chatting with my conscious

Conscious: Psst! Gary, what are you doing?

Gary: Don’t bother me right now as I’m researching and writing my sequel to Oh! Susannah 

Conscious: What’s it about? 

Gary: The Gilded Age. The time period between 1870-1900 when the industrial tycoons such as Rockefeller, Carnegie, and JP Morgan transformed the American way of life. Sadly, they achieved their success by exploiting many human beings. 

Conscious: Kind of sounds like what’s happening today? 

Gary: Yeah, I’ve read a number of columnists who refer to the Gilded Age as reference to what’s going down now. But can we talk another time? I’m just getting to the good bits in my research. 

Conscious: Hmm, not really. This is kind of important. I need you to take a public stand on how you feel about what’s been happening in your country recently. 

Gary: I’m sorry, but that’s too much like hard work right now. Anyone who speaks out against what Trump and Musk are doing gets bullied or punished or both. Look at the AP Press who simply refuse to deny the Gulf of Mexico is the Gulf of America. They are getting punished for not promoting the official language and lies coming out of the White House. And even worse, Trump and Vance just publicly beat down Zelensky for his continued efforts to keep his country from being swallowed up by Russia. I’m afraid the US is on the bad guy’s team now and speaking out is no longer as safe as it used to be.  

Conscious: So, your answer is to simply ignore the damage being done to your country’s democratic principles? 

Gary: Well, no, you can’t just ignore it, but there’s nothing I can do to stop it. I can’t magically restore US aid to impoverished foreign countries or the respect our country once had around the globe.  

Conscious: But you can speak out about not only the damage done to the individuals who were being helped, but also how the US void in these countries now allows the Chinese government to add to their satellite countries and the results of the US no longer being relied upon as a European ally. 

Gary: True. The propaganda campaign for defunding USAID will show where there were some who took advantage of this program, as their excuse for pulling the plug on the whole program, but this can be found in any organization anywhere that collects money for distribution. Musk and his minions have used this same buzz saw affect to eliminate important positions within governmental departments, only to discover, they then don’t have anyone overseeing the nuclear plants or the air traffic control towers, as only two examples. Wait until checks for social security recipients or those waiting for income tax refunds can’t be processed either! Don’t even get me started on how Musk is harvesting all of our private info.  Then, he revels in his dirty deeds by showing up gleefully holding up a chainsaw. We’re in a bad way. 

Conscious: You used to delight in volunteering at food banks. In the past you’ve made up the difference of those who didn’t have enough money once at the check-out counter at the grocery store. You and I have lost count of the number of times a “to go” bag never made it to your car because it landed in the hands of a homeless person first. When’s the last time you’ve done anything remotely like this?  

Gary: It’s been a while. I’d say I unconsciously stopped once the people in this country became so angry with one another. This divisiveness wears on you. I don’t relate to people the same way anymore. It’s all this “red state” equals good and “blue state” equals bad nonsense that’s constantly being promoted instead of the focus being on helping those less fortunate, regardless of where they live or how they vote. 

Conscious: You need to make an effort to try again. Remember the “when you do unto others, it’s the same as doing unto me” command? You personally can’t fix the madness taking place in Washington right now, but you can do your bit where you are. 

Gary: Easy for you to say! There’s more harm being done by this administration to humankind every day than anyone person can even grasp, let alone try to correct it back to what it used to be. For instance, 1500 white supremist anarchists were released out of prison by Trump in his first week in office, simply out of vengeance! All of that hatred and aggression dispersed back into our society so Trump could double down on his lie that he won the 2020 election!  

Conscious: Gary, you need to get over it. January 6, 2021 is now just a footnote in the annals of history. You have to come to grips with how life in the US is now, for you know from your history research, things never go back to how they once were. You need to focus on today and whether the US will fall into a constitutional crisis over Trump’s and Musk’s actions. 

Gary: But it is all the outright lies that are exchanged for being the truth. Innocent immigrants are not the source of this country’s ills. Tariffs won’t make our economy stronger, but they will cost US consumers more, those that still have a job by years’ end. And Ukraine did not start the war with Russia and Zelensky has continually thanked us for our previous support! With this firehose of disinformation streaming daily, people either turn off or start to wonder if what they thought was the truth actually is the truth. And one more thing, Trump and Musk are mostly picking on the disadvantaged or those whom they regard as their enemies. They and Vance are bullies who usually only start a fight with those they feel are inferior to them. So, here we are again. Back to this being a campaign of vengeance on their part. 

Conscious: Vengeance is mine. Remember hearing that before?  

Gary: Ok, I won’t take out my frustration on innocent others, but tell me, why are the evangelical Christians supporting all that this administration is doing to innocent people? 

Conscious: Let’s remember here, I ask the questions. I’m not responsible for answering them. Also, this conversation is about you and me. Those who praise God in their church buildings and then encourage and condone harm to others who are unlike them, need to chat with their own conscious. I guess this applies to all of the lawmakers who enable this behavior or simply turn a blind eye away from what they know is wrong. They can and should do something about the tossing away of all the guardrails in the executive branch, guardrails that have kept this country in the past from becoming a dictatorship. But I regress, this is a conversation about what you are going to do about it. 

Gary: Quite honestly, I’m done fighting uphill. I get the feeling that most Americans approve of all this dishonesty and destruction anyway. 

Conscious: Gary, how soon you forget! It was just the other day when you were talking with that couple from Medina, Ohio. You and they weren’t sure at first if it was safe to discuss current events and all of the anxiety from these past couple months. But soon it became apparent that there’s a possibility of a silent majority out there; those who are scared to death right now of what is happening. How many times did that lady thank you for speaking up and confirming in her that she is not alone? 

Gary: Three times. That conversation encouraged me as well but then came the next day’s news reel with Trump antagonizing our allies in Canada, Mexico, Greenland, Panama, South Africa and Europe, who are coming to the realization that America is no longer their friend, but will most likely become their enemy, and all so unnecessarily.  

Conscious: You know instinctively with each one of these “shock and awe” announcements, that is the “smoke” a circus ringmaster uses to distract the audience while something else is taking place, and sadly in this instance, something usually more sinister. This is the reason you must persist in speaking out but doing so in a different way.  

Gary: What do you mean? 

Conscious: In speaking out against these atrocities, you shouldn’t address your outrage publicly without offering a glimmer of hope, a suggestion of how people can take a positive step forward, something to make them feel less vulnerable and isolated. 

Gary: Ok, so I will direct anyone who will listen to what I have to say to sources of factual, non-politicized truths such as Heather Cox Richardson’s Community and podcasts such as The Meidastouch. Will that suffice? 

Conscious: And you must not give up, no matter how many people dismiss you or laugh at you or how weary the fight. You must speak out when I prick you to do so or later on, you will regret not doing so.  

Gary: Well, I agree with you there! You are a prick for laboring me with this responsibility. How much easier it would be to simply ignore what’s happening and pretend everything will be alright. 

Conscious: Deep down, you and many other people know something is terribly wrong. I’ll let you get back to your research and writing. Talk again soon.