Category: Commentary

Anyone who has known me for some time has probably been shocked by my outspoken commentaries during the most recent election. I was always an exceedingly timid girl who liked the idea of hiding in the shadows during my youth. I was not someone who dared to rock the boat or take risks. Then one day something happened in one of my classes that forever changed me. Most people who were there probably do not even remember the incident but it had an enormous impact on me. 

I took German as one of my foreign languages. The teacher was loading us down with an inordinate amount of homework, but as was my habit I got it done each evening even if it meant staying up until two or three in the morning and then subsisting on only a few hours of sleep. On one particular day the teacher asked us to place our completed assignments on our desks so that he might collect them. As he walked down the aisle one student after another admitted that he/she had not done the work. The teacher was growing increasingly angry but I had already realized that I was in the midst of a kind of rebellion against the work overload under which we were being crushed. I looked around and saw that mine was the only paper on the desk just as the teacher noticed the same thing. With a triumphant grin he hurriedly walked to where I was sitting. As he stopped next to me I quietly removed the assignment and hid it inside the desk while saying, “I did not do it either.”

The teacher blew a gasket at this point. He literally went to the front of the classroom and announced that we obviously did not want to learn and so he was leaving. We sat for the whole period in silence waiting for him to return, which he never did. For several days we sat without a word, waiting for the teacher to begin a lesson. Sometimes he simply sat at his desk pretending that we were invisible and sometimes he just did not come. Eventually our lessons resumed without a word about what had happened but I felt a tinge of excitement in knowing that I indeed had the courage to stand up for what I believed to be right. I would resurrect that bravery from time to time but mostly I remained a quiet presence in the world.

In college I participated in peaceful civil rights marches but always blended into the crowd without voicing my feelings. I also protested the war in Vietnam and that seemed to be so senselessly taking the lives of young men that I knew. I was never particularly vocal about my forays into civil disobedience and I always left if there were signs of trouble.

Eventually my focus would be on more personal issues. I literally had to fight for my mother’s sanity over and over again. Our society does not take mental illness seriously and I was often alone in my efforts while my brothers were still in the process of becoming adults. It is difficult to find doctors and to get the support that those with diseases of the mind require. I had to learn to be assertive and to refuse to take no for an answer. 

Later I would become an advocate for my students. There was no child unworthy of my efforts no matter how damaged he or she appeared to be. I always believed in my husband’s credo that nobody can be a failure at the age of twenty. I pulled many a young person out of the trash heap of negative assumptions. I searched for the best in people who sometimes appeared to have only minimal merit. 

When I became a Dean of Faculty I worked hard to support the teachers. Many times they were unaware of the battles that I fought for them. I continued with my quiet approach to things. I saw no reason to make a public spectacle of my efforts. I did not want to detract from the wonderful work that the teachers were doing by shining a light on myself. 

So I grew old with a reputation of being rather meek and mostly willing to go with the flow. People liked me for that characteristic. Our society shies away from aggressive people, especially when they are women. I wrote my blogs mostly sticking to topics that made people feel happy. I tried to stay away from sensitive ideas, but then came the pandemic in the midst of an election year. The Black Lives Matter movement erupted again with the death of George Floyd. Our world seemed to be searching for a voice and I knew that I had to be that for my daughters, my grandchildren, the teachers with whom I had worked and both my former and present students. There were things that needed to be said publicly.

It was not easy. People questioned me and some even abandoned me. I suppose they were dismayed by what they saw as a dramatic change in my personality. They challenged my views and made attempts to convince me that I was wrong. I weathered the debates but stuck with my beliefs because I really felt that I was thinking of my country, preparing for a future which will no doubt be challenging. In the process I gained the respect of some and lost it from others. 

Recently my eldest daughter gave me the compliment of a lifetime by telling me that she was proud to call me her Mom. She said that I have stood on the right side of history in her mind. She was happy that I was willing to be vocal and persist in stating my views even when I was attacked, even when I knew that I was not really changing any minds. I am overjoyed in knowing that she understood why I was doing what I have done. 

There will be more battles before I one day die. Of that I am certain. I know that I have the grit that I need to be a warrior for what I think is just. While I respect those whose philosophies are different from mine I am happy in knowing that I have the strength to stand for something beyond myself. I have truly come of age. 

