Unreality....

It has been a while since I posted. And that was a conscious neglect of this blog, not a coincidence. Every time I thought to sit down and type here, I just didn't know what to write.  Except... the world as we know it here in this country has gone mad. Completely, utterly, and possibly irreversably mad.

What is happening out there? If I had to describe to someone from another country what the United States has been going thru these past weeks, I would be at a loss for words. And the United (?) States... at the moment, we are anything but united. And that right there is a crying shame.

I can barely listen to the news programs at night, and about the only program we do watch on a regular basis is Tucker Carlson. I can identify with him because he is righteouly sarcastic, which I have been known to be myself. The staff newsletter I wrote years ago for the library I worked in was full of righteous sarcasm, much to the dismay of the board members, I'm sure. Above all, Tucker Carlson is right on point with so much, with everything that is happening to and in this country on a daily basis.

The protests over a man killed by police turned quickly into riots, which spawned fires and destruction and theft and vandalism the likes of which were over-the-top outrageous. Even the family of the man killed by the cop told the news media and the crowds that their deceased would not have wanted such a outpouring of hate. And it was hate. Beyond hate... it has been evil, to the point of senseless wickedness. And it continues. From what I can see, there is no end in sight.

I think about the protestors, most of which look to be unemployed and devoid of life goals... they are destroying statues and buildings and businesses and churches. And the mayors of those pillaged cities (Democrats, all) are watching this happen, keeping the police at bay, not wanting to disrupt what they are calling peaceful protesting.

This is anything but peaceful. It has been disgraceful. Are we not above all of this? And are The Powers That Be not above stopping all of this? What more has to be toppled or spray-painted or torn down or set ablaze? The protestors and rioters don't even want to stop now, or so it seems. This has become their mission, to make their point in the most blatant way possible... to leave a lasting mark of hatred and evil on every historical relic and monument this country had so proudly displayed.

The history of this country does include slavery. We know that and we cannot erase it from our past. But I thought we had come so far beyond that over the decades. We no longer have slave owners, nor do we have slaves. We have a system that gives a fair shake to anyone willing to follow society's rules and work towards whatever their goals happen to be. People from all over the world want to come to the United States for just that reason. What must they be thinking now?

It saddens me, all of this. America is more than what is happening now. I cannot even wonder at how all of this will come to a peaceful and united end for everyone in this country.

In the 1950s, I used to go shopping along The Avenue with my grandmother. So many stores for us to look at, most of which were family owned. Every window of each shop glistening in the sunlight, every sidewalk swept clean, store owners knew their customers and remembered what they liked. My grandmother was proud to show me "her" stores, and introduce me to the shop-owners.  In the 1960s, a lot of the stores along The Avenue became less traditional, more trendy... but windows were washed and sidewalks were clean, and my grandmother and I walked from one end of The Avenue to the other. It was a ritual, a priviledge, an event.

In the 1970s, many of the small stores were taken over by chains and franchises. The windows were still clean, the sidewalks mostly weren't, and my grandmother and I avoided the franchise stores.  In the 1980s, mostly all of the family-owned stores were gone, replaced by names my grandmother didn't recognize. The windows were rarely cleaned, the sidewalks rarely swept. My grandmother said to me "This is the ending of the America that I came to when I crossed the ocean from The Other Side." We no longer walked from one end of The Avenue to the other.

And these past few weeks, I have been thinking of my grandmother. She didn't live to see the 1990s, and I have to wonder, if she were still alive, what she would think of the America we have now. She would be horrified, she would be crying, she would be saddened beyond belief to think that people could destroy their own country and disrespect their own neighbors.

This planet is so small, and this country is smaller still. In order to live together, we have to be together. One nation. We are just one country. And the smallest, most irreverent segment of our population is destroying everything that we have built up over the years because most of us remember our history and do not wish to repeat our mistakes of the past.

Love always wins, people. Love always wins. Too many people have either forgotten that, or never learned that.

Heaven help us all.