, this is a Sermon and I am writing this as if I were speaking to you from a pulpit.

First of all, thank you for reading this; I hope you'll give me the kind of courtesy so many of you have always given my writing -- that you will at least read what I write because I've already earned your respect as an author, political pundit, historian and teacher.

But MOST of all, I hope you will read this to its end because you know I really am your friend -- at least I am the friend of good people, decent people. I am the friend of anyone who needs a friend.

However, I am no friend to anyone who willingly harms others. I will try to reach out to them to stop their hurtful actions and help them heal, but the person who suffers harm will be my first priority.

If you know me at all, you already know that about me.

Now let me introduce you to who else I am:

I'm a newly minted minister; I haven't even been ordained a full year. If I told you I'd just gotten my driver's license this past April, I probably couldn't convince you to move over, give me the wheel, and let me drive you and your family to church in stormy weather.

We all know it takes extreme skill, caution, patience, and wisdom to drive in dangerous weather; it also takes an abundance of experience with a particular kind of bad weather. Someone may have years of driving experience in monsoons but that doesn't mean they will be able to drive with skill in a snow storm.

You get it; you know what I'm talking about -- I'm telling you that as ministers go, I might not be the best bet to do the spiritual driving in terrible weather. However, I'm not a total idiot either -- age has its perks -- which brings me to this: I also wasn't ordained until I was 65 years old.

Therefore, you'd also be correct to deduce I must have been a significant underachiever in the spirituality department.

Taken together, what I'm telling you, is that not only do I not have years of practical experience as a minister, I also can't boast I've led an exemplary life, a life that could inspire anyone, or even a nice long life of religious devotion or intense spirituality.

In fact, I'm not even remotely impressed with organized religion, have very little respect for most clergy (of any and all faiths), and am usually bored stiff in church. Worse, in a few of the churches I've been in, I've been scared shitless. Some of those people terrify me.

And, yes, I swear a lot too.

It's not true that people who swear have a limited vocabulary; at least it's not true about me. I have a helluva' an amazing vocabulary. I just like to use some spicier words for emphasis -- they are the exclamation points, the italicized, embolded fonts of my speaking style. However, I am careful how I use them and to whom. Since I'm assuming whoever reads this is an adult, I'm speaking (err, writing) more freely.

So, if you seek an experienced minister of proven faith who respects organized religion and her fellow clergy and who wouldn't say shit if she had a mouthful of it... I'm not the minister for you. The good news is that if you're looking for one of those good folks, you're in luck: they're all over the place.

However, if you're willing to trust that I just might surprise you, that I just might bring something to the table you've never experienced before -- and that I might even offer atheists, agnostics, and all those who say they are secular humanists something as well (maybe only a few laughs) -- then please accept me. Accept me, with my matronly wide hips, salt & pepper hair, salty language, in-your-face style, and many failings (need I insert here "bad Irish temper"?) and give me a chance.

I would dearly love to be there for you -- and have you there for me -- during a period of time that I think we all believe is going to be extremely challenging.

To give you a bit more insight into who I am, let me further explain that when I finally knew I couldn't run away from whatever it was calling me to this, when I realized I absolutely needed to accept that I was being called to serve others -- people of faith and no faith -- as an ordained Interfaith minister, I knew from the getgo I was never going to be your grandparents' idea of a minister. In fact, the church I was raised and educated in, the Roman Catholic Church, wouldn't even afford me the respect necessary to grant ordination because I am a woman (don't be mad about that; it wouldn't have worked out anyway) so I grew up knowing how warm and welcoming a major faith tradition can be to at least 55% of the world's population. I am most certainly not any Christian fundamentalist's idea of a woman of faith, let alone spiritual leader, either -- and there are many, many other Christian denominations and non-Christian faiths that won't accept me in any role of leadership either.

That's fine; I'm not here to change those people. I'm here to serve the people those churches reject; to serve the people who have no faith anymore because of those churches and faiths.

