River of Dreams

 

 

I had one of those nightmares that doesn’t go right away when you wake up.  It was about work; I won’t share the details, not because it was that bad, but because it was about work and everyone knows you don’t talk publicly about work, right?   It was along the lines of being late to school, or going to school/work in your underwear.  The thing about those kinds of dreams, in fact dreams in general, is the feeling behind them.

That feeling, for me, is that you have lost control of your life.  Even though you thought you were doing well and had it together, you find out it was all a sham and you have been knocked off the fence, thrown down a well, taken out with the garbage, or left adrift in shark-infested waters.  You have nothing, no-one, no safe place—or if there is one, you can’t get there from here.  It is a shame-based dream and gathers up all the times in my life when I actually felt that way—kind of a dream attack of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.  I have had one really terrible work-related experience in my life and I think at times I flash back to it.

I don’t really know the triggers.  Of course, there is stress at work and a few other places, but not any worse than I have felt at other times.  Other than the political scene. To my non-political readers you may not understand how those of us who hope every day for sane, peaceful, and caring leadership feel when it seems like that will be the last thing to happen.  It is personal; it feels like betrayal, that somewhere mean people are having the last laugh.  It seems as though everything that has been fought and worked for so many years has bit the dust, been flushed down the toilet and is blowing in the wind.  Along with the current battles on immigration, voting rights, gay marriage, a living wage, and health care for all, I hark back to the earlier fights by mine workers, suffragettes, and black people throughout our country. 

Am I exaggerating?  Is it just another bump in the road?  How much damage can be done until the next next election when the votes shift in the other direction?  I fear for a lot of things that I hope will never come to pass:  overturning the ACA; overwhelming poverty and need due to funding cuts; harsh treatment of undocumented immigrants; repression of minorities and gay people; and the logical outcome of gun-toting Americans flooding our supermarkets and playgrounds.

Any one of the above causes me to feel the dream-like sense of hopelessness while awake.  For now, I will continue to believe the average American will return to sanity and change the direction in which we are currently headed.  If that doesn’t happen, this will a nightmare for all of us from which we will not awaken.

Post-Mortem

The post-mortems have begun, liberals trying to answer the eternal question of "Why do people keep electing the same greedy immoral people over and over again?"  In endless verbal and Facebook debates I have heard many explanations, such as, in no particular order:

1. The black community doesn't get out and vote.
2. White Democrats don't get out and vote.
3. Fox News
4. They hate Obama
5. abortion
6. religion
7. They are uninformed
8. They are sheep and believe everything they're told
9. Voter fraud
10. People like rich, powerful people, no matter how they get their money and power

So, now for the Barbara Griffin theory of the Election Apocalypse:  There is a huge disconnect in people's minds over who they are and who they vote for.  I have the hardest time with people who I know to be good people; they care for others, love animals, do volunteer work and donate to charities.  Some have persevered over tragedies, illness and abuse.  As a whole, they are likable, warm and friendly people.  So why do they, over and over again, vote for leaders who engage in shady business deals, vote against health care and other services for children, the elderly and the disabled?  Why do they vote for those who have made it perfectly clear they consider themselves to be much better people and more worthy of the good things in life?

Sit down and ask them; I have done this and the answers can be surprising.  "I don't like his looks; I don't know anything about him/her; he/she did ___________________ for my uncle/grandmother/cousin; I think they're all crooks, might as well stick with the one I know."  Before Obama was elected the first time I actually heard someone call him Satan.  For some, allowing gay marriage and/or abortion will do it.  And then, of course, there are still the ones that believe our President is a Muslim Kenyan.  The thing is, they really don't know the platforms or beliefs of any of the candidates, including the ones they vote for.

Yesterday's disaster is still part of the anti-Obama (and blatant misinformation) campaign waged by the extreme end of the Republican party which most of us sane people realize has a whole lot to do with the color of his skin (not even his race--after all, he's as much white as he is black). 

I'd like to believe that good people will respond to logic and truth.  What I do believe is that a few more years of Republican obstructionism will wear on the good--and needy--people of this country.  I for one am definitely "Ready for Hillary"!