We’ll Always Go Through It Together

The word disappointment would be too meek to describe the mood of the United States as its most treasured institutions are gutted or weakened by directors assigned to destroy, not lead or improve. Although we have laws and courts designed to defend what we hold most dear, enforcement is missing. We lose all sense of security as court orders are ignored. People standing up for their families are labeled terrorists while convicted insurrectionists who killed and maimed law enforcement personnel are pardoned. Some of our defenders have been bought or intimidated into degrading themselves. Honest journalism, the fourth estate meant to counter corruption, is replaced with propaganda. Suddenly people we admire are treated as bad guys. We don’t know where to find bare truth. Trust is lost. People feel helpless. They’re about to lose their pensions, healthcare, or even their homes. How do you battle your own government?

I sang the song “I Like It Here” in school, but the qualities described in the song are absent. We aren’t living without fear. Members of Congress were murdered in their home as horrific gun deaths have become commonplace. Immigrants—including long-term, hard-working, tax-paying immigrants with American families—are kidnapped and deported without a chance to defend themselves. If they resist, they’re called terrorists. We can’t speak our minds or raise our voices without repercussions. People who have are fired and mocked at best and indicted or jailed at worst. The hate-filled bullies and manipulators we resented in school have grown up to seize the reins of power.

Some people are happy with the changes…or say they are. They’re reputedly either too rich, too poor, or too proud to care about the losses. And then the country staged “No Kings” rallies on June 14.

American citizens breathed more easily at the sight of millions…yes, over five million neighbors standing in the sun holding signs—in towns and cities and even along roads in villages. At last we had an opportunity to see the country we had worked so hard to maintain as we had always believed it to be—brave, compassionate, and unified. No one stood alone—rich, poor, educated, self-taught, diverse in every way imaginable. Americans aren’t honored by being badly used—even members of the military. We cling to our values and dignity. Maybe we’re better people than we were before this administration, because we’ve all been dumped into the same bin where we’re treated as disposable waste. Our commonalities are easier to see now. Cowardice sticks out. We’re better able to care about one another and the con we’d been forced to accept.

The haters are still feeding on the carcasses of our institutions, but dissenting numbers are solid proof that we won’t submit quietly. We’ve seen our power and we’re anxious to learn how to use it more effectively. Savvy leaders are emerging. We were proud of our nation and hate being pitied by the world as being greedy dupes. We’re not naïve enough to want to embrace an avoidable war. The giant is no longer sleeping. We will change what’s ugly and decaying. We promise.