Smoke from my ears this morning

I feel a well of anger. I have not used my voice for a multitude of reasons…I don’t know where to post, who I’m even speaking to, I don’t want to offend. But I feel sick. I open the paper and I see headlines and read about issues that are so deeply wrong. I don’t care what political party one belongs to, people know what’s right and what’s not. Here’s a headline for us this morning: “Apart for nearly a third of her life after border separation.” Maria, in Gautemala, gets to see her third grade daughter in Florida only on a phone camera. They talk every afternoon, and they hang up and they cry. Find some human being with a heart who can tell me this is an acceptable outcome because that mother wanted a better life for her daughter.

Here’s another headline for us this morning: “4 Democratic senators help reject ban on sale of assault-style weapons.” What is wrong with people? I feel so angry. There is no reason anyone not in the military needs an assault-style weapon. Don’t tell me that’s infringing on people’s rights. No one should have the right to kill without pause at a moment’s whim in a civilized society. And whoever looks back to the Constitution and lays claim to unending rights should buy their neighbor a tank or give their enemy a nuclear weapon. I am no Constitutional scholar, but even a cursory understanding of the historical context of the second amendment opens bare the need for a collective protective element when the nation had no federal army. There is no way the rational writers of that document–meant to be a living, breathing document–could have foreseen nor would have condoned any and every random person being able to kill as many neighbors or strangers as they liked on a whim. That is completely illogical, and the irrational stranglehold on such a sick idea is devastating to our country.

Here’s another thing that’s making me ill this week. We all look with curiosity at Michael Bloomberg entering the election race. He seems to be saying some good things, he seems like an interesting and viable counter to the immature, self-centered, destructive force of President Trump. I was hopeful that he would be worth considering. Then I learn about him saying this about his role as a salesman: “Do you want to f***? He gets turned down a lot–but he gets f***d a lot too!” Or this, said to his colleagues: “[Computers] will do everything, including give you [oral sex]. I guess that puts a lot of you girls out of business.” I am embarrassed and angry to even have to write that in my own blog, much less that it can be read on the front page of a newspaper by my 12-year-old daughter. I am so angry. I am furious.

People in power need to stop trampling on people who are not in power. Legislators need to start making laws that respect the humanity and dignity and worthiness to live that we are born with. Executives need to stop devouring power and trying to grab more by ignoring the boundaries of checks and balances; and those at the head of branches of government need to use their muscle to preserve those boundaries.

I know some might say that these headlines or quotes are biased because of the paper they are in printed in–all media is determined to be politically skewed now–but I disagree that they are irrelevant or worth dismissing because of the name Washington Post at the top of the paper. The same would be true of the Wall Street Journal or any other news outlet with integrity. If we read them, learn things and listen to people, we can build bridges so that we can understand each other and make decisions that make sense, and work hard and humbly to lift other people up, not kill their relationships, their dignity or their bodies. I am so angry. I wish I knew what to do to make things better. I know that at least trying to find my voice is a start, even if I’m only talking to myself and possibly my mother.