What ever happened to governing? I've watched (as all of us have) as our democracy became a hollow shell of what the founding fathers intended. They certainly couldn't envision what 'screens' would become in the 21st Century, but they were aware of the simple basic human tenant that truth and integrity was and should be the core of what America was / is / and should be. This sounds like the beginning of an anti-Trump rant, but it's not. He's ridiculous and embarrassing (and most of us agree regardless of the aisle side), but he isn't the problem. The problem with America today is America.
"We" created / demanded in fact an environment where a shell of a caricature of a human being could and should become President of the United States of America by virtue of nothing more than our own individual indifference to and in some cases, downright abandonment of actual facts and historical context, in favor of whatever salacious bullshit primetime 'news', TMZ and Facebook told us. We stopped, myself included caring about the greater good and started caring more about what and who we hated less or more depending on our own natural predilection. We chose sides, and picking sides is never good.
I'm not naive: Americans have always been 'opposed' to each other at some level, but those who governed us could usually find a middle ground that suited most of us. And 'us', the governed mass could usually find a middle ground that we could live with, regardless of the vitriol of the debate. BUT, we gave up on the founding principal of intellectual debate, we gave up on each other...and by extension, we gave up on this great democratic experiment and by further natural extension, we gave up on our own humanity. I cannot abide either side decrying the other, because we are all complicit in this crime. We've allowed our subconscious minds to be co-opted by whatever nonsensical noise is filling it, not by the quietude of actual thought and resultant essential discourse. We punted on 4th and short with all the fans behind us deep in the opponent's territory and yet we wonder how in 2019 we are facing yet another possible Presidential Impeachment? Is there any room for respectful debate? Do we even care? About anything?
As stated, Trump is NOT the issue. Almost anyone on earth knows more about what and who he is than I do. I see the nonsense on the periphery, but I'm more concerned about 'me'. That's the "American" way, no? I'm concerned about what post-911 / post-Obama / post-rational thought day-to-day USA has allowed me to and in many ways insisted that I become...and as always, by extension what I / it allowed / insisted that you become. I will be expectedly and maybe appropriately panned for this, but I believe that "we" are better than whatever that / this is. I've never served in the military, I'm not a first responder, I don't have guns, nor do I believe in personal gun ownership as a basic human right...but I'm as much a patriot as anyone else in this country and I still believe in the greater good of its citizenry. I'm a believer in the truth and promise of a better day, but nothing in the daily news allows space for that basic human level of positivity and optimism to exist. Truly, few environments that I inhabit on the daily allow for it either. The "coastal-elitist-liberals" aren't running this country anymore...they never were by the way. WE are. And we've all become or are becoming cynical assholes.
I've been drinking, but I was raised by devout Southern Christians. My late father wasn't a saint, but he did his best to show me what a "path" looked like. Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen showed me a little more.
My aspirations...my "path" to be on the cover of Rolling Stone changed into the cover of The New Yorker and eventually evolved into simply being acknowledged as a thoughtful human being slowly and over years of internal reflection. I still think I'm a rock star, even if it's latent hubris. I remain committed to becoming a great and important writer, even though I haven't written meaningful pages in years. Some of those facts and outcomes I could have controlled, but for one reason or another I chose not to. What I have been able to control is 'who' I am...maybe actually not in the beginning and hardly ever consciously at the time, but I've worked on my 'who' for a lot of years, and I'm proud of what my commitment to that ideal has created. Which is to say that I'm comfortable in my own skin for the first time in maybe ever. I deserve all the good things, because I actively choose to live my life everyday. I choose to act instead of react. I insist that being positive is a better path than being negative. I want to win, but I can recover quickly if I lose, because tomorrow is a brand new day full of hope and promise...and thousands of opportunities to seek, give and receive joy. WE can collectively choose the same thing. WE are in control. Epiphanies mean nothing if they don't inform positive change.
It's almost college basketball season and I've got a bluegrass festival this weekend, so it's all good, right? Right. Hey, let me tell you something about Sloan Sabbith and my rando Wednesday. Maybe I should save that for another day...meantime, think about me / you / us, and I'll do the same.