Unquestioning conformity has never been my long suit. Religious orthodoxy has never appealed to me. I chose an "Interfaith" seminary because what I am about is everything outside the box, everything that does not conform to all of the strangulating restrictions, toxic orthodoxies, patriarchy, and absurd prejudices that have for "almost ever" separated people from people and, most of all, separated people from rationality, free will, moral growth, compassion, tolerance, and a desire to ask profound questions about the reasons for their existence -- and permission to live in disbelief without persecution, condemnation, or stigma.

This is not to say I want to spend the rest of my life singing Kumbaya and remonstrating about the need to turn the other cheek at the cost of our own or someone else's right to survival. I will not preach that we must "go high" when evil demonstrates how low it can go. I will never preach that horrors inflicted upon anyone at the hands of others are because "God had a plan." There is no God, any cosmic force, any Spaghetti Monster who ever had a "plan" to allow others to harm you. That is pure and simple theological balderdash.

I don't believe I was called to ministry to push platitudes, feed you placebos or wrap you in shawls of false spiritual security and more suffering. I don't believe any of us are meant to live a life bereft of moral outrage and human action in the face of the suffering of ourselves and others.

In fact, I believe we all, as creatures of a Mother-Father God and All That is Divine and Holy, MUST understand and act upon the moral duties we have to ourselves, each other, and Mother Earth. I know in my very deepest being that this must be so because we are sentient human beings capable of doing so -- if we have the CAPACITY there must be the PURPOSE. It must be this way or nothing makes sense -- WE don't make sense.

Just as nothing occurs in evolutionary biology that is without an adaptive, necessary purpose, we have, as human beings, evolved to have the level of rational thought necessary to discern what is good and just from what is not. We have evolved to this because there is a purpose for it! However, the exercise of that reason, taking full ownership of our own ability to reason and arrive at moral conclusions is a choice.

If this is not true, then we may as well be rocks in a river, the waters of life flowing over us -- for which we have no say and no awareness.

But you know you are not merely a rock in a river. You know this because every cell in your body, even the voices in the darkest places of your soul, tell you so if you will only listen.

I believe I'm especially called to challenge the hell out of myself and anyone else who wants to be challenged and is willing to also challenge me. It may not always be comfortable or safe or feel gratifying, but it's the journey I'm on and I have no idea yet where it may lead me. No doubt, it will always be a work in progress.

At this point, at the beginning of this unexpected journey, I'd like to reach as many people as possible through the power of my writing for as long as that power is still mine and still effective.

I will eventually figure out how to set up more creative ways to reach out, and may use videos. Your ideas and suggestions are welcome.

As-Salaam-Alaikum, Shalom, Namaste and Peace be with You:
~Rev Mo 

  

Are we in deep... or what?

Day 12

It's late in the day Sunday, November 20th... Day 12.

I don't feel like writing; I don't really feel like doing much of anything. It's been one damn long 12 days. There are so many topics I'd like to write about... there's a list of at least 16 that are scratched on a notepad on my desk... if I'd had the time I'd have easily thrown 10 essays on this blog this week.

Instead I've spent the large part of each day this past week explaining fascism.

Not in the classroom as I've done for years, and not in any philosophic way over cocktail meatballs with some newly minted Ph.D. starving for party conversation other than "have you tried the meatballs? they're good.... really good..."

No, not like that... much more like to hundreds of panicked people who are suddenly waking up to the realization that something potentially horrible has happened because suddenly they're hearing things that are scaring the hell out of them...

"Do you think Donald Trump is Hitler?"  No, of course not: Trump is Trump, Hitler was Hitler and you are you... 

I bite my tongue; I try not to snark. These are really good people and they flatter me by coming to me with such an important question -- one that I fully understand really means "Are we really in deep shit?" Right about now, from where I'm sitting and what I'm reviewing and what I've read and heard these last 12 days... "Are we really in deep shit?" might be the smartest damn question I've ever heard. 

Are we really in deep shit?

I've decided to draft the description of fascism that I like to use... modified slightly to the events in America that I know are driving people to suddenly wish they knew a little more about 20th century German history.

Typically, historians refer to a list of 14 characteristics of fascism. Bear in mind, many of them can be a list of characteristics present in communism -- but there are distinct differences.

