Category: Family Dynamics

Trump Impeached

As much as I complained about President Trump, I never wrote about his impeachment by the House beginning in December 2019. Of course, the Senate refused to impeach him and held a trial without any evidence. No evidence was allowed- not a single document and no witnesses were called to testify. A trial without evidence or witness testimony? Republicans went to extraordinary lengths to protect their president. On February 5, Republicans in the Senate voted against impeachment. How do we explain this to our grandchildren and to all future generations? We cannot. As a nation, we should be ashamed!

https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/trump-impeachment

Coronavirus:Covid-19 Pandemic

 

I don’t even know what to say about this. At present, the World Health Organization  (WHO) estimates that the mortality rate for this illness is 3.4% and its speed of transmission is alarming! It is believed that the virus is transmitted predominantly through person-to-person contact, but many cases of communal transmission are also reported.

Most of the 57 deaths reported to date are persons over 60 years-old with premorbid conditions such as heart and lung disease. I am 69 years old and have a serious case of COPD. There is no treatment, no vaccine and not enough tests to track the disease spread. The US is weeks behind in testing, which no doubt lent to its rapid spread. There are presently 156,089 cases world-wide with 5,821 reported deaths. WHO has declared this a global pandemic.

On February 13, the US had 15 confirmed cases in two states. By midnight last night (March 13), we had 2,836 cases in 47 states. The US government has declared a state of emergency. Most schools and public places are closed, and sporting events have been cancelled. People are asked to stay home and to avoid all physical contact. This disease is virulent and ugly. Considering my age and health, I wonder if this is the year that I will die?  I am locked in my house with no outside contact except through the internet or phone. This is where I will stay until this threat is over.

https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-03-14-20-intl-hnk/index.html

Washington National Cathedral

Yesterday at 3:17 PM ·

Have We No Decency? A Response to President Trump

The escalation of racialized rhetoric from the President of the United States has evoked responses from all sides of the political spectrum. On one side, African American leaders have led the way in rightfully expressing outrage. On the other, those aligned with the President seek to downplay the racial overtones of his attacks, or remain silent.

As faith leaders who serve at Washington National Cathedral ¬– the sacred space where America gathers at moments of national significance – we feel compelled to ask: After two years of President Trump’s words and actions, when will Americans have enough?

As Americans, we have had such moments before, and as a people we have acted. Events of the last week call to mind a similarly dark period in our history:

“Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. … You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?”

That was U.S. Army attorney Joseph Welch on June 9, 1954, when he confronted Senator Joseph McCarthy before a live television audience, effectively ending McCarthy’s notorious hold on the nation. Until then, under the guise of ridding the country of Communist infiltration, McCarthy had free rein to say and do whatever he wished. With unbridled speech, he stoked the fears of an anxious nation with lies; destroyed the careers of countless Americans; and bullied into submissive silence anyone who dared criticize him.

In retrospect, it’s clear that Welch’s question was directed less toward McCarthy and more to the nation as a whole. Had Americans had enough? Where was our sense of decency?

We have come to accept a level of insult and abuse in political discourse that violates each person’s sacred identity as a child of God. We have come to accept as normal a steady stream of language and accusations coming from the highest office in the land that plays to racist elements in society.

This week, President Trump crossed another threshold. Not only did he insult a leader in the fight for racial justice and equality for all persons; not only did he savage the nations from which immigrants to this country have come; but now he has condemned the residents of an entire American city. Where will he go from here?

Make no mistake about it, words matter. And, Mr. Trump’s words are dangerous.

These words are more than a “dog-whistle.” When such violent dehumanizing words come from the President of the United States, they are a clarion call, and give cover, to white supremacists who consider people of color a sub-human “infestation” in America. They serve as a call to action from those people to keep America great by ridding it of such infestation. Violent words lead to violent actions.

When does silence become complicity? What will it take for us all to say, with one voice, that we have had enough? The question is less about the president’s sense of decency, but of ours.

As leaders of faith who believe in the sacredness of every single human being, the time for silence is over. We must boldly stand witness against the bigotry, hatred, intolerance, and xenophobia that is hurled at us, especially when it comes from the highest offices of this nation. We must say that this will not be tolerated. To stay silent in the face of such rhetoric is for us to tacitly condone the violence of these words. We are compelled to take every opportunity to oppose the indecency and dehumanization that is racism, whether it comes to us through words or actions.

There is another moment in our history worth recalling. On January 21, 2017, Washington National Cathedral hosted an interfaith national prayer service, a sacred tradition to honor the peaceful transfer of political power. We prayed for the President and his young Administration to have “wisdom and grace in the exercise of their duties that they may serve all people of this nation, and promote the dignity and freedom of every person.”

