Weather report

I left home at 7:15 this morning, heading for Massachusetts and a week of family and friends. It’s raining. The visibility is 3-4 car lengths. Crossing the Susquahanna was an act of faith, as was crossing the Delaware as the rivers were replaced with impenatrable hazy foggy dense mist. Seemingly, an abyss.

That is not just a report of current weather and road conditions. It parallels my emotional state in response to current events: today is November 9, 2016. Donald Trump has been elected to be the 45th President of the United States of America. The rain might well be the Earth’s way of crying. The murky fog may well represent both the mindset of the voters who chose him, and an apt description of what I can see ahead: nothing.

Trying to take an audio break from the politcal yakking, I turned my car radio dial trying tp find something else besides that redundant gab. Anything else. I found a soft musical intro that sounded vaguely familiar, and lovely. I stayed tuned as the singing began. It was Kansas singing “…all we are is dust in the wind…” Ahh. So that’s it. We are only specks in time. Finally, I allowed myself to cry.

But just a bit. Sad? Yes. But also, scared, angry, puzzled. It feels so much like history poised to repeat itself: wasn’t Germany suffering from economic stress? Weren’t people complaisant? Weren’t the minorities assimmilated contributors to the economy and culture? Could Nostradamus’ cryptic predictions be right: could a demagogue be rising only to lead the people to certain demise?

Maybe. But I can’t “go there.” I can’t believe that the mantra of “never again” might be drowned out by eagerly received messages of hate, proclaimed supremacy, rage that boils up from the depths of ignorance/prejudice/ greed.

In “Guys & Dolls” a beleagured Adelaid sings “It all seems a horrible dream.” Would that it were. I am willing to close my eyes in the hope that when I open them again, I will find that I had, in fact, been dreaming a horrible dream. If that’s not the case, I’ll just have to dream another, better, saner, more energized humane and hopeful dream.

Hey, look at this: it seems that the rain has turned to drizzle and that the dark sky has lightened to Pantone Cool Gray 3. Not a bad baby step. Now my left foot, then my right, then left, then…