Epipany 2021

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In his memoir, “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me,” Sherman Alexie writes about his physical and mental decline as he ages. He's younger than me, so it seems a bit worrisome to read his predictions of his own life and aging process. Alexie is a humorist, however, and terribly funny as a writer at the same time as he is serious. His memoir is painful to read, yet deeply meaningful and deeply important for others to read. At the same time, it is really, really funny. The poems invite you to return to them again and again both to understand and also to discover the indomitable spirit that produced them. The book I’m reading is borrowed from the library, but I’m thinking that despite all of my resolutions and despite having to give away three quarters of my library in order to move, I may purchase my own copy of the book. It is just the kind of book that I want to read over and over again. At any rate, as he writes about his decline he predicts that one day he will have to stop writing - that he will run out of words. And when that happens, he says, he intends to sit on his front porch and misidentify birds. I chuckled when I read it because I’ve been known to misidentify birds. I also chuckled because Alexie lives in Seattle, about 60 miles south of where we now live. The weather in Seattle isn’t all that much different than it is here. If he really does get to the point where he is stilling on his front porch misidentifying birds, I hope that either he has a covered porch or that he has a good rain coat - preferably both.

I’m not out of words yet, though I often use familiar words over and over again and I’ve been known to repeat myself, even in my journal, many times over. However, I don’t have the right words to write about the horrors that transpired in Washington, DC yesterday. I’ve dealt with a few bullies in my day, and I’ve known some terrible narcissists, but the day that the President of the United States, who refuses to accept reality and incites violence, violates his oath of office, ignores the rulings of the courts and then actively encourages lawless rioters as they cross barricades, disobey orders from law enforcement officers, and wantonly ransack the United States Capitol is a sad day in the history of our country. The president actually praised the mob that attempted insurrection. Inciting insurrection is a violation of federal law and I’m willing to allow congress and the legal process and the courts decide the fate of the man who is soon to be a former president, but there is no doubt that it will go down in history as a sad day for democracy.

Hopefully, however, it will also go down in history as a day that despite the failed leadership of an administration that could find no compassion for the deaths of 350,000 Americans to a pandemic, despite the temper tantrums of a would-be despot who has no love for the constitution and the time-honored traditions of our nations, democracy prevailed. Vice President Pence, in a sharp and surprising break from his usual sycophantic and cowardly praise of the President, declared, “To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today, you did not win. Violence never wins. Freedom wins. And this is still the people’s house.” Even Senator Mitch McConnell, who has become famous for using the legislative process to block action and work around the will of the people, called the violence a “failed insurrection” and said it had only clarified Congress’s purpose. “They tried to disrupt our democracy. They failed,.” he said. Remember the people who those leaders were criticizing were carrying banners and flags and signs supporting the President that those very leaders had been incapable of criticizing or even questioning throughout the past four years.

It is clear that the President crossed a line yesterday in his praise of those who sought to overturn the vote and turn to violence to get their way. It is also perfectly clear that congress has now accepted the vote of the majority of Americans and the vote of the electoral college and confirmed the election of Joe Biden as the next president of the United States. After 245 years of constitutional democracy and peaceful transitions of power, our democracy was seriously threatened. Even the President’s closest political allies understood that the time has come for him to step aside, whether or not he does so peacefully.

Of course they will pay a political price for their courage. He is still a powerful man with access to those who have enormous amounts of money. He still is a vengeful man who doesn’t mind throwing his closest friends under the bus. He will seek revenge for the actions of Congress. He will try to stir up crowds and mobs again.

I wish no harm to the man. I hope he finds a way to reflect on his years. I hope he writes a memoir, though he didn’t actually write any of the books that have his name on the cover so far, and I doubt that he will go through the hard work of writing an honest reflection. I doubt that he has a home that has a front porch, but I think he would be good at misidentifying birds.

I don’t know what else to say. It is going to take a while to sort out yesterday’s chaos.

Here is the thing. It didn’t rain here yesterday. It was a beautiful, sunny day. We went for a three and a half mile hike on an old railroad bed converted to a beautiful trail. We looked up at majestic snow-capped mountains that have been hidden by the fog. When the clouds lift here it is spectacular. It doesn’t really rain every day. Nonetheless I won’t be giving up my raincoat anytime soon. I know it will rain again. I know gray days are ahead. I’ll remember Epiphany Day 2021 for a long time. I just hope that I can remember the beauty of the day when the bullies failed and the constitution prevailed.

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