trump Comes to Laytonville

trump Comes to Laytonville

Not literally, thank Buddha, but symbolically the weak-brained, self-aggrandizing oaf is very much present in our community; there can be no mistake about that. Otherwise I would not be taking this summer off from watching the action down at Harwood Park, as the local teams are gearing up for another action-packed season on the baseball diamond.

We are juggling this Saturday’s upcoming family gathering so that SmallBoy can get a practice in down at the yard. Over the past two summers, this information has added a pleasant sense of anticipation to my outlook on life and the ensuing summer months, but not so this year.

I will find it impossible to sit down in the stands, popping up every two minutes to snap a photo, and feel comfortable. Despite being a member of this community for more than 35 years now, I am still very much a stranger in a strange land.

That much became more than evident last fall and winter, as political events unfolded that have shocked and saddened me beyond comprehension. In my initial disbelief, I lashed out passionately at what I saw as a brutal attack on the most basic of my beliefs: that people are created equally. To attack one race or culture, is to attack me and mine.

To support a fraudulently elected man, an individual who has made it clear that he is a racist, is to stand alongside him as he plunders the Constitution. I cannot and will not do that. I can’t stop him but I can put up a strong defense against his machinations.

Not only that, I have absolutely no influence over anyone who does support this tyrant, a self-serving billionaire, who gets his jollies out of squeezing the last drop of blood from the weak and elderly in this country.

I’m done with the dialogue-over it a long time ago. That doesn’t mean there is not still much to say; it simply means I do not have the temperament to do the saying.

If I weren’t already bipolar, I sure would have gotten to that point on my own, after watching the wealthy lawmakers of our nation, align with their leader in efficiently going about the business of stripping every beneficial measure that exists, right off the backs of the weak and ill. It is enough to piss off the pope.

Oh come on, I can hear you saying, leave that shit behind and enjoy the game.

Easy for you to say but impossible for me to do. If

the folks around me think I’m a dick for being opposed to racism, and disdaining the president, how am I supposed to ignore that feeling, and concentrate on a baseball game? Besides, I personally have a hard time watching players, that I know do stand firmly in their support of a billionaire, who gouges the American public and sets his kids up in positions of authority.

I can’t cheer for a player who has made a good play, when I know I am cheering for a person who is furthering the pain and misery that exists in this world, instead of doing something about it. It goes against the grain so I will just do myself a favor and skip a summer.

Any thought that this is the coward’s way out, is balanced by the thought that my own peace of mind is more important to me than proving anything to anyone. Whereas my presence might be a distraction, my absence will never be noticed.

A year from now, after his criminal behavior has brought an end to his tyranny and the billionaire boor is gone, I will come back. As it stands, I ain’t skeered but I ain’t stupid either. 

My bipolarism is all on paper as far as anyone knows and I’d like to keep it that way.