A Year Ago Today

A year ago today, I came home from the hospital after having spinal cord surgery. I was weak as a kitten, and loaded up on pain meds and muscle relaxers. The surgery I had is call an Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion. The neurosurgeon went in through the front of my neck, shifted my esophagus,trachea, etc. over, and removed the disc between my 3rd and 4th cervical spine vertebrae. This was then replaced by a spacer that,with new bone growth, fused the two vertebrae.

It's been a long year of recovery,and I'm still not completely back to 100%. It's possible I'll never get back to where I was prior to my injury and subsequent surgery. But I'm a damn sight better that I was this time last year. I am thankful that,even with everything that happened,I am alive,and I can move on my own volition.

One Week

One week. That's all it took. Donald Trump took one week to denigrate the Presidency and diminish the United States' standing in the world. He has, in one week done all the following: question the validity of the November election; impose restrictions on scientists and researchers in government employ to speak not only with the public, but also with Congress; issue Executive Order after Executive Order without consulting with even the members of his Cabinet whose departments would be impacted; place the burden of building "The Wall" on the backs of American taxpayers; impose, through an unconstitutional and inhumane Executive Order, a de facto religious and ideological test for immigrants, and with the same Executive Order, penalize refugees whose only crime is fleeing horrors none of us could imagine; remove the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence from the National Security Council and replace them with Steve Bannon, his Senior Advisor and architect of almost all of the most odious aspects of Trump's agenda; purposefully omit any reference to Jews when issuing a statement on International Memorial Holocaust Day. All of this. In one week.

I have been feeling incredibly anxious ever since the election. I have tried to will myself out of this anxiety, and tell myself and others that it's all going to be okay. On some level, I still believe that. In the long run, we will be okay. That doesn't mean I'm not still anxious, though. I am. I worry about my friends and family. I worry about my community. I worry about my country. I worry about the world. I fear the consequences of the Trump Administration if left unchecked. The anxiety and worry are still there, but they are not the only feelings. They are increasingly joined by anger. It would be very easy to stay immobilized by anxiety and worry, and not act. It would be just as easy to give in to the heat of anger, and act rashly. 

But there's another feeling that is present, and growing: resolve. I will try to focus on  this resolve, and act in such ways as my conscience dictates, and my situation allows. Here are some things I have already done, or am planning to do, in accordance with this:

• Contact my Congressional representatives.
• Support organizations, such as the ACLU, which fight for our freedoms.
• Donate to charities that provide aid to refugees.
• Engage with those with whom I disagree.
• Avoid engaging in name-calling or ad hominem attacks.
• Put as much love and kindness out into the world as I can.

These are small things, I know, but I think they are important. I firmly believe we can make things better, for all of us, even through the smallest of acts. I hope you'll join me. We are stronger together.

An Open Letter To Our New Employee, Donald:

Dear President Trump,
Congratulations on your new position. While I, and many others, did not think you were the best fit for this position, and in fact a majority of us who voted actually selected another candidate, the arcane bylaws of our Constitution have brought us to where we are now. You are the President of the United States. That makes you my President. I know some of my friends are using the hashtag #notmypresident, but I will acknowledge that you are, in fact our President. But more to the point, you work for us now. All of us.

You are, for the first time in your life, an employee. You are my employee, just as you are the employee of every citizen of our country. As such, I have some expectations of you, and I want to share them with you now. I don't want to be the kind of boss that waits for something to happen before speaking. Believe me, I've had bosses like that, and I think that I owe it to you to set clear expectations up front. So, here are a few things I want you to keep in mind as you start your new job.

