Barbarism And Decadence

"America is the only country that went from

 barbarism to decadence

 without civilization in between."

~Oscar Wilde 

I took this picture of the flag, when I saw it hanging in a window in Berkeley, earlier this year. I took the original photo in color, but when I went to edit it, and get frame it for this post, I realized that I couldn't do it. I couldn't post the original as I took it, because I am beginning to not recognize the flag's colors anymore. Don't get me wrong, I am not relapsing into Anhedonia, I am just beginning to not understand what America, and it's colors, stand for anymore.

Is it the mass incarceration of 14,000 children, separated from their parents, and held in tent cities at the boarder? Is it a president who spends his time each day, harassing folks who he feels don't worship at his feet? Is America all about the blatant stealing of elections in North Carolina or about having a president so nasty, and unchecked, that he is being asked to not speak at funerals? How about the hiring of wildly unqualified individuals to work in our government? Maybe it's about a president who uses his position, as the leader of the free world, for his own personal profit? Is that all okay now, as long as he brings enough, and the right kind, of hate?

I am beginning to not recognize the colors of America, and yet I was born an American, and will probably die an American. I am terrified of what will come out, when the full story of Trump's behavior and activities are finally revealed. And it will, one day, be fully laid open, bare bones to the world. So, what will it say about not just him, but us. You and me and the men and women standing next to us? Think about it. No matter how you voted, there will ALWAYS be a chapter in history books, probably titled simply...

 Donald Trump.

Donald John Trump, a man who only understands

 barbarism and decadence.

How else could it be titled? He has done so many egregious things, that future generations won't be able to choose just one incident to address. Brinkmanship. Kidnapping. His recent self-descriptive title of The King of Tariffs? How about the chapter being titled, He Was A Very Stable Genius? Again, self-described. Who knows? I am pretty sure it is something most Americans don't think about it. Why should they? Either they will still be supporters, even after all the revelations have come to light, or like me, I will grieve this time the rest of my life, so why think about what America will be thought of, a hundred years from now! And yet I do.

This is an unrelenting time of grief for me. I miss America. The America that stood for values. Remember when the Republican party claimed to stand for "family values"? Well, they are now supporting a man who admits to grabbing women by the pussy. Who harasses people he doesn't like. Bad mouths former presidents. Tells Americas national security secrets, to hostile foreign nations. Lies to the American people daily. And says nothing about the GOP, in Wisconsin, stripping the incoming, democratically elected governor, of his powers to run the state? Well, you get it. You know the list. Like I said, future generations will probably have to call this era, simply...

 Donald J. Trump.

Eventually this time will be over. And I know that as relieved I might be, I also wonder just how deep within our government, the damage has been done. Will we fully ever know? Perhaps. But it will take a long time to clean up the mess. And understand, his impeachment will not make me happy. He and his family going off to jail will not make me happy, because it will mean a permanent stain on America, forever.

 Forever. Forever. Forever. 

Forever.

Forever.

Forever.

My father was a child of the "Greatest Generation" and I miss him very much. I wish I could sit down with him, and talk to him about this time in America, but he passed away in 1995. While I can't have that longed for conversation, I do still turn my eyes toward Heaven and occasionally ask, Dad, can you believe this? My dad always knew what to say, when life got scary. I miss his unique perspectives, now more than ever! But in this dark time, with a man sitting in the Oval Office that my father considered to be an absolute idiot, the first time he heard him speak, I am glad he's not here to go through this stressful time. I am thankful that he didn't have to see what's become of the America he loved so much.

Dad, can you believe this?

#76 Leaf Of The Day

December 6th 2018

Photographed October 14th 2018

Sacramento, California

Samsung

"The autumn leaves blew over the moonlit pavement in such a way as to make the girl who was moving there seem fixed to a sliding walk, letting the motion of the wind and the leaves carry her forward. The trees overhead made a great sound of letting down their dry rain." 

~Ray Bradbury

Fahrenheit 451

~Mood: Sad

~Me