American Successes / American Failures

Did you ever have to tell the truth when it was hard? Did you ever lie to avoid a hard situation?  Did you ever know a hard, wrong thing but you told no one because it was going to be complicated and some people wouldn’t believe you and you might end up disrespected or worse for “telling on” someone else?

Most people work hard at learning truth-telling when they are 4 and 5-years old.

These are questions I’ve been considering since we watched the Jan 6 commission reports. Monday morning former Attorney General Bill Barr said that he’d told Trump three times the election had not been stolen.

Bill Stepien, head of Trump’s campaign, admitted he knew from election night onwards that there was no fraud. That the numbers were so large for Biden it was not feasible that what was happening was crooked. And he said this to Trump. (BTW, as of Twitter this morning Stepien’s baby has not been born yet)

On and on. All those people (were they ALL privileged white men?) were aware that Trump was telling lies to destabilize our confidence in our election. 

As one commenter said, “His lying created an existential threat of people losing trust in our government.”

Those so-called leaders could have said the election was true and valid in November and December after the election. They sat on their thumbs. January 6th happened and our nation will never be the same. These men have known the dangerous Stop the Steal propaganda was and is a traitorous lie, but they said nothing. Barr waited for his book to come out and the rest have “just been busy”?

Those men would have been busted from nursery school.

Disgust and anger over here.

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And just because it is so easy to say, “They are all crooked.”  They are not. There are women and men who have been chipping away to demand and find the truth since January 2021. Trump was impeached twice. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger have become household names. Many Democrats are working to safeguard our republic in this crisis.

This is not a time to be cynical.  It’s too easy to say, “all politicians are corrupt.”  That’s approximately as true as all plumbers are …. And all doctors are … and all teachers are …  and all people who own pit bulls are …  yadda yada.

In a crisis, our best practice and skill is to know the character of those around us. Pay attention. Know what’s going on. Being informed is a radical act when lies and slander fly.

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We had Global Climate Crisis here the other evening it rained so hard there were WAVES on our street, although it only lasted a half hour. This was the biggest rain dump we have witnessed since we moved here.

We are all in Global Climate Change now.

What’s going on where you live that you have never quite seen or experienced before?

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You want some Upbeat? 

I got that, too.

Last weekend we went to the DePaul (Chicago) graduation of our daughter who completed her master’s degree in computer stuff. DePaul is so huge they only do the graduation ceremony for a few of their schools at a time.  She was scheduled for graduation of the Fine Arts School plus the Jarvis College of Computing and Digital Media. This was a thousand (?) students plus their families) and it was in Wintrust Arena (where the Blue Demons play). And we had to be there at 8AM! 

It was awesome! I had tears in my eyes often, and it wasn’t just my pride for my smart kid who. (Who, when she was in grammar school and someone would how old I was, would answer before me because math lives in her brain.)

It was glorious being in that arena where America was at its absolute finest. Young people of all races, skin tones, and attitudes. All proud of themselves. Families who were dignified and elegant, families in screaming t-shirts with their grad’s name on them. Skinny little dads from India or Pakistan with dress pants and sports jackets and small smiles, the kind of parents who worked two and three jobs for decades to get their kid to this moment. African American families beaming. Hispanic people. Folks from everywhere.  So much dark hair!

Move over politics and the damn Dow Jones. This is our best American story.

We want to know when and where this nation is working? Go to the college education of a public university.

The service started with a powerful acknowledgment of the native land on which Chicago and DePaul was built. Then we heard the Star-Spangled Banner song by a handsome man with dark skin and a huge smile and a voice to call angels.

I have never been more proud to be American.

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Our daughter gave herself the future she has been working towards. Recently she started an amazing job that pays an amazing amount of money.

Last Friday she adopted a shelter pup.

Meet Pork Chop.

(I’m going to be gone a long day. Send your comments as usual; I will post them tomorrow evening.)