This week, I've become very, very angry. Seriously fucking angry. The kind of anger that starts in the pit of your belly and burns it way upward like 5-alarm chili heartburn with a jalapeño and habanero chaser. The type of anger that makes you feel like you have to punch a wall before your head explodes. THAT kind of anger.
But yesterday, something happened to change all that. Follow me to the flip side for more....
I'd like to think of myself as a fairly patient person. I mean, I spend the vast majority of my days learning how to care for the ill while being yelled at by preceptors. After a while, you learn to roll with the punches, that everything is "like water off a duck's back." But this week, all that changed.
I've known for quite some time how rotten and nasty some members of the Republican party are. I remember vividly how Newt and his buddies did their best to sink Bill Clinton - how the conservatives took gleeful pleasure in "independent investigator" Kenneth Starr's published porno. For years, they've behaved so badly - and not just towards us, but towards each other, tearing the proverbial flesh off of their opponents during their primary seasons. Hell, I felt bad for what happened to John McCain in 2000 - I really thought he was a decent man who, because he was Dubbya's biggest opponent, went up like the Hindenburg after the Rovian assaults of that primary. Nasty pirrhanas in the sea of politics. Then came the Swiftboaters, and we watched the honor of Senator Kerry pissed upon by a group of asshats, while Dubbya got a pass for joining the National Guard. THAT was pretty insulting, to say the least. But I didn't get mad - I stayed calm. Throughout all of these years, I remained clam, and figured, "well, shows you what a bunch of butt-heads they really are."
But then came McCain v2.0 and Palin, and this past week. I mean, I don't put anything past those two, but, my fellow citizens? Maybe I'm too optimistic, maybe I spend t much time thinking the best of people instead of suspecting the worse.
Stuffed monkeys?? Why on earth would anyone do that? I watched that fellow, and thought, "how could he explain his actions to his grandchildren?" What would that exchange look like?
"Grandpa, why did you look so embarassed about having a stuffed monkey with a sticker on it?"
"Well, because I think that brown people are inferior, sweetie. Because they have dark skin, they look like monkeys."
What. The. Fuck?
How about all of this "pallin' around with terrorists" horseshit? Or the being spewed at their rallies?
Needless to say, I've been angry. Really damn angry.
But then, I found something. To be honest, I hadn't gotten around to watching it, but I found it when I needed it most...
And you know what? All those angry feelings started melting away. Then I saw this...
And, hell, the first few minutes, I got really pissed off again. But then, it went away. And, you know what, I cried. Yep. Blubbered like a baby. And all my anger was replaced with hope. Hope for our country. Hope for all of us.
Senator Obama could easily have Senator Biden go out there and attack the McCain/Palin ticket in the same manner they attack him. But he doesn't. He's calm. He's thoughtful. He has a plan. Where before I was itching to pick some political fights, maybe go start a flame war on redstate or in freeperville, but I'm not going to. I'm going to be like Obama. I'll keep working for him - heck, I'm going to make some calls to Nevada! But I'm not going to let these rethug goof-balls make me angry anymore. Besides, my mom would always say, "Kids act out because they don't get enough attention - bad attention is better than no attention at all." And 'm not playing that game.
Besides...
He's got it!