I grew up an only child with a single mom — and partially due to genes, lack of exposure, and being sickly, I was not too active in sports — I was a total wimp. (Truth be told, I am not much of a physical specimen to this day, and there is not now, nor has there ever been, an athletic bone in my body.)
For a number of reasons, the biggest being was that it was also part day-care, Mom miraculously scraped up the money (75 dollars a month at one point — which was a considerable amount of money then) to send me to The Crestview School, which was a very small, privately run grammar school at the intersection of Olympic and Hauser in LA (it is now an apartment building). Mom could drop me off as early as 7 AM and pick me up as late as 6 PM. Around 4th or 5th grade, I was allowed to walk to and from school on my own.
I attended that school from Kindergarten almost through 6th grade, but in the winter of 1968, Mom decided it was time we moved and off we went to the L.A. suburb of Glendale. As I was now old enough to look after myself when Mom was at work and I was not in school, I attended public school for the first time. Lots of changes. First, the size of Crestview classes were small. In the class ahead of me, the entire 6th grade totaled 3 students and I think my class barely broke double digits. Suddenly, at Columbus Elementary, my new school, I was in a class of 25 or 30 students, an adjustment to be sure. Next was syncing up with a different curriculum. I had been the lucky recipient of lots of individual attention and instruction from my teachers, but now I was one of many and had to make up the differences on my own. Fortunately, Mom had instilled in me a love and thirst for learning and so far, I had done pretty well in my studies. While I was behind in a few areas in which we just hadn’t had exposure to certain subjects, I was ahead in others, and did my best to make up the differences.
Finally, there was P.E. Again, with no athletic skill at all, this was a whole different approach from my tiny school’s informal “play period.” One day, I found myself on the Columbus playground and up walked Billy Burns. Though he was only a 5th grader, and a bit shorter than I, he was a tough little kid. Something about me rubbed him the wrong way — hey, I was a triple threat, studious, wimpy and … the new kid. Billy started hassling me — honestly, I don’t even remember if it got physical, but I was mentally preparing for a thorough beat-down. Just then, a voice called out for Billy to stop. We turned and it was another student from my class, John Hoyt. Even for a 6th grader, John was tall, and, frankly, at that moment he seemed to be taller than Billy and I combined. The next thing he said has never left me. “Don’t pick on him, “ John said, “he’s smart.” And that was it. Billy stood down, grumbled something and walked away. I am not certain exactly what happened next — I suspect I mumbled a thank you to John and then he walked away.
I remained in that school system for the next three years, and occasionally ran into John (and later, Billy) during junior high, but the conversation never extended much beyond a howdy. In fact, I doubt that either of them even remembered the incident at Columbus. In the ensuing years I have seen neither of them, nor do I know anything more about them … and yet, I remember both names to this day.
So, dear, patient reader you may ask, “what’s your point?” Well, in a way, I see this incident as an example of what is now sorely lacking in our society. Clearly Billy was a classic playground bully, but John was kind of a tough guy in his own right. The wimp in me would have been afraid of either of them in a dark alley. The surprise was that that bigger, tougher guy wasn’t all he seemed, and stepped up to do the right thing. Moreover, he expressed a view that intelligence and “smarts” weren’t a bad thing. With John’s presence suddenly in the mix, my bully stood down and the crisis was avoided.
Today, we live in a nation and a climate in which the bully mentality seems to dominate just about everything. Our sitting president demonstrates the traits of a bully, and a callously uninformed one at that. He is openly aggressive, and whether you happen to be right or wrong, if you disagree with him he fights back… question him, he fights back… challenge him, he fights back — no one will best him. He has extended that philosophy to the nation as a whole. In his view, the USA has been a nation of suckers for far too long — everyone else in the world has been taking advantage of us, but under his watch, no one will best us. This president and his government will fight back, and be openly aggressive — with words, with actions and, if necessary, even with nukes. Force is the only language that anyone will understand. This is not just his view of the world, though, it is internal, too. He is aggressive toward any citizen who dares to counter his philosophy or speech — be they press, Democrats or just concerned citizens— and when they dare to disagree, he fights back.
Trump cares little for education or truth and most often equates literacy and knowledge to elitism. Granted, he is not the first to espouse such views — but those tenets, along with his contentiousness, have carried him pretty far, and he seems in no hurry to abandon them. His criticism and demeaning of education and facts serves to ignite and further fan the flames for those who follow him. And he inspires them to do as he does — fight back — often to near violence. Some, though, don’t acknowledge the limits of society — last year it was the alt right in Charlottesville, and now, even more on the fringe of his true believers have crossed that line all the way into savage violence.
Some in positions of authority, who should know better, meekly support the president’s cause with excuses for his behavior — most often resorting to “whataboutism.” Why should the president have to behave when so many others “on both sides” say whatever they want? The president is a citizen, too, and has the same rights to his opinions. In complete desperation, some on the “other side” have resorted to trying to fight fire with fire, for the most part verbally, but that rarely ends well. In the instance of the shooting at a Republican congressional softball game last year, another from the fringe elements took the incendiary arguments to heart and crossed the line (a talking point which the current apologists for the president hurl forth with empty abandon — and more than a few false equivalencies).
Unfortunately, in all this posturing and misleading, but provocative, debate, we end up missing the most important point. However they are elected, the person who sits in the Oval Office is expected to be not just strong and decisive, but rational and the moral compass for the nation— the ENTIRE nation. The current occupant of the highest office in the nation has not only abrogated that authority, but more and more openly is choosing to be the president only for his base supporters, while mostly ignoring anyone else. Sadly, this man can not stop pontificating and spewing forth half-truths and lies, when he should be listening to and helping a nation that is crying out for real help and guidance.
John Hoyt wasn’t a particularly bright student and I suspect he got into his share of fights over the years, but he had respect for a system which suggested that people of all kinds, despite their differences, could work together … and, I like to think, he was bright enough, even as an 11 year old, to know that the smart among our society could help everyone.
Mr. Trump, I knew John Hoyt, I got my ass saved by John Hoyt, and thus far, sir, you are no John Hoyt.