Let's just stick to fascism. As I said, historians itemize 14 characteristics. Over time, because I'm so comfortable teaching about fascism, I've commingled several of them and even added one element (cult of personality) and my list also includes some more expansive descriptions for comparative purposes.

All of the following elements are present in a fascist government:

1. NATIONALISM:   Nationalism is patriotism on steroids.  It is a pathological need for people to see themselves as a very exceptional group having features no other groups possess, in a country like none other. Nationalism is jingoistic, bellicose, flag-waving, strutting. It is inherently suspicious, xenophobic, and isolating -- all traits that breed fear of nations and other people. Nationalism turns the symbols of state and artifacts of culture and history, such as flags, anthems, and oaths, into sacred totems in a way that has always reminded me of the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation where bread and wine are said to be transformed from mere symbols of Christ into the sacred body and blood Christ. Understand this and you begin to spot when a failure to stand to pledge an oath or respect a flag or listen to an anthem goes from normal annoyance (as being considered rude or disrespectful) to pathological (as in dangerously compulsory). With nationalism, shows of patriotism are not a choice; they are mandatory. 

2. SCAPEGOATING:  The classification of large groups who are made into the national enemy devolves naturally from nationalism and serves as a powerful unifying force. Scapegoating whips people into a frenzy intended to play on their fulminating resentments and fears; people are goaded by their leaders to believe these groups are a threat to them, their families, and the nation. Scapegoating demonizes large groups that can be grouped in one or more of the categories below (I've inserted contemporary examples as they relate to America):  

Racial and ethnic (blacks, Hispanics); religious (Jews, Muslims), immigrant (Syrians,  South Americans), ideological or privileged (socialists, liberals, even organized labor; the intelligentsia, the artist community), power groups (politicians, journalists, lawyers), groups that burden the collective welfare (the disabled, the poor) or who are seen as depraved and sinful (homosexual, transgender). One or more groups are seen as the causal agent of the nation’s suffering and a true threat to the survival of the nation.  (The Nazis did this brilliantly.)  

3.       SECURITY (Domestic and foreign): Threats to the nation are seen to come from within and without. It is believed (or so the people are made to believe and accept) there is a greater need for an expanded internal police state and more muscular military forces. Spending on social projects and services are reduced to increase funding for more powerful security. With this goes an almost fawning respect for the military and police who are seen as heroes defending the nation. Even the most absurd projects or policies might be embraced if they appear to guarantee security (building a wall, closing borders, travel restrictions, stricter tests for the entry of foreign nationals, the barring of large groups, stricter tests and racial or religious "purity tests,” and longer wait times for citizenship). New paramilitary forces will be developed (to increase border security and conduct dragnets for deportations). New systems of spying on citizens will be enacted and will be harsher than anything before them. National registries are created to “track” people. (Again we can look to the Third Reich as a shining example of heightened internal security and military aggression as a form of state necessity, as well as requirements to register with the state, carry papers, etc.) If any of this seems impossible in America, remember the Japanese-American internment camps during WWII. This was seen as justified to preserve national security in a time of crisis -- and when America took this terribly flawed step this country was truly not a fascist state. 

4.       OBSESSION WITH CRIME & PUNISHMENT: This is always on the classic list of 14 points but I see it bridging SECURITY (3 above) and CONTEMPT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS & CIVIL RIGHTS (5 below). The citizens acquiesce to ever more Draconian laws to help improve their safety and aggressively punish lawbreakers with disproportionately greater consequences than normal reason would otherwise justify. (I mention here “Stop and Frisk” and the punishment of women who have abortions as examples.) There is always an acceptance of torture and executions and long exiled imprisonments are imposed for ideological, political reasons. Execution is often meted out immediately after conviction. There is a complete absence of any transparency, review or appeal. Guilt by association is assumed and families may not be informed of arrests, trials or their outcomes. It is not uncommon for bodies to be buried in mass graves. Political adversaries often simply disappear but the state might also conduct long drawn out shaming campaigns, witch hunts, investigations, and sham trials as they are exceptionally effective tools for social and political control and if done right can really be great entertainment for the "Mad Max" crowd ("Lock her up!" "Lock her up!" and "Crooked Hillary" obviously come to mind.) Of course, all of this is also an element of both fascism and communism, or any other garden-variety form of totalitarianism. 

