Democrat

My Daughter’s Country

November 7, 2020 by Leave a Comment

Dear Daughter,

Today is the day that we begin the work of building this country for you.

I’m sorry that you spent four years watching adults tear each other apart, and feeling confused and frightened about your country.

I’m sorry that you experienced a pandemic that was handled incompetently by those trusted to protect you.

I’m sorry that you couldn’t sleep many nights with worry for your parents, and your family.

I’m sorry that you had to stay indoors for months, and miss making school day memories with your friends.

I’m sorry that your dad lost his job, and that you worried about where you would be able to live.

I’m sorry that you had to fight to find honesty, and truth, and integrity when those you respect around you accepted and encouraged lies and disrespectful behavior.

I want you to know that all the years I spent teaching you about integrity, honesty, and ethics are not in vain. I did not excuse that behavior from a powerful man. I condemned it then, and I condemn it now.

Please know that I stood firm for your right to decide what happens to your body. I trust you to make healthy decisions for your life.

I want you to know that I fought hard for your right to love and marry whomever you choose. I trust you to make healthy decisions for your life.

Know that I saw your face when you watched news reports of children being caged. I saw the alarm, and I could almost hear your thoughts, “What if that were me?” I protested as loudly as possible, because I also thought, “Dear God, what if that were me?”

Believe that I fought for your right to grow intellectually, and learn all you can without the burden of debt, because I know that greater intelligence will be a gift you will give back to your countrymen.

Today is the day that I will make a decision to reach across the aisle, and come together for solutions for the entire country. But before I do, I need you to know that a position or class doesn’t determine whether you are a good person. Your behavior does. And every good thing I taught you to recognize and honor in yourself remains. Today is the day we begin the work of building a country for you.

September 11

September 11, 2019 by Leave a Comment

It was a day that altered every life in America in 2001.

A day that taught me what patriotism looks like.

A day when there was no right, no left, no Republican, no Democrat.

It was a day that we were all Americans.

A day when parents stopped everything to rush to their children.

A day when some couldn’t get there at all.

A day when we all stared in horror at the tragedy unfolding before us.

A day when we all cried together.

It was a day when the best among us gave everything they had.

A day that normal people became heroes.

A day that defined the word “American”.

It was a day when every detail of a normal day was rearranged.

A day when expectations of normal days ended.

A day that is etched in our collective memory.

It was a day when we remembered our humanity.

A day when caring and kindness was more important than being right.

A day when money wasn’t the God of our country.

A day when capitalism, socialism, even communism, didn’t matter.

It was a day that altered every life in America.

What’s The Number?

January 23, 2019 by Leave a Comment

What’s the number?
How much does integrity cost?
Jesus loves the little children.
What number does the GDP reflect when it becomes acceptable to mock a disabled human publicly?
The insidious implication that protectors of a nation are suspicious.
The blatant introduction of national enemies into infrastructure.
All the children of the world.
Boys will be boys, #metoo, school shootings, fake news.
Politics masquerading as Religion. Power wearing a God costume.
What decreased percentage does the national unemployment rate hit when a large crowd of people and a leader publicly humiliate and laugh at another woman’s trauma?
The celebration of clique and hierarchy among humans.
Red, brown, yellow, black, and white.
What kind of trade deficit is appropriate when we just overlook a self-proclaimed evangelical’s famous quote “grabbed her by the pussy”?
What’s the bottom line for deregulation when the selling off of our national parks and public lands get a thumbs up?
Is there a 1:1 exchange ratio for the number of dead Syrian children to each dollar increase in the S&P500?
They are precious in His sight.
Kids in cages in exchange for good growth on those retirement accounts?
The manipulation of a nation to discredit what one can see with their eyes, and to ignore what one can hear with their ears.
A daily insertion of a dystopian environment into a great nation, creating doubts of who is good and who is evil.
Worst of all, the division of a nation. The slow rot from the inside, the disintegration of families, the infectious disease of people against people.
The obliteration of human compassion, the death of respect for humankind, the elimination of kindness.
Jesus loves the little children of the world.
What’s the price tag exactly for it to become acceptable for a human being to be inhumane?
What’s the number?