Freedom is
everything. What is constrained, controlled, and oppressed withers
and dies. Resilience is finding a way to be free every day.
Today I am thinking of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. I had
created a blogpost during the week she testified before the Senate Judiciary
Committee regarding her allegations that Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her
when they were both teenagers. Now I am thinking about how casually I posted to
my blog the sketch portrait and very short summary account. Now I am thinking I was
relatively callous as I did. Until one actually confronts what it is to testify as she did about her trauma and post-trauma experience, in a way that is in itself traumatic, one cannot know the complexity of doing so.
I have seen nothing for days in the news about Dr. Blasey Ford,
and maybe it’s better that way. I have no doubt her life has been impacted in a
huge way both personally and publicly, that her life will never be the same. She
may be relieved to slip away to a place she feels secure to live out her life away from political fury. When I posted my simple drawing
of her and short accompanying piece I wanted to honor her courage and strength. But I didn’t
really understand the degree of her courage or the depth of her strength.
As to the question of why Dr. Blasey Ford came forward: she
seemed to me neither ambitious nor certainly motivated by vengeance. I can imagine she’s
being offered book deals but I hardly think she intentionally put herself
through Grassley’s grist mill for a book deal. She could have got one without
being shredded to bits first. Did she appear to be someone seeking fame? Not to
me. Was it so she could initiate a civil suit for money? The last I heard Brett
Kavanaugh has launched a suit against her.
The general impression I heard reported was she seemed nervous if not terrified
during testimony. She may have known what she was in for as she took that seat.
Capable people were telling her what to expect. A week later at a couple
of subsequent rallies Trump tied her to a stake as his fans roared. We watched as
Trump mocked a victim of sexual assault to incite a crowd, then later bragged
that through that action he had won his nominee the Supreme Court seat.
We watched as the Trump party bee-lined their
justice through a narrow shrouded confirmation process featuring lies and belligerence by the justice nominee himself. We watched Trump say on national television it didn’t matter Brett Kavanaugh lied to
the Senate and to the public because they won!
Of course, Trump thinks
lying is okay as long as he wins. Every day he is lying to all of us. And this
turns the principles on which our country was founded upside down. Because
freedom is truth; freedom isn’t lies.
We are watching the corruption of the Supreme Court by the Trump
party that will stop at nothing to consolidate power. Their interest is
personal profit, corporate profit which translates to personal profit, and
getting and keeping control of governing to make sure they keep getting more power and
profit, no matter what. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool.
The motives of these kind of wealthy elitists are base and void
of ethics and their lack of compassion is cavernous. They are polar opposite of
the best and brightest stars, the spiritual leaders, the angels of mercy. I
believe in good, and I believe in evil. These are not romantic constructs or
religious delusion. Good and evil are actually born out in the actions of
people. People’s energy, people's phenomenal energy, manifests in harm, or in helpful action born of mercy and love.
I hope your children aren’t watching what is happening in
American politics. People who should be role models are perpetrating and
legitimizing new norms of social violence. The message is it’s okay if white men harm and lie to achieve their goals, especially if they’re upper class educated wealthy white men. The message is they can get away with it but if those who aren’t at least white, and wealthy,
too, we’ll send you to prison or back where you came from. And to
all the young girls the message is: stay in your place,
daughters, wives, and you’ll be okay. Speak out, feel your power, defy us and
our goals, and we will pummel and denounce you.
I close with two thoughts. I pray there are people who just
mistakenly voted for Trump because they did not see who he really is and what
he is really about, and that he isn’t on their side, not even a little bit. I
pray those people will see how he’s converted the GOP into a loyal corrupt
old white male club, that like him are men who are unabashedly misogynistic. These men openly lie, steal, and walk over people to stay in power and to compound their
wealth. And they actually like winning at others' expense. They admit it openly. But winning only temporarily
satisfies the craving of their empty souls. They may never get enough of winning at all costs.