I find today very ironic and hypocritical. We celebrate a holiday that commemorates our freedom and Independence while our nation separates families, throws children in detention centers, and holds them hostage for the parents to choose between their legal rights to seek asylum or being reunited.
I’m a glass-is-a-little-less-than-half-empty kind of person. It’s really hard for me to feel optimism and pride in my nation while we engage in policies that will make future readers of history books shake their heads. While a majority of Americans believe the president of the United States is a racist and bases his policies on his racism, a large contingent still support him.
President Obama said with Trump’s presidency, “we’re about to find out just how resilient our institutions are, at home and around the world.” But, what if they’re not really that resilient? Our institutions lie within the people, but what if the people support a racist madman who cares more about crowd sizes, ratings, and who gets the most scoops of ice cream than he does about policy or people?
I have an inability to refrain from pointing out the negative while people celebrate the positive. Instead of joining with the shiny happy people, I tend to focus on the serious, like the Supreme Court influenced by Trump for decades, to his baby prisons, to the petty stuff, like I’m going to see someone put ketchup on a hot dog today. Turbulent times, indeed.
It’s probably why I’m not invited to a lot of holiday parties.
Email Clay Jones at [email protected]