I have no idea how my system would react if I caught Covid-19. I don’t know if I would spread it to my husband. It may be that I am more precautious than I need to be. I may never know what would or would not have happened if I decided to throw caution to the wind and join my friends who meet regularly and take photos of themselves gathered together without masks. It’s possible that I am the silly one and they are right to just get out and live because they do all kinds of things that I would be reluctant to try and none of them ever get sick. Sometimes I suspect that they think my aversion to being risky is silly and a sign that I am more fearful of the virus than I should be. 

In truth there are so many unknowns about this virus that I have to rely on sources that I trust and those happen to be our doctors. I follow their guidance even when it is uncomfortable because I believe that they have my best interests at heart. They have nothing to gain by leading me astray and so if they instruct me to behave a particular way, I follow their advice. 

I went on a long but almost hermetically sealed journey to Colorado because my doctors conceded that we would be okay due to the many levels of precaution that we have been religiously taking. As planned all went well and we managed to enjoy time in nature without really contacting any people other than my brother and sister-in-law who had also quarantined and been relatively isolated for months. Ironically we pulled our trailer through Kansas to get to Colorado and I commented to my husband then that the people there did not appear to be taking the virus seriously so we avoided them like the plague. Shortly after we returned home there was a huge outbreak of Covid-19 in Kansas which did not surprise me at all. 

When my nephew got married recently I consulted with my doctors once again and this time they advised me not to go. It was a huge disappointment to me because I had purchased a special dress with a mask to match, but I stuck with my plan to continue to listen to my doctors rather than public opinion. My daughter and her family represented us at the gathering and sent me tons of pictures as the event was happening. It was not quite the same as being there but I still felt the joy and the love. 

As far as I know there was no one who attended the wedding who came down with Covid-19 but there was no way for me to be certain of that beforehand, so I chose caution over taking a risk. In fact that is what guides me during this time. I am personally rather healthy. I tend to be very tough and have not had many serious health issues in my lifetime but who really can be certain how Covid-19 will affect them? More importantly what might occur if I infect someone else? These are not issues to be taken lightly and since I have the luxury of staying home because I am retired I see no reason to play Russian roulette. The doctors have enough on their hands without adding me or someone that I infect to the mix. My more sequestered life is a small price to pay if even one person stays well because I have chosen to be more circumspect.

I am quite patient and optimistic about the future but I have always believed that each of us  has a role to play in making the world a better place. I have observed that in countries where people religiously adhere to certain standards of protection the virus has almost become a nonevent. When people are willing to wear masks, keep distances, curb unnecessary activities, trace the spread of the disease and submit to temporary lockdowns in specific areas where Covid-19 cases are growing, the rates of infection are far lower. Places like New Zealand and South Korea immediately enacted strict measures that have resulted in fewer cases and deaths than in similarly populated countries where there has been push back on any kind of restriction.

I am saddened that we appear to be entering another wave of illness. It means suffering and perhaps even death. I intend to do my part by playing it safe. I have no guarantee that I will not be touched by Covid-19 but at least I know that I am doing my best not to tempt fate. I know for certain that my daughters would be greatly disappointed in me were I to ignore the directives from those who know the most about this disease and take unnecessary chances. They have worked hard to keep me and their father safe which has meant sacrifice on all of our parts. 

I do not begrudge those who disagree with my way of thinking. In the end they may actually be proven to have been right in simply living in spite of Covid-19. So far they appear to be doing quite well and I hope more than anything that they stay that way. If this all just miraculously goes away I will rejoice with them. For now I feel about my caution the same way I feel about purchasing insurance. I want to be careful and so I buy it, but I would rather not ever have to use it. Thus my self confinement will continue until my doctors give me the green light to rush full force back into the world. My insurance will stay in place.

I was a young woman in my early twenties when my husband Mike and I arrived at 8519 Anacortes Street in Houston, Texas. I had two little girls and many hopes and dreams for myself and my family as we moved our belongings from an apartment to our first home, a sweet nineteen fifties house on a huge tree filled lot at the end of the street. Even as we were still carrying our things inside we met our neighbors, most of whom were a bit older than I was with children who were in middle school and high school. I was literally the new kid on the block and the ladies who lived on either side of me would become my mentors, my fonts of wisdom and my very dear friends. 

