It's a Fine Time to Giddy Up Thing

Dear America,

karma takes way too long.  

i'd rather just smack you right now.

today, as I sit drowning in headlines -- from Trump's tweet war with New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to "Judgment Day" leading the Drudge Report...awaiting the results of Alabama's Senate campaign between Roy Moore and Doug Jones -- this girl has chosen to retreat to an email from my papa.  It's a string of stories, each one merely a few sentences long; the subject -- empathy.

And to the twelfth story I go:

"Today, I was traveling in Kenya and met a refugee from Zimbabwe.  He said he hadn't eaten anything in over 3 days and looked extremely skinny and unhealthy.  Then my friend offered him the rest of the sandwich he was eating.  The first thing the man said was, 'we can share it'."

and I know, it was probably entirely made up -- all of it -- as in right from the start, from the first vignette to the last -- for the web is full of it.

Does it matter?

Nope; for the message and the messenger are swaddled together in the deep and dreamy state of being in relationship with one another.  For this world, this world was made for humanity to live and breathe and connect and to love one another as ourselves.

Safe to say, though, that that kind of innocence is long gone; we've trashed our basic need to touch and to love and to show our affection for one another, probably about the same time Leave It to Beaver left the air.

Life, itself, is no longer sacred -- beginning with rampant abortion being used as birth control and ending with every homicide, genocide,  and terrorist attack.  Even as I say "no longer," I have to laugh; asking, under my breath, has it ever?

Now look at us.

Showing a little empathy for our fellow man is the least we could do, right?

How many of the world's problems could be resolved overnight, if only we would take a moment to walk in each other's shoes just a little bit more often?

Or, perhaps, if paid more attention into how we treat others -- being more concerned with what we contribute to the whole, than upon what we receive.

I look at the options in the Alabama race and cringe; how can this even be possible?  Is this the best Alabama can be, with respect to filling an open seat at the United States Senate?

And Kirsten -- how does it feel with your political views on sexual harassment so tangled; have you even noticed that you've tied quite the little knot?

I love how a former Clinton Adviser, Philippe Reines, puts it ---- and it's plucked from a fabulous  post by Aidan McLaughlin at Democratic Underground: 

"Ken Starr spent $70 million on a consensual blowjob. Senate voted to keep POTUS WJC. But not enough for you @SenGillibrand? Over 20 yrs you took the Clintons’ endorsements, money, and seat. Hypocrite.Interesting strategy for 2020 primaries. Best of luck."

Kirsten:  Bill Clinton's problem was that he LIED about the affair with that girl in the blue dress and a cigar...as in "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Monica Lewinsky..."

But the act, itself -- oh that was consensual!!!! At least get the facts right.
Being adults -- there is no sexual harassment when two people canoodle with no regard to what happens next.


(now look at me, being pulled right back in........so much for my retreat...teehee)

Kirsten's announcement that Clinton should have resigned, way back when, is no more than foreplay to the main play -- that which has led to a twitter battle with President Trump today, calling upon him to resign.   When running for U.S. Senate in the great state of New York, did you go to Trump for donations, Kirsten?

ah huh, lookie here --   according to NBC15...."The political money website OpenSecrets.org says President Donald Trump and his daughter, Ivanka Trump, have donated nearly $8,000 to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's congressional campaigns since 2007. The group says the figures are based on individual contributions data from the Federal Election Commission...."  Shall we continue?

You accepted money from Trump -- the guy who has been essentially running for office since the late eighties and who finally got there in 2016.  And isn't it funny how it wasn't until the near end of the campaign for president in 2016, when suddenly these accusers popped up out of nowhere.

......ONLY to go back under the rock from which they came following the election of Donald Trump; that is until now. 

So the calculated risk by the Trump tweet insinuating that you, Kirsten, would "do anything" for a campaign donation is essentially just that; and it is precisely this game of politics and politicians and business that happens day in and day out, all the year long.  And you know it is, Kirsten.  And not to get kinky, or anything, but in a word it's called "grease." It can get a wee bit messy; and if I were a betting girl -- which I'm not -- betting this president insinuated what he insinuated just to make it as messy and ugly as he possibly could because that is just how he rolls. (And it just so happens to be not one of his finer points; there is that.)

The irony is -- this grease -- marks the reason Trump slipped into the presidency this time around with such ease; the people were fed up with the D.C. swamp, and finally willing to put an outsider and businessman into office to roto-rooter and drain the be-G-zuss out of it.  end of story.

This morning i feel like everybody is dirty.
Everybody has something to get out of something or someone; everybody is a player in one way or another -- while the moral pendulum swings wide and wild and free.

And the likes of one decent human being --- much like the heart of the refugee from Zimbabwe in the imaginary story at the top of the morning -- is nowhere to be seen or found.   I mean, why would CNN take the time to find that story, right?

Thing is, none of us can retreat, not even for a moment.

We have to watch how the game is played at every turn.  And all the while, taking the time to imagine being above ourselves, looking down upon the world, and watching our own participation...

How do we add or subtract to the whole?  Are we genuinely kind and thoughtful, or are we that way because we want something?  Do we give from the goodness of our own heart, or is it the expectation of what we will get in return?  Are we being honest with ourselves, with our neighbors and co-workers, large and small?  Are we living with integrity and treating others with respect -- sans manipulation, sans bribery, sans hypocrisy, sans regrets.  We could ask these kinds of questions all the day is long, and not ever get to the end.

This girl may be looking down at the perfectly manicured fingertips tapping away at the keys, but rest assured I know my imperfections run deep.  But to wake up in the morning with the intent to be a better human than I was the day before -- what's not to love about that?  And just imagine it -- to multiply these good intentions times however many more; imagine all seven billion people on the planet doing it -- oh my goodness --- that carries the potential to make me just plain giddy.

It's a fine time to giddy up, indeed.

Make it a Good Day, G