If you are paying attention, you know it is August - when people pay less attention. It is the month named in honor of emperor Augustus Caesar’s military might.
In the dreams of some, it might become the month of Don.
If you are writing less, or speaking with fewer people, or finding your favorite local PBS talk show is gone with the wind, you are not alone. August is an outlier in American politics; like Sundays, the month seems like a respite until something happens.
August is a good time to think things over. Like the angry dad at dinner who shouts “stop crying or I will give you something to cry about”, Donald Trump and his querulous followers have become violent. They want you to feel small; insignificant, and afraid. You are not small. You are significant. And fear is within your power to control. We need to think about that.
Years ago, a local candidate for judge spoke words that continue to echo in my mind.
I feel that our courts are made to preserve human dignity and human rights, and every person who comes before a court of law should be able to maintain that dignity and self-respect.
He won by 28 votes. It was 1958; he was re-elected until his death in 1971.
Bob Conners’ words still guide his son.
People are people. < that is a period, not a comma. People are people. Period. And this equality demands democracy, messy or not.