Bringing Out The Good

A BUS LOAD of senior centerians, on its way back from a farmer's market excursion, I'm there to help watch over an eighty six year old in poor health but still able to shuffle around the square. In the seat in front of me, an eighty eight year old is talking to an eighty year old, about the holocaust. the eighty year old, an evangelical right wind extremist, of of those, says to his elder, I swear: "It could happen happen here to. The democrats are pushing it." I swear that's what he said. For a moment I wondered whether I had dropped acid before breakfast, then forgotten about it, or losing my hearing, and having auditory hallucinations. Then I almost started hoping for either option. I slowly accepted the reality that this sort of insane notion is exactly what one of these extreme evangelical right wing nut cases would actually believe, or pretend to, or try to. Then there's the lost cause southern sympathizer at the center who said that FDR and Lincoln were the two "sorriest" as he put it presidents ever. I have to put up with a lot of that, but, so does America. These people seem to have no idea how low they have sunk, how deranged they are, and how horribly wrong to proclaim themselves "Christians' while fully supporting Trump, and either embracing, agreeing with, or ignoring all his horrible nonsense. Donald J Trump, as president and as a person, is the antithesis of Jesus, his teachings, and behavior, and all these extremely zealous tongue speaking fanatic Christians know it, unless they are severely mentally challenged, which some of them must, according to statistical reality, be. Extreme religious zealotry and extreme conservatism are forms of, caused by brain damage, new research seems to indicate. They do not really believe that the Democratic party wants an American holocaust, or that all the investigation of an questions about Trump are "witch hunts", or nothing but fabricated accusations, or that Trump is innocent of any wrongdoing. No reasonably intelligent, honest, sane person could believe any of those crazy right wing fantasies. But the followers and supporters of Trump, like Trump himself, do not like reality, so they fabricate their own version, without any regard whatsoever to the verifiable, objective reality all around them. Trump supporters have long since revealed their dishonesty, and inability to accept and form rational opinions about reality. We are left with the horrifying conclusion that as much as forty percent of the American people are criminally insane, or at the very least seriously mentally ill. The fear and anger among them is palpable. So are the arrogance and narcissism. Its like we've been told: Trump isn't the cause; he's a symptom, a symptom of the condition of American society and culture, of the american people. Our best hope is our knowledge is that people are complicated. Somewhere inside these self made deplorables are the qualities we seek from within everyone: intelligence, honesty, and reason. Our task is to find ways of bringing them out.