That remains our prayer today for us all.

The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington

The Very Rev. Randy Hollerith, Dean of Washington National Cathedral

The Rev. Canon Kelly Brown Douglas, Canon Theologian of Washington National Cathedral

Full statement: https://bit.ly/2SQAVst

“I don’t want to talk about politics.”  The unstated words, “… with anyone who does not share my political views.”

Fine. Let’s talk about the current state of our government. That should be a matter of concern for every American citizen, regardless of political affiliation.

1. Russia interfered in our 2016 election. That is confirmed by all our intelligence agencies, the bipartisan House Intelligence Committee and the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
2. Russia is presently continuing its activities to usurp our democratic process.  That is confirmed by Dan Coats, Director of National Intelligence and all the organizations listed above.  It was confirmed by Robert Mueller during his testimony before Congress.
3. Mueller and his team investigated Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and has charged eight Americans once affiliated with Trump’s campaign or administration including his campaign manager and Director of National Intelligence Agency, 13 Russian nationals, 12 Russian intelligence officers, three Russian companies, and two other people.
4. President Trump obstructed the investigation by interfering with witnesses, destroying documents, asking his staff to lie to both Congress and Mueller while attempting to cover up this involvement, and destroying documents. This was confirmed by subsequent Congressional investigations and by Mueller’s testimony before Congress. Trump continues to obstruct by not permitting cabinet members and staff to testify before Congress and by ignoring Congressional subpoenas.

Every American citizen should be frightened by this threat to our electoral process.  

Let’s talk about the U.S. Constitution.

There are three separate but equal branches of the government: the executive, the legislative and the judicial. The Founding Fathers designed it this way so that no one branch could wield too much power. The legislative branch makes laws while the executive branch carries out those laws through its cabinets.  “Oversight of the executive branch is an important Congressional check on the President’s power and a balance against his discretion in implementing laws and making regulations. A major way that Congress conducts oversight is through hearings.”

Trump writes laws by executive order and has barred oversight from the legislative branch by refusing to allow most of his cabinet officials to testify, and those that have appeared before Congress, refuse to answer the most basic questions by claiming “executive privilege.” This defies Article I of the Constitution which has been upheld by the most liberal and conservative justices of the Supreme Court since the formation of our nation. Trump’s defiance of the power of Congress challenges the underpinnings of our democracy. Every American should be alarmed!

The Preamble of the Constitution states that our government was created to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” In other words, the government should serve the needs of the people-all of its citizens, not just the wealthy and industry. No one can argue that the policies of this administration have not harmed the poor, children in need, the elderly, or our environment in favor of industry. While this president likes to cite the job index as an indicator of the economy, it belies the fact that hunger and homelessness are on the rise. The number of poor has also increased, and this administration’s response was to lower the income level used to identify the poor in an attempt to hide this statistic.

Let’s talk about decency, civility, and morality.  

Trump lies, cheats, steals, and has committed adultery. He has obstructed justice. These charges are not a matter of opinion. These charges are confirmed by judicial records including but not limited to civil and divorce suits. Is there anyone who can say that Trump is a role model for their children? He is not of “sound moral mind,” and there is nothing civil about the way he attacks anyone who does not support him completely, unquestionably.

I fear for our democracy, and I weep for a society that upholds and supports this conduct. We were taught better as children, were we not? Why have Americans abandoned their moral compass? Why have those who most cherish our democracy not revolted? What kind of nation; what kind of society will we leave our children?

The latest mass shooting happened May 31, 2019 in Virginia Beach. My response was physical, visceral. My feelings found their way into my art. I posted this to Monet Café’ Art Group and found myself censored: page admin removed the image. I don’t know what their intended message to me was. Americans live with mass shootings and daily murders. Words in headlines and newsbytes are devoid of the real horror of this uniquely American tragedy. Images give back some meaning; some reality.

By May 31, 2019, we experienced 148 mass shootings; 149 people were killed with another 585 wounded. One of these mass shootings was at a church and two more happened at schools.

This image is dedicated to the hundreds of men, women and children who sacrificed their lives for a poor interpretation of the Second Amendment and our right to bear arms. In lieu of meaningful gun legislation, maybe we can at least set aside a holiday to honor these victims.

Mass Shooting Tracker:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States_in_2019

I admire the principles and teachings of many major religions, including Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam.  Following any of these faiths is hard for me because of their attitudes towards women.  Women are not treated as equals. They are “handmaidens” at best. Religions that attempt to elevate the status of women never quite succeed.

