I love Harry Potter. The books are fantastic, and the films don't disappoint either.
Some of the more poignant scenes in the series involve Harry opening Christmas gifts from the Dursleys. Gifts ranged from a toothpick to old socks to a coat hanger to a tissue. What's great about it is that in the midst of an outpouring of wonderful gifts from those around him who truly loved him, the Dursleys never missed a chance to demonstrate their disregard. No gift at all would have been preferable, but the fact that they remembered him enough to send something showed they really just didn't like him at all. And it's the contrast of the very satisfactory gifts (which he'd never had before) and the awful ones the Dursleys sent him that made the Dursley gifts so much more awful by comparison.
Last night we got a Dursley gift.
It should be pointed out that "gift" in German means "poison". Coincidence?
I saw this this morning:
I love Stephen Colbert. What a guy! And his show is always so on point, resonating almost exactly with what I am feeling this morning.
I've said before - and I firmly believe this - that the the president is largely a figurehead.
The figurehead sits on the prow of a ship, giving inspiration and (maybe) intimidation, but not serving any real, functional purpose. It's decoration. It's even unnecessary. But we have to have one...
And it's really going to be OK. It really is.
Here's where I'm having heartburn:
At this point, and leading up to the inauguration, the president-elect is supposed to be a healer, someone the country can rally behind, putting partisan politics aside. The problem is, we're so very divided at this point, it's genuinely hard to imagine how this will be accomplished. Especially by Mr. Trump, who has done and said so much that has hurt so many - women, Hispanics, POC, Muslims, foreigners... Shucks, even the intellectuals in the country have felt his ire. So how is he going to start over in all of this? How can we (collectively) reach out to one another in a real sense of patriotism and unity? How can we just forgive and forget?
And should we?
I don't know. I really don't. Not today, anyway. I'm licking my wounds and feel like lashing out at anyone who comes close. I tried to listen to Trump's acceptance speech (victory speech) this morning, but I found those words coming out of his orangey face infuriating and mocking. And I don't know how to get past it.
So what happened? How did we get here?!? How could the polls have been so wrong?
Here's what I think happened with the polls: those who were voting for Trump didn't want to say so. Either out of embarrassment, spite, or other distrust of pollsters, those voting for Trump refused to answer the poll. Thus, those respondents who did respond skewed the polls in favor of Clinton. The few who were vocally in favor of Trump showed that it would be a close race, but many who ended up supporting Trump didn't want to say so.
That's just my guess.
I woke up this morning and put my flag into the frozen ground of my front yard. I am an American, and I will weather any storm. Our country has been through hard times in the past and we will get through this as well. My wife (jokingly) said that she'd call and rent a U-Haul this morning... But I'm here and I won't leave. This is my country, and I'm proud to be an American. I love my country. I love that things didn't go the way I'd expected them to go, but it went peacefully - with no violence and with a fairly transparent and clean process (no calls of fraud or vote tampering or anything). That speaks to the strength of our system.
So we'll go to work. The markets are going to take a hit today - they always do - but they'll rebound - they always do. We'll raise our families and we'll watch and we'll pray. And things will turn out OK.
And may God continue to grant us peace in our hearts and in our land.
Some of the more poignant scenes in the series involve Harry opening Christmas gifts from the Dursleys. Gifts ranged from a toothpick to old socks to a coat hanger to a tissue. What's great about it is that in the midst of an outpouring of wonderful gifts from those around him who truly loved him, the Dursleys never missed a chance to demonstrate their disregard. No gift at all would have been preferable, but the fact that they remembered him enough to send something showed they really just didn't like him at all. And it's the contrast of the very satisfactory gifts (which he'd never had before) and the awful ones the Dursleys sent him that made the Dursley gifts so much more awful by comparison.
Last night we got a Dursley gift.
It should be pointed out that "gift" in German means "poison". Coincidence?
I saw this this morning:
I love Stephen Colbert. What a guy! And his show is always so on point, resonating almost exactly with what I am feeling this morning.
I've said before - and I firmly believe this - that the the president is largely a figurehead.
The figurehead sits on the prow of a ship, giving inspiration and (maybe) intimidation, but not serving any real, functional purpose. It's decoration. It's even unnecessary. But we have to have one...
And it's really going to be OK. It really is.
Here's where I'm having heartburn:
At this point, and leading up to the inauguration, the president-elect is supposed to be a healer, someone the country can rally behind, putting partisan politics aside. The problem is, we're so very divided at this point, it's genuinely hard to imagine how this will be accomplished. Especially by Mr. Trump, who has done and said so much that has hurt so many - women, Hispanics, POC, Muslims, foreigners... Shucks, even the intellectuals in the country have felt his ire. So how is he going to start over in all of this? How can we (collectively) reach out to one another in a real sense of patriotism and unity? How can we just forgive and forget?
And should we?
I don't know. I really don't. Not today, anyway. I'm licking my wounds and feel like lashing out at anyone who comes close. I tried to listen to Trump's acceptance speech (victory speech) this morning, but I found those words coming out of his orangey face infuriating and mocking. And I don't know how to get past it.
So what happened? How did we get here?!? How could the polls have been so wrong?
Here's what I think happened with the polls: those who were voting for Trump didn't want to say so. Either out of embarrassment, spite, or other distrust of pollsters, those voting for Trump refused to answer the poll. Thus, those respondents who did respond skewed the polls in favor of Clinton. The few who were vocally in favor of Trump showed that it would be a close race, but many who ended up supporting Trump didn't want to say so.
That's just my guess.
I woke up this morning and put my flag into the frozen ground of my front yard. I am an American, and I will weather any storm. Our country has been through hard times in the past and we will get through this as well. My wife (jokingly) said that she'd call and rent a U-Haul this morning... But I'm here and I won't leave. This is my country, and I'm proud to be an American. I love my country. I love that things didn't go the way I'd expected them to go, but it went peacefully - with no violence and with a fairly transparent and clean process (no calls of fraud or vote tampering or anything). That speaks to the strength of our system.
So we'll go to work. The markets are going to take a hit today - they always do - but they'll rebound - they always do. We'll raise our families and we'll watch and we'll pray. And things will turn out OK.
And may God continue to grant us peace in our hearts and in our land.
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