When they came for… I remained silent

With the election and subsequent results, America may be finding its voice for the first time in nearly 60 years.  Then, as now, it is not a cohesive voice, with the country speaking as one, but there are elements of cooperation, of banding together in order to be heard.  President Trump’s first full week in office is certainly an eventful one, and it has certainly created…activity.  His supporters are a boisterous lot, but I think they may have been drowned out by the backlash from those who aren’t so enamored of him.  The decision to gag the media right at the beginning of the week did not sit well with many- I know it certainly made me nervous.  Then there was the silliness with alternative facts.  I have to give Conway credit, I could in no way have delivered that line without it positively dripping with irony.  It remains to be seen what people will do with this voice, this activity that has people rising from their decades of apathy.

I have burgeoning fear, however, that perhaps this country of ours is a bit too large to remain United.  Economics, education, religion – our views differ on many things, but generally congeal along liberal and conservative lines, with something in the middle being the practical, logical, choice.  I do not believe ourselves capable of much logic, any more.  Perhaps Europe and Asia have it right, break countries down into smaller regions.  Do people feel like they have a voice when that is done?  Can a country be a United States when they are the size of Luxembourg?  I hear Cuba has an opening for an enterprising individual…

By Dan Granot

I chose the Shorter Whitman because of his work, "Song of Myself" and because of my self-deprecating sense of humor. I am under no illusion that I can write successful essays or poetry, but I have been known to write them anyway.

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