My ‘quick and inventive verbal humor’
by Elouise
Sorry WordPress, but my ‘quick and inventive verbal humor’ (thank you, Google) went missing this week. Which is one way of saying it hasn’t been a stellar week. Not in the news, not in my heart, not in my body.
About the middle of this week I began a downslide, following several days of feeling on a fairly steady upswing.
One of the most discouraging things these days is overhearing or reading comments about “the American people.” Granted, as a nation we’re not looking so great these days. And what happens here makes things less safe around the world. Yet some fallout from Mr. Trump’s presidency is beginning to wear thin.
I fully understand questions about Mr. Trump and about our national election process. I do not, however, understand the need to view us in one lump sum as “the American people” who have, according to some, brought this on ourselves.
True, we aren’t considered the most upstanding people in the world, in large part due to overweening national pride and ignorance about the rest of the world–even though many of our citizens are from ‘the rest of the world.’
Yet when it comes to politics and national pride, the sad, painful truth is this: We are not “the American people.” Rather, we are a multicultural mix of citizens who identify proudly as ‘American,’ plus uncounted others who are citizens yet not certain where we stand in the eyes of our neighbors.
Nor are we the saviors of this country, now being led by a white man who claims to be a Christian yet seems not to know or care how to tell the truth, listen to the truth or live in the bright light of truth about himself , about those whom he supposedly serves, or about the world in which we find ourselves today.
We the people are, however, part of the solution in its daily human manifestations—in our homes, our schools, our churches, our neighborhoods, our schools and businesses, and our prisons. That’s what most of us are called to address. This, I would suggest, is our true history—untold for the most part in all its horror and its glory.
Even so, until we deal with the truth about our racial and cultural history, we will not make major headway as a nation. For this we need a leader who will make the history of multicultural America a top priority. I fear Mr. Trump is not up to the task.
Other noteworthy events in my week:
• I signed up for an Open Mic Night at my church on October 15. I’m going to read 2 or 3 of my poems. The first time ever! It’s a benefit for our Deacon’s Fund.
• On the down side, I found out I have a small but nasty pre-cancerous skin lesion that’s going to need a torture and torment method to ensure its demise. But not until after Open Mic Night!
Thanks for listening, especially today. If you’re interested in the highs and lows of our multicultural history, I highly recommend the title pictured above.
Elouise♥
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 29 September 2017
Image found at amazon.com
Daily Prompt: Witty
Telling the Truth 
darn lady, you know how to dole out the great news with the not so great news…..praying for less torturous and a more kind removal with complete eradication of the lesion….thinking of you and a lot of food for thought in this post. It vibrates through like my singing bowl, getting louder and louder with each reading. Have not read that book or had not even seen it before, most of my reads lately are Pablo Neruda and poetry to calm the mind in this turbulent world of late. Hugs super L….(PS, keep that Mrs E safe through it all, okay?-shhhh….don’t tell her I told you) ❤ ❤
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Dear Kim,
I’m doing my best to keep her under control. Yesterday I almost wore myself out, but today it’s feeling a beat better! 🙂
Super L
PS I love your little notes to me, and won’t let Mrs E in on the secret! 🙂
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and i meant to say I know you’re gonna rock the open mic night…..you are a rock star after all ❤ ❤
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And now from E herself: Thanks for your kind comment. I can hear you singing from here! E.
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smiles really big and says you go girl!!!! YAY!!! work today, tomorrow and last day Sunday….got some Prosecco for the occasion so I shall toast to your grand performance….D should tape it and then you can link it in your blog so we can hear it 🙂
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As a complete outsider, and one of the diminishing few who actually likes America and Americans; what I find strange, and to an extent disturbing, is what I think of as the “States Rights” syndrome:
Here in Australia we to have states, not many only 6 plus a couple or so territories. but states rights takes second place to Australia’s rights.
In other words Australia first States second whereas in the USA it seems to me that states rights are paramount.
This I believe is all wrong and is the basis for a lot, if not most, of all the troubles that beset the country.
The sooner all Americans whether Hoosier, Muskrat, Corncracker or Cajun; Wolverine, Gopher or Sandlapper. realize that they are one people and actually become UNITED as in United States, with one set of laws to cover all and become truly UNITED, then there is no hope for you in the future.
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I agree that we are becoming less united as states. Nonetheless, states themselves must come to terms with their own multicultural roots and populations if we’re going to get beyond white ‘Christian’ identity values and policies that benefit certain groups over others, no matter which state they live in. My concern is loss of attention to the history of our founding. It wasn’t all glory, a legacy that continues with every wave of immigrants. The white-power movement is alive and well.
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I do believe that your country will not become truly united until such time as states right takes second place. “All men are created equal” I believe; as written by that wise man of the day, Thomas Jefferson (a slave owner)……….
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”.
Those men, the Founding Fathers – a name not given to them until 1916 by President Warren G. Harding; – wise as they may have been for their times could in no way have foreseen how the US would expand and develop; and therefor I feel that too much responsibility is still being placed upon them and the ‘Constitution’ that they witnessed and signed; even to this day.
Perhaps if the American people ask me nicely I’d pop over for a while and straighten things out; after all those same ‘Founding Fathers’ were truly more English than anything else, an accident of birth causing them to be born in one of our colonies. 😈 😀 🐻 🐱
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I don’t disagree with you. I just suspect that the push toward more states’ rights is motivated by party politics that too often don’t take seriously or even agree that ‘all men (women, too!) are created equal, etc…..’ We’re now in the posture of having ‘red’ states and ‘blue’ states–in which gerrymandering, for example, has become the weapon of choice for keeping certain cultural and political groups in positions of less power.
Yes, we absolutely need to learn what it means to be united. However, the multicultural nature of this country has not, in my experience, been taken seriously. I don’t think we understand or fully accept what ‘America’ is and always has been. Nor do we take seriously our behavior from the very beginning when it comes to people who are ‘different’, seen as less than entitled to equal treatment or consideration. The book I recommended in the post is excellent. Given your love of history, I can’t imagine you wouldn’t find it engrossing. I did. 🙂
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Another cause in the US I think is that the only way anyone can get into Congress is to have plenty of money or money backing.
There is no place in the US Congress for anyone with integrity that is poop financially. It’s all about money and to hell with those who have none or little.
And that applies equally to the Democrats. Money money money.
Principle and honour went out of the door a long time ago, sad to say. 😥
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