5.       CONTEMPT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS & CIVIL RIGHTS:  In fascism, the means always justify the ends (think: torture, deportations). Fascists convince the people they must sacrifice some of their civil rights to be more secure and that the usual international laws are bad for national security and must be set aside. Of course, all of this is part & parcel of 4 above. 

6.       SUPPRESSION OF THE PRESS and THE ARTS: A free and unfettered press is despised and scapegoated and seen as unpatriotic and subversive. Any artistic expression seen as critical of the regime is immediately called out and vilified. Laws are soon written forbidding dissent and crippling journalism, silencing the press and controlling all of the usual organs of critical analysis and reporting.  (The Nazis immediately seized all means of communication and mandated what kinds of art, music, and literature were acceptable.) 

7.       CONTROL AND/OR CREATION OF NEW FORMS OF MASS MEDIA: Censorship is strictly enforced. Newspapers and electronic media are subsumed or wholly recreated. They become propaganda organs for the government. Euphemistic speech and Double Speak become normative forms of communication. Truth is twisted; obfuscation, deceit and fraud become normal. It becomes impossible to discern fact from fiction. This is disorienting to people and necessary for the maintenance of fascism (or any kind of totalitarianism). (Oh the fun Goebbels might have had with television, cable and social media – and Sean Hannity!)

8.       RELIGION & GOVERNMENT BECOME ENTWINED: The Nazis did this quite brilliantly; they were so effective in convincing the German public the Fuhrer was a deeply religious man that even today this great lie tenaciously endures. In fact Hitler and prominent Nazi leaders had total contempt for religion. Goebbels understood the power of religion as a propaganda tool in a country of people who were historically religiously devout in one or the other of Germany's two most influential Christian churches, Catholic and Lutheran. Hitler even successfully fooled these churches (at least for awhile); the notorious Concordat with the Vatican is an example. Lutheran ministers and the Catholic Vatican originally saw the Nazis as friendly to their own values and goals. Both denominations were fighting "modernity" and embraced Nazism as being a powerful force able to restore people to "old fashioned German values." In time, the churches were fully Nazified and became propaganda arms of the state. 

Historic religious anti-Semitism may have given the Nazis a strong platform upon which to build but it was science and medicine that was the great undoing of the Jews. Once the Jews were defined as a "race" their fate was sealed. Throughout history's inquisitions and pogroms, conversion was always an option of relief. However, one cannot convert from one's race -- which takes us to 9 below.  

9.       RACE/SCIENCE & PUBLIC HEALTH: Fascism always has some racial or biologic “ideal” – broadly it can be merely Caucasian but more narrowly, as with the Nazis, it can become more racially or biologically specific as in the myth of an Aryan race (there is no such thing as an “Aryan” race). In German fascism, science and medicine were twisted by pseudo-scientific eugenic theories that made racial purity, sexual relations, reproduction and any sexual behaviors not deemed beneficial to the state a matter of state controlled "public health and hygiene" policies. The medical community became agents of the state and took control of every aspect of human relations; i.e., physicians decided who could marry, who was fit to breed, who should be sterilized, who must have an abortion, who could not have an abortion, and eventually who even should live or die. 

10.   HYPER-MASCULINIZATION & SEXISM: Fascism is always hyper-masculinized and women do not play key roles in leadership. In Germany, after being given the vote during the Weimar Republic, it was cancelled (and women didn’t seem to mind). Women and men had distinctly different spheres of influence (the woman's was private, the man's public). The wives of public officials were silent and models of Nazi ideals and matronly decorum; they mostly remained out of view.

Although there may be no strong similarities between sexual norms of conduct in the Germany of the 1930s and America of today, there remain interesting points to be considered:

In contemporary America, we should not fail to note the objectification of the female body and how it is "scored" on a scale of 1-10 -- this scoring is now out of the closet; Trump has proven it is acceptable for public men to speak this way. Assigning value according to a particular body type and look divides women into those who are desirable and those who are somehow defective (not totally unlike properties that can be weighted for their view and location). It links back to German fascism in that it subliminally sends messages about which women should breed and which should not. In fascism, mothers are more chosen for their strong racial characteristics than intelligence or other traits.

