There’s no doubt that unexpected things are coming at us faster and more intensely than we’re accustomed to. In the past couple of years four million Syrians, many who are surgeons, scientists, religious leaders and artists, had to flee their neighborhoods and country because their president ordered barbaric chemical attacks on them.
Magazine editors and wine sippers have been slaughtered in Paris. Volkswagen cheated on emissions tests. Harper Lee and Prince and Ali died. A qualified woman was nominated to be U.S. President and a candidate who bragged about sexually assaulting women won it.
Tap water in Flint, Mich., was contaminated because city government wanted to save money. Storms the size of typhoons battered geography perilously close to us. North Korea propelled toxic weapons into the Pacific Ocean, which isn’t theirs and whose fish and coral are already on life support. The President of Russia couldn’t wait to have his way with the U.S. Presidential election, and did.
The world has been all over the place in the last two years, with a common thread of discontent, weariness and anxiety.
What are we looking for? Well, air. We all like to take about 16 breaths a minute, all of us, all over the world. Those of us who like living like to have food and water every day. It isn’t much and it isn’t distracting.
Twenty years ago it was unheard of for smokers to go outside to puff. Then public pressure demanded smoke free public places, so smokers took it outside and now look – smokers look healthier. They get away from their desks and take a walk, sit on a bench and watch the squirrels or marvel at the chemtrails. And those who don’t smoke don’t have to endure indoor smoke. Smokers have even adjusted to smoking less in their own homes and cars because while they like to smoke, they don’t want to smell like it, either. We saw that we can change society.
Times have changed, but nothing prepared us for Donald Trump’s remark last week, “I feel like I’m from Alabama, frankly. I understand your values. Isn’t it a little weird when a guy who lives on Fifth Avenue in the most beautiful apartment you’ve ever seen, comes to Alabama and Alabama loves that guy? I mean, it’s crazy. It’s crazy.”
Silly us. We thought he lived in Washington. Nevertheless, if what he said is true, if he does think it’s crazy to think a very wealthy (or not) man who gets his credit card statements on Fifth Avenue is enamored with the South, Alabama in particular, shouldn’t we change things up a bit and show him around? Embrace him! Bless his heart!
Maybe he would like to hunt fall wild turkey even though it’s harder than spring hunting, which is hard. Maybe he would pop a can of PBR, listen to some Willie or Kane Brown while driving down a gravel road. Teach him to pee outside. Take him back to the cabin for some beans, greens and buttermilk biscuits.
And we could let him know we’re not after him individually, we are after thieves and liars and bullies who want us to pay them but don’t want to do the required work. And that from now on, at his suggestion, we won’t be paying him or anyone else who sees themselves as in charge of the voters.
Because Trump is, after all, the one who said to fire athletes or boycott them if they took a knee to show solidarity against thieves, liars, bullies and, in particular, racists. So we take a page from his handbook, and boycott paying federal income taxes until they behave in our best interest, not theirs. We continue to pay city, county and state taxes. After all, we need to take care of our own, but for the members of Congress who prefer to hang out with lobbyists rather than constituents, who toss the disabled out of public hearings, we simply stop the paychecks until they understand who’s providing their living.
And then we watch football, smoke a cigarette and see if they feel the love.
Mary Pat Boian