As each day dawns for me and I go about my morning routine, I’ve learned after some 70 trips around the sun to try to find something good about the day and remind myself how thankful I am to still be alive, to have a roof over my head, food in my belly, married to a woman who still loves me (at least I think she still does... we must be soul mates because she sure as hell didn’t marry me back then for my money or looks) and live in a place that isn’t a war zone when so many others are suffering, hungry, abandoned and dying needless, early deaths. I served what I thought was the country that I was taught to respect and honor for 4 years in my early 20s then entered the work force while finishing my education and spent 40 years attempting to participate in that fable called “The American Dream©” with varying degrees of success. I struggled with multiple jobs, scarce resources, lousy pay and political indifference every single year of my working adulthood just like the children who now blame my generation for all of their troubles, yet somehow I survived and, in the process, managed to realize some modicum of fealty and notoriety among my peers before my retirement.
I used to have expectations for the Autumn of my years that involved peace, security and the pursuit of a life-long desire for musical proficiency in guitar. And then I read the news...
I never dreamed that I would ask myself the following question: what the fuck kind of country am I now living in? Have people learned anything at all from recent history? Did I spend 4 years out of my life that I’ll never get back serving this country in defense of our liberty and then dedicate 40 years of my existence dealing with the complex madness of achieving gainful employment, thinking that I was “livin’ th’ dream” — only to end up living in this kind of intellectual squalor?
It’s turned into a situation that’s so vulgar, it’s become much too personal.
After 4 years of the most dysfunctional administration since Rufus T. Firefly conned Freedonia into letting him run it, 74 million out of 155 million people voted to support overt fascism at the hands of a con artist, thief and grifter, whether they realized it or not. That means statistically around 2.38 out of every 5 people you see on the street want the same kind of government that they have in Somalia. Think about that. Let it sink in for a moment. That’s an awful lot of sentient stupid walking around.
So you think that’s too strong a statement? Now we’ve got U Haul trucks full of armed Nazis trying to start a riot in a town against gay people. How long will it be before we have Somali-style “technicals” riding around in vehicles with machine guns assaulting black churches and synagogues? Wait — hey, we already have that now! We have murderous firearm rampages mowing down children at schools, shoppers at malls and others at public gatherings almost every week. We have the governor of a large state like Texas having a smiling photo op with the leader of a fascist terrorist cell. We have the local republican party in a southeastern state like Florida whose leadership council has 3 known active members of a national domestic terrorist organization that supports subterfuge and violence against minorities. We have an ex Marine Corps 4 star general busted for shilling for a Middle East country to influence federal laws and overseas funding. We have police departments who have dropped the “To Protect And Serve” motto in favor of “My Knee On Your Throat and Point Blank Head Shots”. We continue to suffer Rupert Murdock, purveyor of political pornography through his electronic wet dream called Fox News, the 24-7 propaganda arm of American fascism, with Tucker Carlson whose spirit animal is Joseph Goebbels — all in the name of the single most abused, mutilated law in human history called “The First Amendment.” And why the hell is it some religious zealot’s business what my daughter and grand daughters do with their bodies? ANY part of their bodies? The fascists have publicly declared their war against what what they perceive to be “socialism” and “cancel culture” that targets their religion; but in the prosecution of their Holy War they’ve included a characteristic common to barbaric invading forces throughout history: rape. Only this time, it’s rape through legislative manipulation. Texas? Roe v. Wade? Oklahoma? Riiiiight…...
So now why is it personal? Well, let me tell you.
When I was a small boy, among my fondest memories was chasing fireflies at dusk among the hedgerows of my grandparent’s property right after a late summer evening’s thunderstorm. The smell of fresh rain and wet grass among the honeysuckle filled my head as the sun dipped below the tree line and cast shadows dotted with moving yellow-green wisps of intermittent flashes. It was a simple, magical world where, instead of today’s electronic phones and tablets that induce mental conformity and physical inactivity in young children, back then my imagination was left free to roam in a relatively pollution-free world where I could run and play and dream. I now have 3 grand daughters and one grandson who will never see a firefly except maybe in a biology book (if the book hasn’t yet been banned by some overly zealous evangelical thug); they live in a congested, polluted place plagued with ongoing draught conditions 10 years running with no end in sight. Their parents are highly educated professional people who in all probability will have no retirement opportunity at all unless my wife and I die early and they inherit what we’ve worked so hard, suffered and endured for so long to accumulate. And making them even more vulnerable, they ascribe to a religion that’s near the top of the American fascist’s hit lists, almost identical to the one that made 1930s Germany the scourge of humanity.
So yes, it’s personal. It’s damned personal.
At this point in my life, most of my major body parts are held together with titanium joints and surgical cement, thanks to my unfortunate luck of the draw in the genetics department and decades of physical abuse in the pursuit of making a living. I can’t march like I used to, stand and hold signs for as long as I used to or engage in physical altercations sufficient to make much of an impression on an adversary anymore. But I can still get a 10” grouping at 50 yards with my .308. I’ve been known to write some extremely caustic letters to my elected representatives and my local newspapers before they went out of business or were bought out by mega conglomerates (maybe that applied to my representatives as well...). And I can still vote — fortunately in my state, voting by mail is mandated and the local post office hasn’t been infiltrated by Dejoy loyalists yet. So for those who might have the sanctimonious audacity to ask me “ Your life has been good to you, Boomer - what are you doing to make my life better for me?”, my response is simple - I haven’t given up. I’m still fighting as best as my body and mind will allow me. Can you say the same?