Through his strutting hyper-masculinity, we see a less-than-subtle suggestion that it is still a masculine prerogative that a man who is attracted to a woman can do as he wishes. Trump grabbing "pussy" is the modern equivalent of a man throwing a woman over his shoulder and taking her against her will. To a certain mind set, Trump is as successful in acquiring trophy wives as he appears to be in acquiring -- and selling off -- properties. This kind of uber-sexuality is also strongly suggestive of the hunter and conquerer -- evoking visceral images of a time when men were men -- and women definitely were not... they were there to please men and procreate. Men who transmit their hyper-masculinity and sexual prowess are in the tradition of the powerful tribal chief. In this world, brute force is prized over intellectualism (which is often seen as effete). 

At first blush, comparing Trump women -- whether in Trump's intimate circle or as in the much broader population of female supporters -- to images of docile, modestly dressed Nazi hausfrauen seems absurd. But is it? I was struck by Melania Trump's demure posture and care to appear the silent partner, more content to raise their son than mess with politics. She has famously said she never tells her husband what to do. This most likely greatly adds to her value as women in the envious eyes of most husbands (how totally perfect: a trophy wife with the added advantage that she never tells her husband what to do!).

What about highly intelligent, highly educated, cosmopolitan Ivanka? Everyone knows she is the brainy one and that she played a powerful role in her father's campaign. Yet during his first appearance with his family in an interview with Leslie Stahl after the election, when asked what her role might be in her father's administration Ivanka blushed shyly and said her job was to be her father's "daughter." It was brilliant stagecraft... and so very hausfrauen. The Trump women may be very modern but they know how to serve their leader.... sorry, I meant husband/father.  It's notable that today, just as it was in Nazi Germany, women supported this kind of blatant misogyny. The Nazis allowed a few women to have some prominent roles so long as those positions were not seen as equal to men or undermining male supremacy. It should be remembered that Hitler had very fierce female surrogates and defenders and Hitler's appeal to German women was powerful.

11.   KLEPTOCRACY:  A kleptocracy is a government where those in power steal or exploit natural resources; more bluntly it is government run by rapacious thieves. While Hitler seemed more immune to the need to steal everything that wasn’t locked down, his friends had no reservations whatsoever. Herman Goring had an insatiable lust for treasures but he wasn’t alone. The Nazis confiscated every national and private treasure available to them. Fascist leaders usually absorb wealth like a sponge grabs water. They are not only NOT business averse, they pave the way for their business friends to make more money for everyone, making them eager to reduce wages, destroy unions, and control labor. Slave labor? Sure, why not? They like that too. Deals are made not for the benefit of the nation or the state; they are negotiated for the benefit of the kleptocrats. Ever hear of kleptomania? Most kleptomaniacs steal baubles on the spur of the moment. True kleptocrats plunder wealthy nations. 

12.   CRONYISM/NEPOTISM/CORRUPTION: This naturally accompanies 11 above. Fascists brazenly reward themselves, their families and their cronies with whatever plunder can be confiscated while they are in control. They will privatize national treasures and resources, operating the entire bureaucracy very often on a mixed corporate/military model. Success and even survival is keyed to loyalty and cronyism; merit has nothing to do with political advancement. The hard disciplined German bureaucracy actually made the engines of Nazism succeed. With very rare exception, most high level Nazis were amazing mediocrities; they had no brilliant gifts as military men, diplomats, executives, or in other professional categories. The were largely party hacks and quacks who were dismissive of the professional soldier, competent executive, and professional statesmen.

One of the first things they did when they acquired the reins of government was purge the ranks of the competent... today we call it "draining the swamp." 

13.   FRAUDULENT ELECTIONS: Oh, fascists love elections – at least in the beginning when they are still trying to put over the con job. Sometimes, however, fascists lose elections and still come out on top.  Case in point: Hitler was actually defeated in the German election of 1932. A little manipulation… and he came in through the back-door. What can I say? Shit happens. 

