Letter from America Part 3 – Global Warning? 3 responses
Image – bigphotophoria
The temperature today is predicted to reach 26 degrees and there is a Beach Alert for high waves, rip tides, fierce undertow. You are advised not to swim unless you have gills fins and are in fact a fish. Even the seals look apprehensive. So I guess Nature has heard the news…
Yesterday I sat on the beach with my nephew and watched as a bloody sunset raged against the sky. Big waves turned vermillion and, as they retreated, left a coruscating multicoloured sheen on the sand which disappeared as quickly as a fleeing thief. Until the sun itself popped below the horizon, extinguished by the sea, exhausted after having given such a spectacular performance.
During this show (apart from awed silences when the scene was too amazing for words) Nephew and I discussed Spiritual things and mused on meditation and why so many people have no idea as to what is going on. Including ourselves of course. He is 28 and about to become a teacher in a high school catering for students from very poor backgrounds. “Catering” is a pun by the way. A poor pun as he is teaching nutrition and food studies.
So I shared thoughts on how to engage, motivate, excite kids while keeping the right distance from them. It really is such an important job in these days of the plague of obesity and the power of the corporate lobbies pushing addictive drugs like sugar, fat, processed foods, chemicals. Having taught for 22 years I had many mistakes to share…teaching is a learning process for all concerned.
He described his tutor at university – a delightfully intelligent charismatic woman most trainee teachers adore. And in a tutorial, she shared her support of the Trump. He was devastated. An idol had bitten the dust. I know the feeling! The majority of my friends were Remainers – wanting the UK to stay within the European Union. And if one were to admit to being a Brexiter, suddenly my relationship with that person would change. Frankly, I have to admit to a loss of respect, an annoyance which would rise from stomach to throat at each meeting. That somebody I thought a friend could be taken in by lies and emotional arguments! Could consider themselves part of a group consisting of gurning hypocrites like Farage, Johnson and below all, Gove!
So he experienced exactly the same feeling for his tutor.
And yet strange things are happening. The Donald had a cosy chat with Obama. He now says he will not destroy the whole of Obamacare, just some of it. He was pictured with a crowd of LGBT people looking remarkably friendly. His Wall seems to have gone the way of Jericho’s. As I said before, he will betray his key supporters. Sister says, what if he’s just a closet liberal in disguise, determined to use every dirty trick there is to get into power (defeating Hillary who he is convinced would trigger WW3) where he would work tirelessly for the Left agenda…yeh right! My feeling is that he actually has no opinions whatsoever except for a desire to be president. Once in the role, he will shift all over the place, driven by whim and some of the people around him.
If I’m right the Republicans will be split down the middle and he will achieve very little of his original agenda. The Democrats will filibuster him into a state of Narcissistic fury. Many people here predict he won’t last four years.
We’ll see. If, of course, we last that long. He has already said he will start to unravel environmental protection legislation and it’s now 27 degrees…in November!
This letter reminds me how you and I and others of our kind learned to asses the politics of any previously unknown white person we happened to meet in apartheid South Africa. We learned to do it quickly and surreptitiously in order to decide if a friendship with that person might be possible. Detecting the slightest hint that they might support the government generally ruled out any chance of friendship. I would find it very difficult to warm to anyone who voted for the clown, for Brexit, the AfD in Germany or Le Pen in France.
What amazes me is that if America is so afraid of clowns, why on earth did they vote one into the White House? I think the Donald is just as surprised as anyone about this outcome – and I am sure that you are right about saying he has no opinions except a desire for self-glorification.
So scary. And the Supreme Court needs a judge…hey! I wonder if he could appoint Sarah Palin? Or another similar animal? Apologies to animal lover…
Thanks for your comment.
Thoroughly enjoy your reports it must be amazing to be able to see for yourself how everyone is taking the news.
Thank you
Jenny Ralph.