Tag Archive | insurrection

Resilience

Mar30
In the pockets created by frost heave through the winter, I scattered handfuls of old wildflower and herbs seeds mixed with seedling soil and vermiculite, right before this past week’s precipitations. This weekend I’ll lightly rake the soil smooth over the pockets, and cross my fingers as I see what comes up .

I am profoundly sickened by this report of the former president (convicted rapist, coup-plotter, insurrectionist, and defendant in four criminal cases) posting an image of President Biden bound in the back of a MAGA pickup truck. I literally lost my appetite when I read this. How is it possible that this madman continues to evade justice for dragging our country ever deeper into depravity with statements and actions that would have landed any other American in jail long ago? Seriously. How is it possible that this lunatic hasn’t yet been restrained?

Major media of all stripes continue to essentially ignore his vociferous threats to American freedoms no matter how explicit he gets. Voters wearing blinders of greed, ignorance, and hatred see him through some perverted tunnel vision that allows them to continue to support him. The man desecrated The BIBLE, for fuck sake, and some Christians still sing his praises. I can’t help but wonder whether my uncle the General would have continued to support him through this astonishing trajectory.

Where’s Wren? Eyeing the grilled smoked Gouda and fresh sunroom tomato sandwich…

In the summer of 2016, when I was anxious about a possible Drumpf victory, I asked my Republican Christian uncle what he thought about the potential dangers of his presidency. My uncle said, “He’s a loose cannon, I’ll grant you that, but once he gets in office he’ll settle down and do the job right.” My uncle didn’t live to see that his naive vision failed to transpire. Would he have lost his moral compass along the way like so many of his fellow party and church members, if he hadn’t succumbed to a brain tumor? Would he have drunk the MAGA kool-aid? The fascist GOP candidate must be stopped in his march to destroy American democracy. His USA is not what the Founding Fathers had in mind. It’s time to lock him up!

Where’s Wren? Hiding behind the hollow tree…

Like many decent, hardworking Americans who truly believe in life, liberty, and the pursuit of genuine happiness for all Americans, and in the inherent value and equality of all human beings, my mental and emotional resilience is being put to the test. I’m grateful that mindfulness practice has made me more capable of handling the assault of the fascist ideology that has erupted like pus from the bowels of the Republican Party. But it still makes me sick.

I’m profoundly grateful for the solace of the forest, the rhythms of nature, the coming of spring; and for the community of kind and virtuous souls I’m fortunate to know in the neighborhood and beyond. I’m grateful for the teachings of the Buddha and the teachers who guide me on the path of peace. I’m grateful for the weekend celebration of Christ’s resurrection and pray that his preachings of peace and love will prevail in the hearts of his followers: that those who wear blinders now will see the truth of his light before it’s too late.

I’m grateful for variations on a theme: the Cheese Sandwich in a bowl. This cauliflower-cheddar soup recipe was so simple, so delicious; especially with the last toast from the tarragon loaf. I hope my appetite rebounds tomorrow.

Georgia

Jan6
Georgia’s first African American US Senator, elected yesterday. Today, a Confederate flag was hung in front of the US Capitol by an insurrectionist mob of racist minions. Photo from the internet.

I woke this morning to news of Rev. Raphael Warnock’s win in Georgia, and thought Georgia! I’m grateful for Georgia! News later in the day cemented that feeling when Jon Ossoff was declared a new US Senator as well. This good news for our compassionate new president, and my intention to write more about how these remarkable wins came about in George, were quickly eclipsed by news of insurgents storming the US Capitol building. Hours later, the current president has yet to call on his minions to stand down. The desks and belongings of hundreds of our duly elected leaders have been violated by an unruly mob, while our Congress huddles in a single room during a pandemic. Disgraceful.

I’m grateful for the National Guard and the Capitol Police, for a Free Press, and for courageous American patriots everywhere who are calling out this siege of the Capitol for what it is: the direct result of an unhinged, maniacal, malignant narcissist in the White House, and his deluded, seditious coterie. Any death, injury, or financial loss that comes out of this chaos today weighs unequivocally on the current president’s karma. I’d say ‘conscience’ but he doesn’t have one. As a proud American patriot of immigrant ancestors, who have served in the US military in an unbroken line of generations since there wasn’t a United States (i.e., I am a Daughter of the American Revolution), I have a lot more to say about patriotism, what it really is and what it really isn’t, but now’s not the time.

Grateful for this laundry line, bright sun, dry air, and this incredible view, far from the madding crowd.

I’m also grateful today for the two young redtail hawks who circled low overhead as I hung out laundry, for the US-made Staber washing machine that has served me for fifteen years letting me do my wash at home instead of having to go out to a laundromat, and for the Breezecatcher revolving laundry line made in Dublin that I’ve been using long enough to need to restring it with a new cable, shipped from Dublin. I’m grateful that I have the discernment to turn off the television after hearing enough, and turn my attention to the great outdoors.