Once I had unpacked my worldly goods and created a livable environment inside the house I noticed that the ladies who lived on either side of me, Carol Hall and Betty Turner, would gather under the shade of the trees each afternoon to sit together relaxing for a time on their lawn chairs. Both ladies had large very active families that they headed with such skill and grace. I was already admiring them from afar and so one afternoon when I saw them lounging in their usual spot I gathered a chair of my own and joined them. To my delight they enthusiastically welcomed me to their little circle, a spot that I would grow to treasure. 

Both of the women were sweet and kind and filled with a kind of folk wisdom that I needed as I nervously guided my own family from toddler days to teen times to young adults. I literally grew up in their care like a little sister always wanting to tag along and one day be just like them. Betty was always the calm optimistic anchor of our little group. She had a ready smile that was so genuine that it lit up even the darkest days. There was a twinkle in her eye and just enough mischief in her laugh to set me aright whenever I got a bit too serious about life. Her folksy wisdom and generous heart made her a favorite in our neighborhood. Virtually everyone had a story of how Betty had become like a mother or grandmother to them. Kids who were not her own called her MawMaw and everyone loved her just as she had loved them. 

Betty was one of the most talented people I have ever known. Her culinary skills were legendary and with her bigger than life personality I always thought that she would have been a star if she had hosted her own cooking show. She made baking and preparing a feast for a huge crowd look easy and she had an eye for recipes that were mouth watering. Anytime she served a ham she would save the bone for me because she knew that I liked flavoring dried beans with the leftover scraps. On special occasions she would send over a cake or a batch of cookies, delights that we devoured all to quickly.

Betty’s five children grew and left home to begin their own adult lives but they often gathered together in their former home with their spouses and their children who became like extended family to me. I knew that I might knock at Betty’s door any time of the day or night and be welcomed with open arms. There was no problem of mine that Betty was not willing to help solve even as she cared for an aging mother and a husband with multiple health issues. Somehow Betty seemed to be blessed with boundless energy and a joy for life that was unflagging. 

After almost thirty five years Mike and I decided to move from the home where we had raised our children and celebrated every major milestone of our lives. I announced our intention to leave our little nest with a somewhat heavy heart because I really could not imagine what it would be like to no longer have the luxury of sitting with Betty and Carol under the trees. I wondered who would keep me sane and laughing the way Betty always did. 

The next fifteen years seemed to fly past at warp speed. I was busy being a Dean of Faculty at the school where I worked and I was now the one with married children and grandchildren who kept me happily busy. My mother came to live with me just as Betty’s had done with her. Whenever I became frustrated with all of my responsibilities I thought of Betty and the calmness that always seemed to emanate from her. I saw her smile and heard her laugh and followed her example. 

Eventually I retired from work. By then Betty’s husband had died as had Carol. Betty moved from Anacortes Street to east Texas. I sent her Christmas cards, talked with her on the phone now and again and followed her on Facebook. Eventually Mike and I would camp in our trailer near her home and get to visit her in person. We would sit with her for half a day laughing and munching on goodies that she had made. 

Somehow I never wanted to leave Betty’s presence because each time we visited I left feeling calm and so loved. After my mother died Betty even told me that she would now be my mother. I should have told her that in many ways she had been playing that role unofficially throughout my adult journey. Her impact on me was immeasurable.

Mike and I had planned to visit Betty again last spring. Covid-19 came and our plans had to change. I hoped that the danger of the pandemic would pass and we would once again be sitting around her dining table admiring the crafts she had made, listening to her stories and just enjoying being with her. Sadly Betty was diagnosed with advanced cancer several weeks ago and life was upended for her and her family and everyone who knew her. She died last week feeling closer than ever to God and knowing that her pain would soon be over and she would be in the arms of her Lord and savior. 

A world without Betty Turner in it is hard to imagine. She gave so freely and so lovingly to every single person who came her way. She made each of us feel special. She provided the best advice without ever being preachy. She was the essence of joy. I will miss her but she is forever in my heart. My tears are filled with happy memories that will never fade. I smile as I think of her. 

