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If You Voted for Donald Trump, You Owe My Children an Apology
[JohnPavlovitz] If you voted for Donald Trump, you owe my children an apology.Do tell... You owe them an apology for making them grow up with a hateful, incompetent, petulant, predatory monster as their President. For placing their safety in the hands of an impulsive child, who trolls world leaders with nuclear weapons and wields our military like an insecure coward brandishes a gun at a party. Trust me when I say if you are brandishing a firearm at a party, you are not insecure. Crazy, yes. Insecure, no. For unleashing the fierce tide of bullying, racism, bigotry, and homophobia they have to see in their classrooms and ball fields and neighborhoods—because the man you chose has repeatedly encouraged and legislated it. Wait. Wha? For making them do “shooter drills” at school, because you’ve sanctioned a man who is fully in bed with the NRA, who removes barriers to mentally ill people getting guns, and who does nothing to prevent military weapon proliferation. First I heard of mentally ill people getting a pass when it comes to guns. For the terrifying images of a crowd of emboldened, violent, torch wielding Nazis terrorizing a town—and of a President who coddled them afterward. Huh? As I recall Trump could give a f*ck about Charlottesville. For the inexplicable disconnect they see in a man claiming to be Christian—while being so devoid of anything remotely resembling Jesus. "Judge not, lest ye be judged." It's right there in the Holy Bible. You owe my daughter an apology for excusing his reprehensible words about women when voting for him; for ignoring the multiple accusations of sexual assault against him, for placing a man with such clear disregard for her at the highest level of leadership in the country she calls home. Trump leads the government, not the nation. He sure as hell isn't my leader. You owe my son an apology for taking someone with a lifetime resume of filth and misogyny, and asking him to look up to that man as a leader; for rewarding the very sexist, ignorant, repugnant behavior we implore him never to engage in or abide in those around him. See above. If you are teaching your kids that elected people are supposed to be leaders and not representatives, you are leading them down a dark path. You’ve let my children down by thrusting them into an America that is far less secure, less compassionate, less decent, more fractured, and more violent than it was a year ago—and because that truth alters children immersed in it. And that's just the good things Trump has done. But lest you think this is just about me, about my family, about my children—be assured it is not. Oh, thank heaven. I was actually worried. Yes, you’ve surely failed my children with your vote, and more so with the way you’ve doubled down on the toxicity released over the past year—but you don’t owe an apology to them alone. You owe your children an apology too. Really? Do go on. They too are inheriting this jagged, hateful, angry nation you’ve co-created with your vote. They too are reminded every day by their President, that honesty and integrity and empathy and kindness are of little value; that going low gets the intoxicating applause of the crowd and the affection of the ignorant. They too will have their personalities, their priorities, their sense of safety, and their very identities formed in the crucible of this scalding hatred Donald Trump presides over and continually cultivates. If your children one day become ill, they too will have a difficult time affording care or staying alive without going broke. Obamacare was legislated broken. They too will have to breathe the air and drink the water and reside on the planet that this President leaves to rot. They too will be saturated in the enmity and the callousness of this country—and make no mistake it will change who they are. It will change the way they perceive truth and the way they respect differences and the way they value people’s bodies and well-being. And if that means real change, then it should happen. And not just my children and not just your children. FFS! You owe an apology to every child who has to spend their formative years in an America that is defined by: fear of the other, an epidemic of cruelty, a poverty of decency, a deadly allergy to facts, a Christianity of coercion and malice, a defiant resistance to diversity. Or what we call Saturday night in Chicago You owe an apology to every young woman growing up in an America where celebrity preachers vilify assault victims and defend predators, where accusers are tried and offenders elected. And Trump gets fingered for that? You owe an apology to every young man who forms his identity in a culture where men can do whatever they want to women and they will rarely be held accountable; where gentleness is a liability and brutality an asset. Both are assets, actually, if used correctly. Yes, this horrible stuff existed long before this year, but it’s never had such a powerful and uncontested cheerleader with such an ability to ratify it all—and that’s something that’s on you and that you’ll have to own. That’s just how it is. So yes, you can puff out your chest online, and posture and boast all you want. Thank you, but I think I'll pass. The way I hear, love ain't s'posed to be puffed up. You can cling to the fading lie that you’ve won anything here, or that you’ve somehow struck a blow for America or Jesus or patriotism. You can tell me to suck it up and to let it go and to f*ck off—which I’m now quite used to. So why doncha? But at the end of the day you’ve simply let a lot of people down: My mom once told me that I could be anything I wanted. So I became a disappointment. My children. Your children. The children of this country and the planet. They all have lost because you were irresponsible with one of the greatest responsibilities you’ve ever had in their lifetime, and now they have to live with the terrible fallout—and you owe them all an apology. I’m well aware of what your likely response to all this will be. I don’t imagine an apology will be forthcoming—so I’ll apologize to them on your behalf. Please. Feel free. Then, I’ll spend every day living that apology. Sounds to me you ARE a walking, talking apology. I’ll remind my children your children and all children, that there are lots of adults who still believe that people are inherently valuable and stunningly beautiful—that not all adults fear brown people and gay people and foreigners and immigrants.
I’ll do my best to make them feel safe and loved and hopeful here, even on the days that I don’t. You'll be overwhelmed, coz there's a lotta need out there and one sorry socialist can't fix it all. Even while presidenting. I’ll even teach them to forgive people who fail and hurt them, because I know how difficult that it is right now. A straight up invitation for gratitude. Hope you can live with yourself. And I’ll remind them that even when bad people are rewarded, doing the right thing is still the thing most worth doing. I’ll teach them that when hatred seems the most treasured currency, that love is still worth more than gold. I’m just sorry that they have to live with something (and someone) far less than they deserve—and they didn’t have to.
Posted by: badanov 2017-11-24 |
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