Well.
First. Of course the basic nature of reality hasn’t changed, and love is still the way.
But.
I had no idea the curse on the Cubs would move directly to the White House. As we watched snatches of the election coverage I found myself nauseous, unable to breathe, and? terrified. It’s taken me until today to remember the one other time I was possessed by such an overwhelming feeling. Losing my job and realizing I’d not be able to get another one came close, yes. Being stalked and attacked by a (real) rapist on my doorstep was another time. So it’s a festive panoply of experience, yes? But this is what I finally remembered.
When I was in college, there were demonstrations and “riots”. ( Of course we know now that a riot is often simply a bunch of people who start out with a different opinion than yours, and don’t respond well to being shoved.) This was during the Viet Nam war, and Reagan was Governor of California. (And no, dinosaurs were not roaming the earth.) We heard him say that he didn’t care if it took a bloodbath to take care of “the students”. We then saw the National Guard in battle dress and armored trucks driving through our University area with very large guns pointed at us. There were curfews and things were pretty rough, so I invited some friends over to have dinner and study and just try and keep our spirits up. I made dinner (including broccoli. Got to keep your strength up after all.) and as night fell, we heard gunfire and yelling. People were running toward the building we were in, being followed by National Guard on foot and in trucks. There was the sound of gunfire and also, extra fun, gas. They used the same stuff on us as they used on the Viet Cong at the time- CS/CN gas, which made you vomit and have diarrhea simultaneously, among other things. So. We were all down on the floor, with wet rags over our faces for the gas, when? Someone running by the building called out my name. A split second later the entire front of the apartment, which was glass, shattered as bullets came through. Doors on the first floor were kicked in and let’s just say hilarity did not ensue. But that feeling of inexorable, unavoidable terror was there. And I felt the same thing Tuesday night.
The situation we find ourselves in now is not a joke, it’s not nothing. It’s NOT OK. It matters. No miracle is going to swoop down on us and make the ice caps stop melting and the air breatheable and the oceans not acid and full of plastic garbage, and restore at least a modicum of common, basic respect from person to person along with the option to actually live a life, however simple. Deregulation, lack of social services and rights have been literally promised and guaranteed. We now have a President elect who had people at his “rallies” carrying signs saying things like: “Rope. Journalist. Tree. Some assembly required.” We have a President elect who actually mocked a disabled person during a speech. We know how he feels about Mexicans and Muslims. And women. We know he evaded serving his country in Viet Nam even though he attended West Point. We know he hasn’t paid taxes- and can’t you just imagine what a powerful incentive that will be to the corporate world to pay even the pittances they have been up to now? We know he’s been prosecuted for civil rights violations. So, really? This is the person who’s going to be the President? A liar and a cheat, who’s filed SIX count’em business bankruptcies, is going to be on some level in charge of how the country spends its money?
The metaphysical approach, the long view, all are necessary to our thinking now. Of course we must work together and extend our hands, more than ever- and not as fists. But it is simply not OK to say, oh, it’s happened before, it’ll happen again, we need change and this might do it. White Supremacists have carried this day. This is a great leap backward, and I wonder if the ISIS guys are laughing their heads off, seeing as how we’re about to get Sharia type law before they do. After all, more than once the PE stated that women should be punished for having abortions. Not to mention the ridiculous calls for his opponent in the race to be put in prison or in a more roundabout way, shot. Mass expulsions and jailings of “immigrants”. I do think he’s right about the wall on the Mexican border though: THEY are going to put it up, and pronto. They need to protect themselves from US.
As always, blessings and thanks, and sorry about the diatribe.
Boozilla: learning to fly one room at a time 