Even with the three years of devastation of what America was supposed to mean, this week was different. Something broke, perhaps permanently.

More Americans died in a shorter time than ever in our lifetimes, leaders shrug, a president’s madness grows, & cities burn. So much.../1

...of this traces to the same underlying cancer: Hate. Hate of fellow Americans. Hate of those with different beliefs, different fears, different races.

People refuse to wear masks that could protect us so they can “stick it to the libs” as if somehow wanting to help.../2

...prevent disease and death, to help those health workers fighting to help us, is political. The granddaughter of the great Johnny Cash - an icon in the red south - was slurred as a “liberal p***y” for wearing a mask while shopping. (She was inf3ct3x with H1N1 years ago and.../3

...is high risk if infected with Covid.) The same people who demand that every Muslim must stand and personally condemn violent jihadists or share in responsibility for their violence turn around and don’t understand why the silence of cops in the face of murderous cops is.../4

...so damning of the police in general. Cops need to be screaming that these kinds of acts are wrong, that they are not to be tolerated, that they do not reflect on true cops. Because if they don’t, if they stay silent while others make that point, they communicate a.../5

...silent complicity, a perceived approval, of the actions of the bad ones. Muslims do, often and repeatedly, condemn Islamic terrorism. Cops - the majority of whom are excellent people - maintain far too much silence in the face of wrongdoing by their own..../6

...if you want a nations trust, fshow you share the values of the best of that nation.

And leading it all is a maniac, a president who lives for hate, for sowing division, from screaming “the other!” Endlessly, and the party that knowingly stays silent about his madness.../7

...in a devils bargain for tax cuts and judges. They fight - attacking the very underpinnings of democracy and community - and eventually will be standing in “victory” over a poor, burning, uneducated, violent and hateful nation..../8

...where the ones who took endlessly - who felt they deserved that new sports car while children went under - perish with their heads on pikes, the end point for every nation that crushes the poor to wring out some more lucre for the rich.

We are not a great nation..../9

...greatness is not something you claim, it is not something you chant. Greatness is something you live - quietly, humbly - by a sense of communal sacrifice, love for others, and generosity both of spirit and material.

We are not a great nation. And this week, our fingers.../10

...that were clinging to the precipice may have finally slid off, leaving our nation falling into the chasm of global contempt we so richly deserve.

None of this can be fixed easily. But I will say this. It starts by accepting what you do not know..../11

...I don’t know what it is like to live as black man or woman, but I *am* amazed at the number of white people who lecture people of color on how to feel or react. I remember my horror and embarrassment when a black colleague of mine needed me to flag down a cab for him.../12

...because otherwise no one would stop. This was a man who dressed better than me, was groomed better than me, was smarter than me, but I had to get him a cab because no one would stop for a black man. And I think of this every time some audibly white Fox News host claims.../13

...there is no such thing as white privilege. They can’t imagine being the people who can’t get a cab, or can’t wander through a store without being followed, or can’t have a chance encounter with police without fearing being the next fatality... /14

..a black man takes a knee to protest the murder of young black men and is roundly attacked from the president on down; those same people scream “what goo are you doing by rioting” when they wouldn’t even permit silent protest.

This rant is the words of dismay. I don’t see.../15

...this getting better, ever. A poison of hate has entered the American bloodstream - a lot of it injected into our bloodstreams by an Australian tycoon who saw riches in mining paranoia and hate on television - and it has corrupted all we are and all we do.

We can only.../15

...take baby steps.

Your fellow citizens are your countrymen/women. If you hate them, you hate your country.

Accept that you don’t understand those who aren’t like you, and that is fine. Let others live their lives without your condemnation, but sometimes with your help.../16

...care for one another. Someone who wears a mask cares enough about the community to try and stop others from getting sick. Rather than sneering, ask yourself why aren’t you?

Stop listening to those who urge us to hate. Live your life & let others live theirs. In kindness.

Fin