I Yet Have Hope

So many of our present-day ills are the results of third-rate men and women taking on first-rate responsibilities.

We are presently governed by folks mean in spirit, vile in character, given to lies, deceit and self-aggrandizement, twittering away their time, frittering away our social capital.

This mess hasn't happened overnight, but is the result of a long and steady slide into political mediocrity, where slogans prevail over common sense, decency and knowledge.

We've handed the reigns of government over to the wealthy, who, by instinct and character, are given to seek their own interests, believing in their wealth as proof-positive of a divine imprimatur, to do as they will, and that their wellbeing is the wellbeing of the nation.

The wealthy tell us that climate change is a hoax, even as the earth continues to display signs of enormous distress.

The wealthy profit from our interminable wars.

Conservatives dance on the grave of women's rights.

Fools build walls.

Idiots cheer on the chaos.

White supremacy licks its chops.

The narrow-minded grow ever more fearful of civil rights, voting rights, transgender and LGBTQ rights ... dashing freedom agains the rocks of conservative idealism.

A paroxysm of all the worst elements that can shake a nation to pieces ...

Yet, I have hope ... in the last months of my 74th year, that we will find a way through the mess, that better people are in the wings, that youth see the light of day beyond the darkness spun by their elders, that those now so cowed by the powerful will gain their courage and confront the lies.

That truth-tellers will hike up their pants, so to speak, women and men alike, to change the political landscape, to recover our fundamental values of liberty, and of the Spirit, faith, hope and love.

The recovery from the long slide into the present crisis will likely exceed my lifespan, but so it is with the vast movements of history.

Others will take up the cause, the pen, the hope, to right the present wrongs, to undo the present evils, to insure that every American is cared for, that all will have access to health care, education, birth control, security in employment, and assistance in need.

I yet have hope.

Federal Judges

The damage is done.
If that's what it is.
To the Federal Bench:
Judges appoint by 45,
And quickly approved by the Senate.

Judges who will sit for a lifetime.
Who will make judgments about the law of the land.
And what's right and what's wrong.

All judges, in some form or another,
Are ideologues ... they have a penchant:
For this or for that.
How they see the world.
Or believe the world should be.

So, the damage is done.
And more judges to come.

So, I pray.
That the high bench will lend its grace.
That responsibility will temper intemperance.
That wisdom will emerge, at least in some.
Along the way.

Conservative?
Sure ... but thoughtful, too.
Willing to bend, to give, to listen.
To grow and change and give heed:

To the common good,
The Constitution and the Bill of Rights,
The best angels that set people free,
And secure justice for all.

Now that they serve, I have to pray.
That in their time, and for their day.
Their gavel will sound, and their words will stay,
The hand of greed and malice.
To sustain what is good, and offer to the soul of the land, justice, peace and solace.

All the Free Lunches

"When I look back on my life, what jumps out is how many variables had to fall in place in order to give me a chance" (J.D. Vance, "Hillbilly Elegy," p.239.

Many years ago, a man of considerable success and wealth said to a group of Rotarians, "Life is full of free lunches."

He went on to list so many things and people that simply came to him as gift, out of the blue, if you will, or from the hand of God, as some might say.

A loving home and the wisdom of mindful parents.
Teachers who cared and encouraged and challenged.
The network of family and friends who looked after him.
His own ambition and good health.
His dreams and energy.

Professors who never let him get away with shoddy work.
Folks who helped him get his first job.
The banker who loaned him money, on his word.
And all along the way, people, even strangers, who showed up at the right time.
And all of those fortuitous moments, too numerous to mention, and mostly unknown.

All of these, and more, the free lunches of life.

Here was a wise man who understood that his life was a gift, not a achievement of his own doing, and as such, there was only response, and that was gratitude, immense and all-consuming, gratitude, and the promise, the pledge, to be a free lunch for others.

How it should work, who knows.

Some have the opportunity, but something gets in the way.
A crummy family life.
Poor health.
Bad choices and no one around to cushion the fall.
Who knows?

A spectrum of variables, bits and pieces.

But this much I know, for those who "make it," there's only one legitimate response, gratitude. And maybe a huge amount of humility, as well.

Too many people walk around these days with their arms in a sling, broken arms, for patting themselves so vigorously on the back.

But for the woman or the man who truly understands the millions, even the billions, of variables that had to come together at just the right time so they could make, there is no back-patting, but only open arms and open hands to everyone around them.

And the best we can do is give and keep on giving free lunches.

Government programs, of course.
Personal engagement, you bet.
Financial support for aid organizations, all the way.

And many more moments and variables in which we can play a part for others.

Reading History

The gift of reading history - plenty of scoundrels, for sure, but plenty of people who rise to the occasion - they envision a just society where privation and suffering are limited;
they challenge the powers that be, especially those powers heavily funded by the super-wealthy;
they bristle when they see human beings degraded in the workplace;
they strive for good schools;
they are generally skeptical about military adventurism;
they are not swayed by slogans and throw-away phrases;
they read and they think;
they are generally of good humor, and enjoy a good laugh at themselves;
sometimes they're religious and sometimes not, but they all look at human beings with awe and hope.