It’s Father’s Day, y’all. I’m not sure why I suddenly felt antibellan, (might have had Hunter Bell in my head for a second), but, I’m thinking that most fathers are worth celebrating or, at the very least, remembering and, even though the actual day is but a thinly-disguised commercial enterprise, if our collective consciousness could temporarily pause on a warm memory of our fathers…well, how could that be a bad thing?
My father was a truly gentle man. He had, (unknown to him and bequeathed to me), a bi-polar condition that would catapult him into momentary fits of rage, loud and sometimes scary, certainly troubling to strangers, but as benign as a sigh or a sneeze for those who knew and loved him. He hated no one. He loved with all his heart.
I’ve been thinking about my Dad a lot lately. His 100th birthday recently passed and, even though my moral compass is calibrated by his example, I still hear, (as was the case when he was merely mortal), but too often ignore his gentler voice. If these were audio posts, the volume would often require adjustment. I know that. I also know that people tend to tune out shouting as just noise and that bombast, although it may encourage emotional support from a subscripted choir, doesn’t usually fare well in the winning of hearts and minds.
Still, there were a lot of yell-able events this week: Jeff Beauregard Sessions, III’s, (really, somebody thought that was worth preserving through three generations?), testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee; that horrendous fire in London; Jeronimo Yanez’s acquittal for killing Philando Castile in Minnesota; Bill Cosby’s mistrial; almost anything about Donald Trump but, in particular, that bat shit crazy Cabinet meeting where each of the Secretaries took turns praising the “Fearless Leader”; and the horrific attack on the Republican baseball practice. It’s hard out here for a cyclothymic pimp!
But…as long as we’re here and I’m calmer than usual, I have some thoughts on the aftermath of the shoot-out in Virginia. I abhor violence. In particular, I abhor gun violence. So, it saddened me, that in the midst of the camaraderie and palatably real and heartfelt emotions expressed by many members from both sides of the aisle, little was mentioned about the obvious gun problem in America and, in fact, Texas Republican, Roger Williams, the GOP coach, alluded to the fact that, “the team would have been much safer if we were all packing”. This was followed by a two-day virtual group hug, testimonials from all sides about how, “we’re all just peace-loving, devoted civil servants”, and sound bites galore professing how much respect they have for one another in spite of fundamentally irreconcilable ideology. (Imagine the following being delivered in a calm, controlled voice)…What a bunch of hypocritically out of touch assholes! There has been barely a trace of sincerity or the expectation of positive, (no less collaborative), policy from our diabolically broken Congress in the six years since there has been a Republican majority, and scant examples of productive action for many years prior. And, since January 12, 2017, we have become a rudderless ship captained by an infantile baby-man in ill-fitting fat boy clothes, who is equal parts smarmy and dangerous and, sadly for anyone chanting for World Peace, thoroughly un-huggable, (I’m still calm, by the way…and huggable).