Enjoy your time with God, Betty. Say hello to Carol and Dave and all the folks who are no doubt celebrating with you under a big shade tree. You have earned a very special place in heaven. You were always my angel on earth and now I ask that you save a spot for me until I get to join you again one day.

So here we are on election day 2020. When the votes are counted we will know who is going to be the president for the next four years and who will represent us in the House and the Senate. Whatever happens, whoever wins, I would like to think that we will accept the choices and move forward, but I sincerely doubt that it will be as easy as that. There is so much rancor and anxiety in the country that I suspect that the verbal conflicts and political jousting will continue until we as a people finally decide that we have had enough. Who knows how long that will take or if it will ever happen. In the meantime the winners will move forward with their ideas and the losers will take stock to determine what they may have done wrong. 

The political landscape is changing whether we wish it to do so or not. The Baby Boomers and their parents who remain are slowly fading away. Newer generations will have more and more of a say in how we should do things and their ideals gaze into the future rather than looking back on a time that no longer exists. It is the way of the world. The clock does not stand still. 

All eyes are on my hometown of Houston, Texas, a kind of microcosm of what is to come. It is the most diverse city in the United States. It is home to people from across the globe with no one race noticeably greater in numbers than another. It is a vibrant population rather than an aging one. Somehow with all of our differences we manage to mostly get along and we always come together in difficult times. Perhaps no other city better represents what all of America should hope to be in learning how to embrace the many different aspirations of our citizens. 

My most fervent wish is that the United States of America will begin a process of healing in the coming years. Politics have pitted us against one another for far too long. We cannot even remember when it all began, although I have a few ideas regarding that. If we are not careful we will become like the Shia and the Sunni in Iraq or the IRA and England of a few years ago. Our disagreements will become ever more senseless and brutal. It’s time for the adults in the room to deliver us from the misery that has plagued us since the back and forth of political battles began around the year 2000. An entire generation has grown up in an ugly atmosphere of never ending retribution that only seems to become more and more serious with the passage of time. Perhaps it will be in the ranks of our younger citizens that we will finally find leaders with the will to work together to solve our very real problems. 

First we must get beyond the horrific effects that Covid-19 has had on our society. Somehow when we most needed to work together as a nation we lost our way, focusing instead on unimportant matters and making our efforts about personal freedoms. We divided into camps rather than responding uniformly to the needs of our most vulnerable. We wasted time and energy arguing when we should have agreed to a plan designed to keep our society both safe and still operating as fully as possible. 

Next we must be willing to genuinely demonstrate our willingness to hear and understand our differences in a way that will unify rather than divide. I fear that if we continue to barter in hate and an eye for an eye we will find ourselves on the brink of disaster. There is surely a way to live together in harmony and respect without domination. I long for the day when members of our political parties will once again join together to create legislation and programs for the good of all of the people and all of the states, not just the ones that vote for them.

There are certainly challenges that belie partisanship. We have to face the realities of climate change now or face the consequences of ever more dire scenarios. Waiting to do something will only lead to a catastrophic future. Repairing the damage we have done does not mean a return to the dark ages if we focus on encouraging innovation and a willingness to change some of the ways we have always done things. We need not be pessimistic about such a process for it will surely lead to even better times than those in which we now live. There can be a brighter tomorrow if we are willing to tap into the inventiveness of our minds.

We must consider ways of protecting freedoms while also working for a common good. We will no doubt need to compromise here and there but our trajectory should always be forward. We must honor our old and our young while supporting our workforce. No single religion or race should dominate our laws. We have to find ways of providing state of the art medical care to all citizens, not just those lucky enough to be able to afford high priced health insurance. We need to rationally honor our religious differences and be willing to understand those whose sexual orientations are unlike our own. Mostly we should begin to shun anyone or any group that knowingly attempts to divide us with fear and hate. 

The voting will stop for today but the hard lifting will begin tomorrow. If we are not up to the task we will leave our children with a harsher world than necessary. Why would we ever want to do that?

