Ready to Exhale, So We Might All Be Able to Breathe

 

Ready to Exhale, So We Might All Be Able to Breathe

On the afternoon of November 7, 2020,  the results of the November 3rd election became clear.  Finally the dust began to settle after nearly four years of incoherent rambling, divisive rhetoric, and governing via Twitter.

Those years were characterized by disrespect of gender. nations, nationalities, national heroes, cultures, world alliances, and long-standing institutions; emanating from the position sometimes described as “leader of the free world.”  During those years we heard a president who never took Basic Combat Training, criticize a war hero who was captured.  His characterization of POW’s was an insult to anyone who ever wore a military uniform, and confirmed his ignorance of both the Geneva Convention and the U.S. Military Code of Conduct.

The divisiveness that characterized the Trump Administration was clear as crystal, pointed as a sword, and much more dangerous.  That divisiveness was so apparent, glaring and immoral that even James Mattis, the retired Marine general who became Trump’s secretary of Defense until they broke over the president’s Syria policy, could take it no longer.  Mathis commented “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try.  Instead, he tries to divide us.”  That judgment was harsh, but it pales next to something else Mattis wrote: “Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that the Nazi slogan for destroying us ... was ‘Divide and Conquer.’ Our American answer is ‘In Union there is Strength.’”  Mattis essentially compared Trump’s values to Adolf Hitler’s. (Click for Source).    

The divisiveness was unending.  During those years we heard a president refer to our Mexican neighbors as rapists; demonize the people of Haiti, El Salvador, and several African nations by referring to their Homelands as “shithole countries”.  We watched a president refuse to pay respect to a departed lawmaker who nearly lost his life while peacefully marching across a bridge decades earlier.  We observed a president cheer armed Militia members who defied the orders of a democratically elected Governor.  We watched the same president express little condemnation of a law enforcement officer who murdered a man on video tape, yet condemn peaceful unarmed protestors outside the White House.  We were stunned by his defense of a 17-year-old who fatally shot two peaceful protesters in Wisconsin.

Finally, on the afternoon of November 7th, citizens of the United States, longtime allies, and people of democracies around the world, had opportunity and cause to exhale.  Wishing, hoping, and praying for a long overdue breath of fresh air, we instead inhaled the toxicity of more carcinogens in our atmosphere because of an Environmental Protection Agency weakened of its power, but also an atmosphere polluted by the purposeful introduction of division and hate.  What ends up in our air, water, and soil can kill; and so too can what we absorb into our minds and hearts.

Halloween evening in my community was cold and breezy.  From my front door I watched as parents braved the weather to accompany small children, so they might experience the long-held tradition of Trick or Treat.  Despite the pandemic, the weather, and the high-stakes and emotionally draining election that was upcoming; parents all wanted the same things for their children.  They wanted them to be happy, safe, protected, and part of an experience larger than us all.  The families were Indian, Black, White, Asian, mixed.  Accompanying most of the children were sometimes couples, sometimes mom, sometimes dad.  All watched, most waved, some yelled a Hello.  If the adults didn’t hear the children say “Thank you,” nearly all asked “What do you say” and most children knew the answer immediately,   I could not tell the Democrats from the Republicans from the Independents, and it was refreshing to not know, and a relief to not care.  The atmosphere reminded me a lot of people on the streets of Downtown Cleveland when the Cavaliers won the NBA Championship in 2016; everyone had their “labels” removed.

Prayerfully as we move into the future, we will step up to our real challenges, and step back from confrontation.  Prayerfully we will be reminded that most of us want many of the same things from life for ourselves and our families.  Prayerfully we will treat each other as we wish to be treated, not as someone tells us we should treat others.  Prayerfully as we continue to exhale and inhale, the atmosphere will improve, and it will become easier, so no one will need to say the words “I can’t breathe.” 

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