Here’s one more thing: 

14.   I’ve never seen this last point in any list describing fascism but I always insert it: CULT OF PERSONALITY. Fascism is less ideological than cultish; most fascist regimes fail after the powerful leader is either deposed or dies because the movement is more about the leader than any pure ideology (differing from communism which is truly ideological and international vs cultish and nationalist).

Fascism is a top down movement led by an iconoclastic strong leader with great rhetorical skills able to incite the passions of the people. A good case of sociopathy, willingness to brazenly lie without any concern whatsoever for truth, and an ability to create a close knit utterly ruthless cohort of close friends is essential. Experience in public office is meaningless. Hitler never held a job in his life before he started percolating out of the scum and he certainly never held any elected office, not even Lower Slobovian Swine Inspector.

Compared to Hitler, Donald Trump is a veritable wonder of achievement. 

Perhaps the most essential trait a demagogue must possess is an utterly unshakable belief in his own greatness. He must see himself as a man of Destiny. So must his followers; anyone who doesn’t is in danger. Demagogues are notoriously thin-skinned. Naturally, they surround themselves with fawning sycophants. Occasionally, some Machiavellian genius will get into the inner circle; they don’t actually believe any of the crap about the cult leader’s perfection – but they know how to manipulate it to their advantage.  

Hitler’s very title der Fuhrer (the Leader) had messianic meaning and messiahs deserve blind obedience. They are appointed by a higher power to save a nation in dire need.

A mythic Hitler transcended any concepts of nationhood; all loyalty flowed directly to him and all power flowed from him down. Thus, there arose the Fuhrer Principle (Fuhrer Prinzip) where it could actually be said to the people – and accepted by them – that “Hitler is Germany and Germany is Hitler.” The law was what Hitler decreed it to me. Everything was what Hitler decreed it to be. Hitler lived in a bubble; he lived in his own skewed toxic reality and he succeeded because he sold it to others who bought it hook, line, and sinker.

With the right balance of strength and toxic character flaws, a fascist-leaning sociopath can turn the world upside down.

What does this have to do with this being Day 12?

 I don’t know. You tell me. Are we in deep shit, or what?

Let's roll...

The calls, emails, texts, and Facebook inquiries started rolling in Tuesday evening as the election was clearly going south… by midnight it was clear what had happened and I was, like so many of you, physically ill. I went to bed knowing that there would be no good news in the morning.

I saw the trend, did the math, knew the truth.

I slept lightly, tossing and turning, and after a few minutes of troubled dreams I’d wake and then reality would punch me in the gut: “Trump has won.”

And I’d want to puke.

I know that feeling so well… it was exactly what I experienced the night of the day Richard died… after troubled dreams I’d wake and then reality would punch me in the gut: “Richard is dead.”

And I’d want to puke.

But honestly? It was worse. Can you believe that? Trump winning the White House was more horrible to me than the death of my beloved husband.

I thought I was nuts… “Get a grip, Maureen…” I told myself and I felt guilty. Really, really guilty. What could be worse than losing Richard? It was absurd. I chalked it up to being too much to bear in so short of a time. I told myself I only felt such despair because the election fell so close to Richard’s death.  Profound grief screws you up profoundly.

But Trump evokes fear and grief for my nation. It is worse than any sense of loss I have ever felt.  Quite frankly, I’ve never known fear like this. My training in history is not particularly helpful.

However, I didn’t have much time for introspection (more will certainly come later) because Wednesday  is one of the 3 days a week  I teach a unique, specialized course to high school students, “The History of Medicine” -- so I gulped coffee and checked emails, Facebook and text messages. I couldn’t bear to put on the news so I didn’t… I couldn’t bear to see Hillary concede and Trump bask in victory.

I shuffled through my class notes, tried to focus on the day’s lecture, what discussions I needed to provoke, and made a note to follow through on getting updates from each student about their research projects. I had a lot to squeeze into a 50-minute class.

I tried hard to focus on the immediate moment but my mind kept returning to both the future and the past…

Then I saw the passport renewal form that I’d downloaded sitting there on my desk… and that nauseated feeling returned. I wasn’t planning a vacation; I’d been seriously thinking about fleeing the land of my birth in the event of a Trump victory. I honestly thought it was a very, very long shot that would ever happen.

