THE CHOICE

I’LL BE HONEST--as I always try to be on this page, around our virtual campfire. Sometimes, in this time, it feels like all the life- lessons I learned and tried to absorb--from my beloved Aunt Mary, my parents, my grandparents, and important mentors like Sigurd F. Olson, no longer apply. They just don’t. The only life-lessons that apply in this time, in this country, are those that Donald Trump absorbed from his parents, awful as they were, and terrible ‘mentors,’ like Roy Cohn.

There’s a choice for you--Sigurd Olson, poetic voice of the wilderness and the human spirit, or Roy Cohn, corrupt fixer and fraudster and hatchet man for Joseph McCarthy. But it is Cohn’s ‘ideals’ and values, and those of McCarthy and Fred Trump, that are now in ascendance. Life-lessons, mores and attitudes that others of our fellow-citizens (who seem to have had similarly awful upbringings) share. All defining a country and an administration and a time. Not my Grandad’s values. Not Sigurd Olson’s. Not Aunt Mary’s. Not mine.

There is no question about this. it is simply a fact.

Yesterday I posted a short list of qualities one might imagine in a good human being. You can add or subtract one or two at your discretion, but I think they come pretty close. They are: Kindness. Intelligence. Wisdom. Empathy. Honesty. Courage. Generosity. Responsibility. Good humor. Awareness. Open-mindedness. Compassion.

In no telling-of-the-truth are all or virtually ANY of these normal human values/qualities displayed or embodied by any of the elected or appointed office-holders of the Fascist Party of America (formerly known as Republicans). OR by their MAGA voters/supporters. That is another fact.

These facts make me weary. They make me angry. They sometimes make me depressed and near despair. The consequences following upon these facts only add to the weight. The rape of our Earth and environment. The not unrelated rape of young girls and women and its cover-up. The destruction of countless American government agencies and institutions, along with the lives and careers of those who gave/pledged their lives and honor to them. The parallel destruction of defining national values and ideals. The complete corruption of virtually every office held by an FPA office holder, including but not limited to the presidency. Cruel abuse of and attacks upon the most vulnerable in our society, and those who would protect or help them. Vicious attacks on any and all political enemies. Fascist-style politicization of every facet of life. Abandonment of and destruction of ‘truth’ as a useful value and a knowable entity. Those are just top of the list, off the top of my head.

Are these just the normal, overwrought ‘complaints’ of a grumpy person, whose party happens to be out of power? No. Again, they are facts.

Truths.

So what does one do with such feelings of depression/despair? All the usual answers: take time for yourself, get outdoors (a lot), read good stuff, paint, garden, meditate, breathe, hug and attend to loved ones, embrace family, seek the company of the decent and the like-minded. And more. All of them good. All of them useful and important.

But sometimes, even with all of that, one is simply left with a plain and simple, hard-rock, either-or choice. Give up or don’t give up. That’s it. Just a choice. I have written of it here before. And it is still the same choice. With no softeners, no qualifiers, no adjectives or adverbs to make it any easier. Except that this time, I add something to it.

I also won’t give up on my mentors. My teachers, or my life-lessons. My values. Period. It doesn’t matter what the feelings are, what the odds are, where the power lies, what the horrific news-of-the-day is. Give up or don’t give up. That’s it. And that’s really not such a hard choice at all.

Maybe you feel the same

.