Whenever you are engaged in work that serves humanity and is for the building of humanity, it has dignity and it has worth.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
We got out of town yesterday around 3:00 or so. I was ready. Two weeks in the same spot had me a little edgy. All is well now.
It’s rainy and grey and cold in Pittsburgh. Marti and I just took a long walk along the river. The sidewalks are treacherous with ice. But we managed to avoid injury. Pittsburgh’s a nice city. One of the best of the old ethnic industrial Midwestern workhorse cities of the past. We walked past Acrisure stadium and PNC Park — testaments to American capitalism where we must sell naming rights to everything. I am always humored by the irony of the extremely wealthy owners of sports teams who join in the chorus of demonizing us ’socialists’ who want free health care for all, while they lobby their cities and states to use public funds to build new stadiums so their millionaire minions can play their games.
We have a lot of real problems in this country, but god forbid we stop taxing the poor to help the rich maintain their lofty status. In Cleveland, where the Browns who’ve never won a Super Bowl and only had a handful of winning seasons in my lifetime, are busy trying to extort the good people of their city to pay $1.1B for a new stadium. That cost will double of course before the stadium is finished. Presumably the reason they suck is their current, totally fine stadium is inadequate rather than the shitty management who can’t pick a quarterback. They will get their way — exactly as the Reds and Bengals did in Cincy. I guess there are not many interesting things to do in Ohio so people keep ponying up.
We always stay at the Hyatt Place on the North Shore. Decent little hotel and pet friendly. Every time we’ve stayed here, the hotel is packed with families attending a youth athletic competition. This time it’s hockey. The kids have attacked and savaged the breakfast bar like the Huns overrunning a village. The waffle station looks like a battleground — the blood of countless half-baked waffles dripping off the table and streaked by little tennis shoes across the floor. The poor old black gentleman in charge of breakfast looks like he’s been kicked in the balls every day for the past few decades. Like he’s constantly trying to understand how he wound up here in retirement age cleaning up after these little peckerwoods.
I’ve had a bagel and yogurt but need to score some eggs and sausage for Marti’s breakfast before the huns are finished feasting.
We stopped in to see little Eze and Kara and Alise when we arrived yesterday. Eze is cute, of course. A beautiful baby. But it was near his bedtime and near my Martintime, so we didn’t stay long. We will go back over today and visit.
I do like kids, but was never once inspired to devote 1/3 of my life to raising one. Imagine all the great experiences I’ve had that would not have happened if I had a kid or two. All the trips around the world, big mountain excursions, skiing in Europe, climbing Kilimanjaro, big ocean sailing races, teaching in Namibia. Even MYO and all that has brought to coastal Namibia would not exist if I had chosen to have kids. And now my primary identity would be so and so’s dad rather than who I actually am. When people met me, and asked how I was, I would instead tell them about my kids.
I’ve nothing against kids, sorta like them for the most part, but selfishly I decided to have fun in my life. I am not selfish with money but I am very selfish with my time.
Throughout history there have always been people who are being oppressed. Always. Often people of color but also for religious differences, gender, sexual preferences and class. Peasants and serfs existed at the discretion of royalty but suffered great hardships so that others could live in abundance. Slaves of course barely existed at all, they were marginalized and exploited in every possible way and then when they were no longer deemed useful, they were simply cast aside.
There are lessons to be drawn here. While the modern era does not at all resemble the severity of past oppressions, it is the case that we are entering a phase where so many of us feel powerless against our own government. The things that Trump did in his first term, and the things he is planning now, are unacceptable. They will create hardship for millions of people. Very real and severe hardships in the case of deportations for people who have been living here for years. But also continued hardships for women as the government continues to indulge religions nutcases and restrict reproductive rights. Hate groups and police will be emboldened and violence against vulnerable people will go unchallenged. Exasperated wealth inequality, elimination of worker protections, union-busting etc. The list is long and has often been discussed on the pages of this blog.
But here is what is on my mind. Dignity. Dr. Martin Luther King spoke often of this concept. This idea that even when we feel powerless, when we feel the forces stacked against us are so mighty and pervasive that all is lost, we must retain our dignity and our moral clarity.
There is great liberty in the confidence that comes from knowing right from wrong. We know unequivocally that treating our brothers and sisters with kindness and compassion is the right thing to do. This includes immigrants (legal and illegal) and all the other people regardless of their gender or race or religion or color or sexual identity or preferences. They are all deserving of our love and support. This should be clear to all of us who were raised to be tolerant and moral.
The fact that so many of our countrymen — and people around the world, have gotten confused on this point — have resorted to hate and intolerance, should not give the rest of us pause. Moral clarity is uplifting. Inspiring. It gives us strength to stand strong. We will lose some battles in the coming days and we will feel anger and sadness and empathy — but the war is far from over. The next Mandela or Dr. King or Jimmy Carter is out there. We need a new leader for sure. Until then we must protest peacefully but assertively. With dignity and passion. We know history will be on our side when this era finally gasps its last breath.
I’ve never been one to suffer a fool nor do I feel I should. These poor confused idiots of MAGA are harmful. I believe many of them are simply duped and not really mean-spirited — but they are still fools. Many of them truly are mean-spirited. They’ve always been among us, but have mostly been in the shadows or have only come out in dark places where their cowardice can be assuaged by binding themselves closely to one another. So now we see them. We know them.
What we have on our side is reality. The promises of this false god will fall shallow quickly. It will be hard for even the dumbest of dummies in GOP ranks to continue to blame DEI and immigrants for their own failings. If the Dems can summon a strong leader with a real plan for change, then we can get back in control in 4 years.
Until then, we stand strong. We preach love and compassion. We maintain the dignity that comes with knowing we are right.
Never succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter. As you press for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the instruments of love.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
It snowed a good bit the other morning. When I had a break between meetings, mid-morning, I went over to shovel mom’s walk and driveway. But she has already done it. I got there just as she was finishing. She was cute in her little boots, toboggan, and dirty and tattered American Legion jacket. This 88 year old woman. I said I would go take care of our sister’s sidewalk and mom said she had already done that too.
I need to rally the troops. Get Marti her breakfast and figure out how how we want this day to unfold.
Humbly submitted
Rob Myres, Flanker – Portneuf Valley Rugby Football Club (ret.)
The Martini Tales 