Where's the Love?

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1 Corinthians 13: 4-7

45 boasted that he would repeal and replace Obamacare (among many other things) while on the campaign trail and said he would be a President for the People.  He did a lot of boasting and lying which won him the White House. And then he got mad at the media for portraying his inauguration crowd size as small (envy, proud, self-seeking).

When his and Ryan's Healthcare bill didn't even garner enough Republican votes, he promptly blamed it on the Democrats because none of them voted for something he couldn't even get enough Republican votes for.  He didn't recognize or acknowledge the millions of people who were against it and were showing up at Republican Town Halls.  He said he'd be there for the People, but evidently that doesn't mean the people that show up at Town Halls and want answers.  Instead, he's gone on Victory Tours to make himself feel better about "winning."  That's a lot of pride and dishonoring of others.

Now he pretends that healthcare wasn't really a high priority for him; that he was more focused on security (which is also a joke) and tax reform (which will benefit primarily the top 1%- self seeking).  He said that it's not his problem anymore, that it's a Democrat problem and that he'll just watch it explode (delight in evil and not protect the people).

How about reaching across the aisle instead - and demonstrating patience, kindness and perseverance?  It is evident that we can't count on 45 and his Administration to get this done.  And maybe that's a good thing.  This forces all Americans to work together to get this done.  I am heartened to see all the Americans who show up at the Town Halls and Demonstrations to let their representatives know how worried they are about our country's direction towards Health Care and Racism (Muslim Ban), etc.  We need to hold our representatives accountable and roll up their sleeves to work on this.  Obstructionism is okay if it helps to prevent millions of people being dropped from health care; but we all know that the ACA needs improvement and we should all want this to be done vs letting it "explode."  There needs to be real love here, the kind that takes hard work for all parties.

Givers vs Takers and Complainers

Last week's message at church was about two kinds of people - Contributors and Consumers (aka Givers and Takers).  I realized that my parents and my aunts and uncles raised to be a Giver and Hard Worker.  When we went somewhere, we always pitched in and help.  We left the place cleaner and nicer than when we arrived.  It was actually a matter of shame if you were caught being lazy lol  And I would never want my parents to be ashamed of me, especially not for that.

During the week, I also went to a work meeting where a Sr VP was talking about the direction of our organization and there was an open Q&A.  One lady asked, "So how open is your open door policy?  Can we email and message you?"  The Sr V responded that, "When you come to me with a monkey, you better bring a banana or gun.  Don't just keep coming to me with problems without solutions, because I will quickly tire of people who just always complain.  Also, make sure your supervisor knows what's going on and isn't blindsided if I should ask him/her about the issues."

Last week's message and office meeting reminded me that I don't want to be a Taker and Complainer. I want to be able to solve problems and make things better.  I don't want to make promises I can't keep, and I take a lot of thought before committing to something.  I look at 45 and wonder if he really gave the Presidency any real thought.  Was it just a popularity contest for him?  Is that why he's so upset that he didn't get the popular vote and upset when the media portrayed his inauguration crowd as smaller than Obama's?  He tweets/complains/lies about stupid stuff constantly, and I don't think he took the job seriously when running.  I think he would've preferred the opposite happening with Hillary winning the electoral and him winning the popular.  That way he could've continued complaining about the "rigged system" and running his dubious/unethical businesses without the watchful eye of the public.

The blessing in disguise in all of this is that this has given the Democratic Party a kick in the pants.  About half of the country is unified against the current Administration and organizations like the ACLU have grown and gotten more funding from private citizens.  People like me are getting off their duffs and are getting active again because complaining is not enough.  We need to be Givers.

Integrity - Doing What's Right Even If Nobody's Looking

Both of my girls and I trained in Tae Kwon Do at Revolution Martial Arts, and are still personal friends with the owners and instructors.  One of the things they used to teach the girls is to have "Integrity - Doing what's right even if nobody's looking."  We also taught our girls the Golden Rule - Treat others as you'd like to be treated.  These are seemingly simple things, but people go through phases when these pearls of wisdom sound simple but are difficult for some people to adhere to.

For instance, when I was a teenager, my dad didn't really know how much I "partied."  He knew I did some drinking and I admitted smoking pot once when he asked.  He kinda freaked so I pretended it was just one time and didn't like it.  But he had no idea how often and how much I used to party.  That was when I was in my teens/early 20s; and I suspect many at that age have a different persona at home than what they have with their buddies.  But as we age and mature, we are supposed to be consistent.  We should mature and do what's right even if nobody's looking.  We should treat others as we'd like to be treated.

Unfortunately, we now have a president who seemingly has no integrity.  Everybody thought it was such a big deal that he spoke with his "indoor voice" when making his speech this week, but I think we are setting the bar pretty low.  He also spoke "nicely" after meeting with Obama the first time, and I thought there was some hope for him.  But as weeks passed and he started showing his true colors again, I knew there was no use holding out hope for him (and that's why I was in the Women's March and joined the ACLU).   I knew that it was useless to listen to him anymore.  Nowadays, I just wait for transcripts to come out and skim them.  Much of what he or his representatives say are lies or backpedaled on later.  

He said he was going to drain the swamp, and instead he restocked it with Billionaire Bankers who were "too big to fail."  Alt Right Bannon is calling the shots and they put out an unconstitutional ban against Muslims.  He said he'd build a wall that Mexico would pay for, but now they won't.  He's letting the Dakota Access Pipeline go forward, even if it puts the Natives' water source at risk.  He claimed it would be built with US Steel, but evidently it's not.  He is at war with the press and calls them "Fake News" if they question his Russian ties.  Now he claims Obama tapped his phones.  He said he would disclose his taxes after the audit was over; and now he says he won't.  

We should've known better than to believe him and elect him, but too many believed his lies.  Even when he was caught talking about grabbing women's P**y, people believed his excuse that it was just "locker room talk" and he never did it (despite several women saying he did grope them).  Never mind that a 55-60 year old guy should've outgrown locker room talk... His ex-wife said he pulled her hair and raped her, but later said that she didn't mean it literally.  Even if you were to believe her recant, he still manhandled her.  

Worst of all, he wasn't even in the situation room during the Yemen raid.  There are reports that say it was an ill advised raid, but I won't even get into that or talk about whether or not he "used" the widow during his speech.  I'll simply say that he should've been in the Situation Room when it was going down... and he should NOT have blamed his generals.  He should treat these situations as if he were sending his own children in to war.  He doesn't do what's right when nobody's looking... or even when they ARE looking.  He says one thing, then does another.  Sadly, while I used to pray that he be granted wisdom and integrity; I now pray for the wisdom and integrity of the other US and World Leaders... so that they can either remove him from office and/or find a way to govern despite him.