Tomorrow anyone who has not yet cast a vote for president will have one final chance to be heard. This has indeed been one of the strangest and most contentious presidential races in my memory. The only contest that comes even close was in 1968, the first election in which I was allowed to vote. Back then the Vietnam War had driven a wedge between Americans who remained loyal and supportive of the ongoing conflict in southeast Asia and those who questioned the wisdom of continuing to fight a war that felt increasingly disturbing. Ultimately Richard Nixon, the more conservative candidate, won and ironically he decide to end the Vietnam War without victory. Later he would resign his office after being accused of obstructing justice in the Watergate incident.

The country was weary from all of the furor of the nineteen sixties and it mostly settled down for many years. Sure there were startling incidents taking place now and then but for the most part we simply concentrated on the job of daily living. I think that on the whole we were exhausted and so we said little about the divisions of race and ideology that had brought us to the incendiary moments of that 1968 election. I suppose it never really occurred to us that many of our differences were still simmering below the surface. We had not so much solved our problems as just ignored them. 

So here we are in 2020 and it feels as though the scabs that appeared to have been a sign of healing have been ripped off to show that the wounds of the past have continued to fester. While some of us were leading comfortable lives others were struggling mightily. We learned that racism is still alive and well. We realized that Russia is still engaged in a cold war for world power. We saw that certain sectors of society became wealthy beyond all imagination while others were barely able to get by from day to day. We watched climate change creating the most devastating wildfires ever seen and a hurricane season so unrivaled that we finished our own alphabet and had to resort to naming storms with Greek letters. At center stage is a worldwide pandemic that continues to rage across the globe with dire predictions for its impact on the coming weeks and months. Instead of drawing together the way we did after the attacks of 9/11 we have once again become a divided nation feuding with an ever more dangerous rhetoric that is literally testing friendships and family relationships. 

Words matter. They can be used to lead, to comfort, to provide guidance or they can create confusion and anger. Words reveal the true intent of the speaker. They tell us how that person really feels about us. They either bring us together or purposely divide us. Tragically at the very moment when we most need to be joining in a unified effort President Trump has chosen to create a great divide, to reopen the chasm of 1968 that actually traces its roots all the way back to the Civil War. Each day he gathers in rallies with his followers to mock anyone who dares to disagree with him. He entertains eager and devoted fans with words, phrases and sentences that should never leave the lips of our top leader. He derides scientists, taunts his opponents with the kinds of names most often heard from bullies in a school yard, boasts about his own prowess, intellect and accomplishments while rarely offering any concrete suggestions as to how we might overcome the real challenges that we face. 

President Trump likes to compare himself to Abraham Lincoln but he is nothing like that truly great man. Trump’s words and actions tell of his lack of compassion, his unwillingness to responsibly serve all states and all citizens. Instead of attempting to keep our union together he divides it into red and blue states, suggesting that those who do not vote for him will go to hell. He is only interested in what each of us can do to keep him in power. When anyone disagrees with him he tosses them aside no matter how loyal and hardworking they have been. He calls women nasty monsters if they have the temerity to challenge him and even seems to excuse an attempt to kidnap a governor by noting that she is not doing a very good job. He denigrates opponents by calling them sleepy, crazy, losers, suckers. He demeans our entire nation when he speaks in such horrid ways. He demonstrates that he is not a leader at all and certainly not one with the empathy and eloquence of Abraham Lincoln.

Words matter and his words are like poison darts. There is nothing amusing about the way he manipulates the citizenry. He lies and poses and even goes as far as thinking that he knows better than the entire medical community when it comes to Covid-19. He holds super spreader events even in communities filled with older citizens who are among the most vulnerable to the ravages of the virus. Because he pokes fun at masks so often that the majority of those who attend such events tempt fate by standing in tight groups with nothing on their faces. He does not seem to care if anybody gets sick as long as they adore him and vote for him. He and his words are dangerous.

Donald J. Trump’s words tell me that he is a foul and uncaring human. They tell me that he does not have the first idea how to be a true leader. They tell me that his spirit is mean and selfish. His words warn me of the destruction that he will inflict on my beloved country if we give him four more years in office. My words for him and for anyone who still has not been to the polls is quite simple, “Vote him out!”