It was hard to imagine leaving the nation that all of the men in my family fought to preserve since the very first days they arrived from a land dying from a catastrophic politically-induced famine…. Yeah: My Irish stock goes back to the Civil War. We were on the right side of history then and have been ever since.

No matter how I tried, I could not shake my grief and sense of dread.

My father wouldn’t believe this… Omaha Beach, Battle of the Bulge, the liberation of Dachau… he wouldn’t believe this! Dad used to laugh about “SNAFUS,” a term I never understood until he finally clued me in when I was old enough to be clued in… “Situation Normal: All Fucked Up.”

“There’s Nothing Normal about how Fucked Up we are now, Dad.” For the first time since he died I actually told him I was glad he was gone.

It was as if I’d gone to bed in America and during the night there’d been a coup like they have in a banana republic or an attack by a foreign power and now the nation was awakening to the horrifying news that some horrible power had seized our government.

I said it before but on Wednesday it had a terrifying new urgency: “You don’t want to be the last Jew out of Berlin.”

I stood at the sink, rinsed my coffee cup, and told Richard I was glad he was dead too because what had just happened would have killed him.

Another thought crept in… How long did the Jews pretend? How long did they continue with the rituals of daily living… dressing for work, washing the clothes, reading bed time stories to the kids, lighting Shabbat candles… how long? How long?

How do you know when the borders are going to be closed? When are you just too damn old to climb over the mountains in the middle of the night? Will you know when you will be arrested… How?

Yes, Trump had brought me to THAT…

One last look at Facebook before I walked out the door told me I had another message; it was from a woman I don’t know but who is somehow a FB friend. She was in a panic; she confided her husband and brother are here illegally. They work very and support her and the kids; she can’t make it without them. She asked if it “is true” there are going to be Immigration Police? She wanted to know if I thought they should all go back now. Please, she asked, tell me if you know…

Good Lord; how the hell do I know?

Then in rapid succession I received text messages from close friends: one Jewish, one gay and the other travelling outside the country. They all wanted to know the same thing we were all asking:

“What the hell has happened to us?!”

Grief and fear… so much grief and fear…

I had to get to class… it had become one of the rituals of my daily living now. “Thank God it’s not U.S. history…” I thought. I pitied the teachers going into those classes on Wednesday all over America.

I should have known better. I should have known A LOT better: My students were waiting.

What are the odds that in a small class of less than 10 a teacher has 2 teens who are transgender? What are the odds? As if life is not tough enough just being a teenager without such challenges, right? Can you imagine being one of those kids living in Trump World?

I saw those 2 first when I walked into the room. Normally ebullient, they were pale, exhausted looking, and subdued.  And then the class seemed to erupt all at once: They pounced on me – What did I think? Was I worried? How the “fuck” did this happen? Words they don’t usually speak in class came tumbling out.

It was an explosion of outrage, confusion and most of all fear.

Everyone has someone they worried about as much as they worried about themselves. This is not a culturally diverse school; we are White Bread Maine but it’s telling how every single kid worried about gays, lesbians and transgender people, they worried about Maine’s few blacks and Portland’s Somali community who are not just black but also immigrants and tend to be Muslim (one kid said “that’s like the perfecta of being super screwed”), they worried about Jews, Wiccans, and also the disabled.

We’ve just begun to discuss eugenics and coercive sterilization and euthanasia in class and so questions turned to that: Did I think we’d ever again have eugenic boards that would forcibly sterilize people? One girl is very concerned about autistic people. I suspect she has a close relative who struggles with that. She knows what the Nazis did to people it deemed “defective.” She was not going to let that happen. “Over my dead body” she said with a force that surprised me.

They all thought Trump was a pervert.

“How can a pervert become president?”

One boy correctly pointed out what would happen to any other guy who grabbed women’s genitals.

“What about Russia? Do you think it’s true about Russia?”

“Do you know the Ku Klux Klan endorsed him?”

“How the hell did this happen?”

"He doesn't even believe in global warming!"

