Go Ahead On, Brother

When I turned on the radio one morning, someone was reading what sounded like a list of accusations against Trump. “Whoa! Congress must have decided overnight to impeach him,” I thought. “Yes, he did that, and that!” And then I realized it was the Fourth of July and that NPR people were reading aloud the Declaration of Independence. Then I wept a little for what has happened to my country, never anywhere near perfect, but now appreciably worse.

However, as one outrageous act has followed the other, I have found myself calmer and calmer, often remembering Martin Luther King’s words, shared with us by Obama: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” This giant mess may not be set right during my lifetime, but I believe people do want to live in a friendly and just world, and that eventually society will reflect those values. Or maybe I’m wrong about that. Maybe people do not want to live in a friendly and just world. If that is the case, then that is the case. All I can do is conduct myself as I see fit.

Having said that, I did feel a little pissed off when I heard that Trump was getting ready to meet with Putin in private. Trump works for us. We pay his salary. He has no business conducting our affairs in secret.

At County Hospital, when a youthful-looking doctor entered a patient’s room, one of the patient’s relatives yelled, “This guy’s the doctor? He looks like he’s 15. Go ahead on, brother! I’m proud of you.”

I again got to hold the baby who was withdrawing from whatever drugs his mother was or is (hopefully was) taking. He was upset because his diaper needed changing, and began to wail loudly and move his arms. There was something oddly touching about the sight of his arms, which seemed rather beefy relative to his tiny size, but so little relative to the whole world.