“Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country .”
Image by Taylor Shiroff http://www.taylorshiroff.com.
The past three months have been insanely difficult for me, as I know that it has been for many others. I spent the rest of the summer in the United States visiting family and friends, full of excitement to be able to take in everything that is familiar again after being away for some time. I was caught up in the whirlwind of the Supreme Court hearings and watching the most dreadful display of patriarchy in the political theater, that is the United States' Senate, that I have ever witnessed in my adult life. Unfortunately there was a familiarity to being home that I had not anticipated.
Again from a distance I am observing the United States there in part in disbelief and another part horrified. I am equally angry and sad. Even with thousands of miles between me and home I feel the gut wrenching disappointment and pain that seems to be relentless. And the angst of how it must feel to be suffocated by the onslaught of stress that seems to be a daily deluge for anyone who is engaging fully in the United States at this very moment, is not lost on me.
When you think that things will quiet down and some semblance of an opportunity to exhale is just around the corner and that people will come to their senses, something equally bad happens again. And it is compounded by the continuous heart wrenching lackluster leadership of the current President of the United States, who adds fuel daily to the inferno of hate speech, hate actions, hate policies affecting the very people who he has sworn an oath of office to serve.
There are moments when, as a writer, I stop to reflect on the happenings of the world around me. Often I do this to try and take things in, process the affects of the intake, and then to find some nugget to initiate the beginning of something to write, hopefully. The past few months have felt like a torrent of all things negative and overwhelming and I have yet to find success in filtering out the things that do not help me to write. Anger and disappointment is not inspiring for me. Instead of finding the gem I am finding distrust, humiliation and pain. The mining for inspiration has been stymied by overwhelming reality that America is in a dark place and its prospects of being better is being muted almost daily.
Moving abroad was meant to give me the space and time to write to explore my ideas, discover my voice in my work. To somehow become not just a writer full of one emotion, one story, one thread of inspiration. But rather to be a writer who could and would examine the nuances of my craft, the depth of my emotions, and experiences. However, the impact of the past few months has been a kick in my stomach as a human being, as an American and as a writer.
Of course I know that it is not all doom and gloom. There are things to look forward to. For instance the mid-term elections, the prospect of returning some order to the political discourse at its conclusion. There is hope that taking the control out of the hands of the conservative right wing and Neo- Nazi fringe of America that things will settle down. It is as if the United States mid-term elections will be the probiotics our democracy needs for its “belly” to be in good health again. However I am very clear that it is not politics alone that must change in order for this ship to be righted and a much need course correction made.
No, there is too much damage done to say that politics will save us because it is politics that is failing us at this moment in time. There needs to be a reckoning and acceptance that the American experiment with democracy is failing because of the people who do not understand its evolutionary purpose. No the Constitution is not stagnant – it is a living evolving document. Its purpose is for the people of the United States to form a more perfect Union. It's the goal of American democracy. This “elevated” Union cannot and will not be made by the people who believe that the United States is only for them and on their terms solely.
This thinking, in theory, should have been outgrown and outlearned by now. The War of Independence, the Civil War, Women's Suffrage, Civil Rights, LGBTQ Rights were all fought, many of these struggles continue to be fought today, with a main goal in mind – that the United States be seen as a Nation for the people by all of its people. It is no longer the land of white men landowners and it has never been a country for religious zealots of any sect.
I hope that we have seen the worse, but seeing the negative political and social sentiments in the U.S. also taking root abroad, I have my doubts. Politics cannot save us but the political process is pivotal in taking back the reins of the narrative and making it clear what the majority of Americans know to be true – that America is a nation of all people who have the power to direct its purpose for the good of everyone and not just a few. And that we know the alternative is not an option.
It is clear to me that my writing will continue to both be disrupted by the reality that I am affected by the trauma taking place in the United States and that the current state of it its Union will permeate my work. As it has grabbed my imagination and my psyche it has become in part a muse. But there is an offering of hope. That out of the chaos and challenges that somehow Americans will desire to reach for the aspiration of creating a Union that is perfect. And remembering that it is a goal that we reach for, all the while, knowing that we fall short but that it is still worth working towards.