One guy said grimly, “my mom cried all night” and another announced gravely “this must be like when people heard Kennedy was shot.” A girl said “my mom said it’s like 9/11” and another informed us her grandfather told her once that he was only 7 when Pearl Harbor was attacked and she announced “he knew it changed his life forever.”

“...changed his life forever…”

That ricocheted around the room like a gun shot.

They wanted me to assure them Donald Trump has not changed their lives “forever.”

I was overwhelmed and said so. You cannot lie to teenagers. They see through it immediately. There can be no baby-talk assurances that there are no boogey men under the bed. They will look at you like you are a total moron and they will be right: you are a total moron if you talk to them like that.

I’d never lie to those kids for several reasons. Obviously, they would see through me immediately and toss me to the curb like just another adult asshole, but most of all because I respect them so much. They truly deserve better. The kids in my class are kind, caring, and smart. I am honored that they like me (incredibly, one student once said “I love you Maureen!” in a moment of teenage dramatic hyperbole – but while I know I’ll never forget that moment, I also know she’s probably forgotten it already – which is as it should be).

No, I will not betray their trust and I refuse to be just another adult asshole -- but I cannot harm them further so the truth still needs to be doled out with hope... and after all, why shouldn't it be? As much as I feel it possible to predict the future now, reason also tells me I really cannot.

I had no well of personal hope in which to dip so I found hope in the voices of the truly great. First I shared my favorite Martin Luther King saying that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Of course there had to be FDR’s words that “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

Then I took them back even further to the sanctity of a bloody battlefield of the Civil War, the place where  Lincoln spoke of a great task remaining before a divided people and consoled them by telling them that those who had given the “full measure… shall not have died in vain…” and I shared how Lincoln led his nation into hope by encouraging them to look to a higher power and dig deep into their own good character so that they might enjoy a “new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

There was one thing I avoided and it was any discussion about the Fall of Rome or any other of the many civilizations that have fallen and perished.  There may be time for that someday, but not now.

For now it is only for me to know about those cataclysmic events.

Shadow is allowed to come to school with me which is wonderful. He adores the kids and they adore him – not only those in my class but all the students. You’d be surprised how often some stressed out teenager kneels down and wraps himself or herself around Shadow’s study frame. The kid will say sheepishly “Oh I love this dog so much” or “I really need to hug him right now.”

Shadow loves it and instinctively leans into those kids. Then with a great sense of pride he looks at me with those large brown soulful all-knowing eyes and says “See mom, see how this kid needs me?”

I see it. The whole faculty sees it.  The kids see it. And this past Wednesday Shadow was endlessly hugged, squeeze, pet and even kissed. We all needed it.

I didn’t hear a single kid boast about Trump’s victory but one girl informed us that her dad voted for Trump and announced that she told her father she hates him now.

“No, no, you can’t say that to your father ever. You need to apologize to him. Please.”

She said chillingly, “But my dad betrayed his own daughter.” I managed to extract a weak promise that she’d try to talk to her dad and work it out because of course he loves her and she loves him. She listened but her emotions were raw and she wasn’t ready to give in… but I suspect she’ll come around.

The pain runs so deep. The Civil War, oh the Civil War… And then there was Berlin and before all of that there was Rome…

I can’t even keep the history straight I am so rattled.  All those ruined families… all those human tragedies…

So it went. Shadow did his bit and I did mine – and the other faculty did theirs – and the kids even did theirs.

Then Shadow and I went home and he followed me into my office and saw me pick up that half-completed passport renewal application – and watched as I tore it to pieces.

“Shad, we’re not going anywhere buddy boy. Everyone has to die somewhere and this country is our home and you and I are going to die here. If the adults leave, those kids are really screwed.”

He knew that already.

And so this is my response to your calls, emails, text and Facebook messages: I’m not going to any foreign country.

God Bless all of us – but most of all our children.

Now, let’s roll.

We have a helluva’ lot of work to do.

______________________

Note: I have not failed to notice that today is Veterans Day. Originally called Armistice Day to commemorate the end of “The Great War” (not yet called WWI since no one knew there would be a WWII), it was later expanded to include all veterans of all the services and all the wars in our history (thus, “Veterans Day”).

If you are old enough to read this blog then you are already a veteran of something… life is a war zone and that is the truth.