For More Ears

Dear Donald J. Trump,

Have you had enough yet? Are you as surprised as I am that it’s reached this point? What was your plan? What were you prepared to do? That’s the real question here isn’t it. What are you prepared to do? What are any of us prepared to do?

Four years ago I was in total shock that you were elected President. Not because of your political views. Not because you got millions to go along with your vitriol. But because you are clearly a despicable human being. Your whole life has been an open book. You have never shied away from showing your true colors of greed, lust, vanity, narcissism, contempt for the law, and lack of empathy. How could so many people look past these obvious flaws that you’ve flaunted for decades? How could millions see some good in you? Isn’t that the point of everything? To do some good? To seek out the truly good people and reward that goodness as a model for what we should all aspire to be? Heck, I’m sure even you were surprised that you won the election.

But your election and the subsequent 4 years didn’t make me a cynical person. I refuse to ever let that happen to me. I still believe most people are good and mean well. Humanity can be great, we only lack the light to show the way. There will always be men like you. That will never change. But your victories are always relatively brief and we move on learning a little bit more until the next one.

But I would like to thank you.

What’s that you say? Me thanking you?!? I clearly do not like you or condone anything you’ve done. But I’ve learned to always step back to see the bigger picture and not let my knee jerk emotional reactions cloud my own growth. If a friend on Facebook posts something hateful or politically enraging, despite my first instinct, I don’t reply with something nasty or remove them as a friend. I try to put myself in their shoes and see why they walk the way they walk. I attempt to understand the background of how they got to that place. So I’m thanking you for opening my eyes, giving me a sobering reminder, and revealing that which has always been in plain sight. Democracy is not a dichotomy.

With all your attacks, finger pointing and demonizing of “the other side” over the past four years, you have brought the inherent faults in the American system to a clear boiling point. Everything is based on “Us Vs Them”. “Good Vs Evil”. “Right Vs Wrong”. It might as well be 2nd grade elementary school mentality of Boys Vs Girls.

Canada and the UK are far better examples of a Democracy than the US because they have many political parties. They have two dominant parties, but the others always have their moments and momentum and share the balance of power. This forces the parties to reach across the aisle more often than not to find a compromise. The main issue with a Two Party Only system is that it creates an “Us vs Them” mentality which builds up a vehement hatred for each other to the point where you no longer see the similarities between each other and only see the differences. This feeling that you have to choose a side instead of feeling like an individual with your own mixed set of beliefs. Where more energy is put into attacking and blaming the other side instead of sitting in a circle. Therefore, a Two Party system can’t be a true democracy.

But again I would like to thank you.

For it is because of your unapologetic divisive rhetoric, your bullying tactics to rally in the sycophants and fearful politicians, and your unwavering immaturity to claim that you are always right, that has unmasked what has been the fundamental flaw in the “American Way”.

Perhaps YOU are the Bizarro World version of what is supposed to be the American Dream. An individual who is spoon fed opportunity, does whatever they want without consequence and somehow always ends up on top and acts as if they’ve earned it. That sounds like the Monarchies of old. Isn’t that what the Founding Fathers were trying to get away from? Well I wouldn’t expect you to know. And I don’t mean that as an insult. It’s just clearly not what interests you in life. Your focus is and always has been profit. Whether it be financial, social, or physical. And again this has never been a secret. You’ve proudly showcased what makes you tick since the day you stepped into the public eye.

But now it’s time for you to thank me.

I am giving you the award for Best Fiction Writer of the 21st Century. For you have managed to inject your fiction into reality to the point, where for millions, the line is blurred. You made calling people names in order to win an argument cool again. You revived the lost art of repeating an outlandish lie many times until it becomes “fact”. And most importantly, you made conspiracy theories hip again. I don’t know how you did it but you did it. You made fiction an acceptable form of reasoning as long it lines up with your desires. Ahh to be a kid again.

Conspiracies are all the rage now. You have made the term “Them” an acceptable form of identifying who is behind the curtain. You’ve made James Bond movie plots more plausible by comparison. And you’ve made stars out of those passionate conspiracy theorists who happen to own a YouTube channel.

I must say it truly is amazing how many people I’ve tried to have a rational argument with about their theories as to what truth lies beneath the surface. And every time I reach the point where I demand proof, without fail they send me some random YouTube video. And I’m not saying this didn’t exist before you became President. You simply validated these theorists. You poured gasoline on the fire to make them feel like they were no longer a minority in their way of thinking.

So bravo to you Mr. President!

You have given clout to those who previously felt ignored by the mainstream. You have vindicated their years of hard work to gather followers. You have empowered all these people who have yearned to feel like they are cleverer than the average person. That they see things others don’t. That THEY are the freedom fighters for truth.

Never before in history has an individual’s voice had more impact or been more important thanks to social media. You have underlined this whether for good or bad.

And last but not least I’d like to thank you for all the events.

That’s a polite way of saying crisis. For there aren’t too many special people that come along that bring with them such entertainment, fear, panic and shock. And make us look at our calendar and realize only a week has passed since the previous event.

A crisis is when people show you who they really are. When the chips are down, we’ll see how true to their character they’ve been. But it also allows for incredible growth. And that’s the beautiful dichotomy of human nature. A crisis is always an opportunity. Its an opportunity to make a difference – to shift your life. A crisis can make you evaluate your life and realize the preciousness of it all.

Thanks to all the crises you’ve “overseen” there has been an awakening. To realize the incredible power of our voice. To acknowledge what we hold most dear and how we owe it to our soul not to be complacent about it. If you see something wrong say something about it. Don’t just look the other way because you don’t see the point in interfering.

So in closing Donald, I’d like to thank you for the lessons. Thank you for the perspective. Thank you for reminding us of that which we take for granted. And thank you for a refresher course on the human condition.

There is always an arrogance about us that history repeats itself but we are too sophisticated now to let it happen yet again. We do always learn from past mistakes and slowly we do improve on them. But history has, does and always will repeat itself. And to think we are finally past that point is the biggest repetition of all.

You may be beyond hope of learning your lesson, but you’ve been a great teacher to us all.

Bye,

David