Don't Despair, Damn It!
The best revenge is outliving the bastards.
I’ve made a friend in the last year named Michelle, a professor who is wise and witty and has undoubtedly made a difference in the lives of many students.
She’s one of the few people who can still argue politics in a civilized manner; we disagree on one race in the coming Democratic primary, but can actually talk about it without condemning each other’s ancestors to eternal hell, or suggesting that the other is being paid by Hamas, Mossad, Stalin or the Illuminati.
But I am worried about her. Yesterday, she wrote “like this country - and this world - I don’t think I am going to make it. And I really don’t want to. It would be a relief to just not wake up.” She added that she only keeps going for her pets.
Now, I know there are a lot of other people who feel the same way. If you love America, or at least the promise of America, and are steeped in American history, as am I, you can’t look at that smirking lying gas bag who sits where Abraham Lincoln and FDR and John F. Kennedy once sat, without anger and nausea.
But think about this:
Let’s say we were in July, 1946. What kind of hope could anyone have for the future? In the previous thirty years the world had been through two world wars, killing at least 70 million people between them, the Great Depression, the Holocaust, Josef Stalin’s mass murders of his own people, and now we had to face the Bomb.
How in the world could anyone be optimistic after that?
Yet things got better, and kept doing so for decades. We have the worst leadership that we’ve ever had, and it will take decades to repair the damage, at least.
But even Trump and his minions and lickspittles haven’t undone all the progress. Would you rather be Black now or in 1946 — or even 1966?
Or LGBTQ etc., anywhere before, say, 2015?
Twelve years ago, I was visiting a political memorabilia collector in Maine, looking at Nixon buttons, “Funny thing,” the owner said. “He won 49 states and now you can’t find anyone who admits to having voted for him.”
Michelle, we owe it to ourselves to live to see a repeat of that day.
Detroit Festival of Books: The Aftermath: I want to thank everybody who came down to Bookfest yesterday, with an extra thank you for those of you who stopped by, and especially to those who bought one of my books, even the one I hadn’t colored yet.
Seriously for a moment, there isn’t anything more important for a child than their not only learning how to read but learning to enjoy it. I hope to live for many years yet, but I know that if at some point I realize I am dying, I will think about all the books I haven’t yet read, and feel sorry for myself about that.
By the way, an extra thanks for all those who brought and donated children’s books so that kids in the Detroit Public Schools could experience the thrill of owning their own book. In the office where I am writing are a set of small books about animals that I was given in 1957, my first books, I believe. I cherish them still.
Cheer up. Things are going to get a hell of a lot worse. Join the climate scientists. Grab a beer and some popcorn and watch the show.
I also worry about the despair! And I do think it is orchestrated by those on the right who would really like us to live in a despair so profound that we don't even to vote. But another par tof it is also due to people forgetting about compromise-- while things are horrible, it is terrible to think about compromising further, but continual compromise among people on the left with one another is exactly what we're going to need going forward. I guess I am one of those who feel that the people who did not vote for Kamala Harris because she was not perfect for them is the reason we are in this boat right now. There is a historian named amanda nelson who talks eloquently about how our party is the big sprawling party with a big variety of opinions, and I wish we could enjoy that!