Overcoming The Fear Factor

Mea maxima culpa — I have said mean spirited things about the sitting president — as well as the sitting Senate Majority Leader, the sitting chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, several sitting cabinet members and most of those who are sitting or have sat in some capacity in this administration.
For those choice epithets, I take full responsibility, but make no apologies — about their reprehensible behavior and near-total disregard even for one another’s health and benefit (let alone anyone else) I give no forgiveness.

For the most part I did avoid, however, indulging in the name-calling and finger-pointing at my fellow Americans. With one or two exceptions, I managed not to “unfriend” the few who would strongly disagree with my political posts of view (there were those, who “unfriended” me, though). Occasionally, in public or in private discussions, I would even engage in what I hoped to be a civil discussion on various matters with those of differing beliefs.

Why, you may ask? Well, just as President-elect Biden has said repeatedly (as did his predecessor, President Obama), this is not about red states or blue states — it is about the United States.

In the near-interminable last four years, the sitting president made many mistakes, but in my humble opinion, his biggest was in trying to govern only for his supporters and sycophants — that is not really the job description.

The sitting president (by choice or by Constitutional fiat) will leave the office, but the rest of us remain — and it is time to work toward our emotional and mental infrastructure — we must rebuild our bridges to our neighbors.

There have been several “news” agencies, chat groups, and social associations (and a few enterprising foreign governments) who have targeted the fears of many — again for these prevaricators, I give no solace — but to those who succumbed to those manipulations and lies — I do have sympathy. They are my neighbors, some are even family and deep down inside, they want a safe, happy, and prosperous (not over the top rich — but secure) life for themselves and their loved ones. We need to keep reminding ourselves of that common goal.

Threats of Civil War get tossed about frequently and with some degree of possibility — but when we take the mile high view — we are all human, we ARE all in this together and when we stop considering our fellow human, without reason or proof, in a negative light, we fall into the pit dug deeply by the fear and hate mongers.

So, moving forward may I suggest we all take a deep breath, and consider ourselves lucky to have dodged the bullet of another four years of mass chaos and governing by tweet. 


Let us all think before we speak — if a criticism or jibe is warranted, it is certainly your right to speak up as an American — but avoid the knee-jerk of intensity (and I will have some trouble with that) and under NO CIRCUMSTANCES blindly paint an individual or class of people about whom you know very little with harsh condemnations. We move forward.

Avoid the tendency of Whataboutism (he/she did it, so how dare you complain)? Many of our Founding Fathers were slave owners — because we continue to appreciate them does not mean that we condone that part of their lives. But as a country — we ALL condemn the concept of slavery. We move forward.

Understand the difference between adulation of the bully strongman, and the appreciation of true strength. We move forward.

Indulge moderation and compromise over excess and intractability. We move forward.

Start to train your ear and your senses to distinguish between sincerity and artifice. We move forward.

Most of all acknowledge the times when as individuals we are or have been wrong — it is not so much a sin to have been so, but it is damning to blindly stick to those beliefs when you realize the truth. We move forward.