A SCREAM WAITING FOR A MOUTH

That’s how I feel. Like a scream waiting for a mouth. I am saddened, lost, frightened and feel that I’m in a very small group of outsiders that do not belong. You see, and I’m echoing the words of others from that small group of outsiders, the country that I live in is not the country that I thought I was living in. I am most disillusioned, because once again, I trusted. I had hope in people. The definition of Insanity is one who keeps repeating the same action, expecting different results. In my case, I kept hoping that people would turn out to be the kind of people that built this country and fought hard to uphold Its principles. A country willing to fight a Civil War for the rights of all people and adopt a united front that All are created equal under the eyes of the law and that all have the right to Life, Liberty and Property. A country that, while flawed, still maintained a majority of people with a kind of moral character and civility. A country made of people like those who wrote a Constitution that has worked well for over two hundred years, but is apparently now dated and out of style. The Europeans, Asians, Middle Easterners etc who came here (by choice) from all walks of life for the promise of a better life, free from Religious, economic and social class persecution. Not the people who have taken the spoils and inhabit the place now. But the People have spoken. And they have spoken for everything that I am morally and socially against. They have mandated that our government can lie to us and we must accept it. They have mandated that diverting attention from real terrorist danger to attention to a war for oil rights is a righteous and proper thing to do. They have mandated that bigotry and hatred of entire sections of our population is not only acceptable, but legal, despite what our Constitution might say. They have mandated an ever growing divide in the economic status of our fellow citizens, namely those who have the money for services, and those who do the serving. They have mandated that women’s equality is going to have to continue to wait. They have mandated that “Pro Life” means caring for the unborn until they are out of the birth canal, only to then cut back on human services for those children once they are born, like proper medical care, equal education opportunities, proper nutrition, clean air and water, and vigilant protection from sexual predators and other unspeakable abuses that rob a child of any kind of “life” that they deserve. And “God” forbid those children are adopted by a gay couple that would raise the child with respect, love and opportunities.

This is not the country that I truly believed that I lived in. But the majority has spoken and I am an outsider. My country has turned upside down. Therefore, from this day on, I will in silent protest, place an upside down American Flag on the bumper of my car. Who knows. Maybe the concept will catch on. Like the early pacifist Christians who if exposed as Christians would be executed. They were outsiders who didn't belong. So they quietly identified themselves to one another by drawing a small fish in some subtle place outside their home. Look how upside down things turned out for them. They wouldn't recognize those who claim the title these days.

Things seem quite bleak right now and I fail, this time, to see the silver lining.