In both Judaism and Islam, a woman is considered “unclean” during her menstrual cycle and must purify herself at the end of her cycle before interacting with men.  While she is menstruating, she cannot serve men food, eat, or sleep with them. This is also true in large swaths of Asia and Africa and in Hindu regions. In places where this is a cultural norm, there are huts set aside where menstruating women must remain apart from men.

When men violate or rape women, in many of these cultures, it is the woman who is punished; the woman who is then treated as “damaged goods.”  It is not unheard of for girls to be forced to marry their rapists to restore the family’s “honor.”

While I am not aware of any equivalents within Christianity, in Hindu, Jewish and Islamic religions a woman must purify herself by taking a ritual bath after her menstrual cycle ends or after the last blood loss after childbirth. The words ‘purification’ and ‘ablution’ and the suggestion that women are ‘unclean’ set my teeth on edge.  Women were created by God the same as men, and I cannot imagine that God sees his handiwork as unclean because of a biological process that is a part of how he created her.

Of course, some of the cleansing rituals also apply to men. Like their female counterparts, Islamic and conservative Jewish men must perform ablution after urinating, defecating or passing gas. That grates me too. On the one hand, I fully understand that these rituals helped stave off the spread of disease in earlier times- and I pray we all still wash our hands after urinating or defecating in modern times! On the other hand, these ablutions also involve the washing of the face and for Islamic peoples the feet as well, and again, there is that implication that normal, biological processes make us “dirty” or unclean in the sight of God.

None of the major religions expressly forbid abortions during the first three to four months of pregnancy except Christianity. Unfortunately, fundamentalist Christians both forbid abortions and seek to punish women for undergoing such procedures. There is no punishment for men who impregnate women, and often next to no punishment for men who rape women. The fundamentalist Christian’s stance on abortion serves the same purpose as the “unclean” attitude towards women by other religions. It sets her apart from men and makes her less equal. It defines her limits in societies that do not attempt to control men.

While I am Christian, I do not choose to allow any religion to define or limit me. I am a creature of God who I believe, has created nothing vile or unclean. I have the same rights as a man in God’s eyes.

Lest you misunderstand- I do not reject religion. My Christian principles and faith run deep. I reject the notion that I am less equal before God.

I produce about as much “junk art” as I do “keepers.” As a matter of fact, the “junk” exceeds the “keepers” by a ratio of at least two-to-one and likely higher. I do not despair. Through photography I learned that fewer than one in five are good photographs and the rest are deleted.

“The World Outside My Window” would not be a keeper except that it portrays my feelings. Life seems to happen around me- outside of me. It is as if I am watching life through my window. I keep it for this reason only because the technical aspects are not that good.

I’ve never known how to escape and join the world “out there.”

I have a social anxiety. That is common for persons suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or Syndrome.  I avoid people and social situations as much as possible because I fear being judged by others and being rejected. It comes from a lifetime of being blamed and scapegoated by family and others close to me.

I go out very little and avoid most situations that require social interaction. In contrast, I am very outgoing bordering on outrageous with the people I am the most comfortable with. This includes my Red Hat ladies’ group and my membership in the Coast Guard Auxiliary, both of which I joined to force myself to leave my home and to interact with others. Still, I find myself avoiding friends and people whom I truly love. With the Auxiliary, I choose solitary tasks like publishing newsletters both because I have the required skills and because working from my computer does not require face-to-face contact.

When I must interact with large groups- like teaching a class at a conference, I ‘perform’ well, but then I must spend hours, sometimes days decompressing. As a matter of fact, almost all social contact requires that I decompress after. Because I appear to be outgoing, very few people know how truly painful the ‘after’ is for me.

Case in point: I spent yesterday evening with an old friend whom I truly love. It was a wonderful evening, I enjoyed myself and I posted photographs to Facebook. A relative immediately berated me for not honoring Memorial Day properly and by pointing out that it was not a day for pleasure. (He has, thankfully, since deleted his comment, but not before I read them and felt cut to the bone.) It served as a trigger that evoked other painful memories of the many times I was unfairly judged and accused by family, especially events like the complete rejection of me by my son who recently told me that I deserve no respect. That was a statement that I cannot begin to understand and his cousin’s disrespect of me only served to open all these wounds.

I could not sleep last night. The sense of unease was physical, palpable. While my mind knows these attacks against me are baseless and unfair, however, I cannot control or turn off my emotional responses and the flood of pain and sorrow. I know how I will respond even though it is irrational: I will withdraw even more to avoid feeling judged and rejected. I will become even more of a hermit.