1. The transition from being a business-owner to an employee can be challenging. When you're a business owner, you get to make the rules as you see fit. As an employee, you have to abide by the rules of the organization you work for. In some businesses, there are Employee Handbooks, Codes of Ethics, Mission Statements, etc. In your new role, the main rules you need to follow are contained in the Constitution. If you haven't done so yet, I need you to read the Constitution as soon as possible. It will help you better understand the role and responsibilities for the new position you have, and, hopefully, help ease the transition from the private to the public sector.
2. The country has been working pretty well these last 240 years. Please don't do anything to jeopardize it's continued performance. We had a significant challenge about 160 years ago, which led to major problems which we are still dealing with. We don't need to add to this.
3. You may have seen the protests that happened around the country-indeed, around the world- today. While I know you may not understand why so many people are so upset, I encourage you to reach out to them and ask them. The best way to avoid trouble in the long-run when you start a new position is to address any concerns as early as possible, and find out how to fix them. Trust me on this one.
4. If you aren't sure what to do about a certain project, just ask us! You have 350,000,000+ employers who are happy to share with you our thoughts about how to address pretty much anything.
5. I often have to remind myself to not take things personally. It can be easy to expend a lot of energy on perceived or real slights and insults. You will feel much better if you follow the advice I often share with others: QTIP. Quit taking it personally. Focus on your job, and not social media. In fact, it's good workplace etiquette to avoid using social media while on the job. 
6. Make sure you get plenty of rest. While you are, per your pre-employment physical, in remarkably good health, you still need to take care of yourself. More rest, more exercise, more fruits and vegetables. However, don't overdo it on the carrots. They can turn your skin orange.
7. Since you started on the job yesterday, I've noticed there seem to be some glitches on the White House website. While I'm sure this will be taken care of, please make sure to call IT as soon as possible. The Civil Rights, Climate Change, and LGBT  stuff is important, even if you don't "get it."
8. If someone from the White House staff starts talking to you about new China, don't panic! They're just making sure that you have dishes to eat your taco bowls on. 
9. Remember the first thing I said, about reading the Constitution? Seriously, do that before anything else. It's pretty important.

I know I just gave you a lot to work on for your first week on the job, but there's no time to waste. Remember, you work for us now. All of us. All 350, 000,000+ of us. We're watching, and making note of everything you do in your new role. While you are committed to a 4-year contract, with an option to extend for another 4 years, don't take that as a given. You'll find, in the Constitution (seriously, you need to read that ASAP), that the ultimate power lies with us, also know as We The People.

Regards,

gp

Talk and Action

I guess I shouldn't be surprised by anything anymore, but this week has been one for the record books. We had the sublime- President Obama's farewell address, Vice President Biden receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom; the ridiculous- the #goldenshowers story regarding Trump; and the despicable- the efforts by the Republicans in both houses of Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act. But the week ended on a truly bizarre note, with the President-Elect saying that Rep. John Lewis, (D-GA), was " all talk, no action." Putting aside the irony of a man like Trump, whose entire business and political career has been built on his propensity for hyperbole and braggadocio, saying that someone else is "all talk," the fact that he had the gall to say it about someone like Mr. Lewis makes me furious.

I grew up in the South, and lived in my home state of Georgia until 1993. In the 1970s and 1980s, Georgia was still recovering from the dramatic social and political changes of the 1960s, and was still deeply divided along racial lines. While I attended desegregated schools, that was the extent of interaction for most people with those from another ethnic group. We didn't live in the same neighborhoods, we didn't attend the same churches. Often, we didn't even shop at the same grocery stores. There were White parts of town, and Black parts of town, and very few people crossed these invisible, but very real, lines.

I remember one little town I lived in as a child (my father was a Methodist minister, and we moved every 2-3 years from one small South Georgia town to another) had a pool that was owned by a group of families in the community. The pool was located right next to the elementary school campus. All of the families who owned the pool as a cooperative were white, of course. As the son of the pastor of the local Methodist church, I was often invited to go swimming there. As a kid, I never thought of the fact that everyone who had access to the pool, and everyone I ever saw there, was white. I never thought about how this pool, which was the size of a municipal pool and had all of the infrastructure of a small-town municipal pool, came to be owned by these families. Only as an adult did the pieces fall into place. This had very likely been the city pool for this small town, and had been closed by the municipality when it was required to integrate the pool and allow black citizens to use it as well. It had then been sold to this group of white families, and become private property. As private property, the pool didn't have to abide by any civil rights ordinances. The law was followed, and the pool could remain free of any black swimmers.

I was thinking about this pool this week, when Mr. Trump used the bully pulpit (emphasis on the bully) of his Twitter account to make his claim about John Lewis being "all talk, no action." Mr. Lewis has spent his life fighting against oppression. He has risked life and limb on numerous occasions in this cause. He has been arrested, jailed, beaten, and gotten right back out there to continue to fight for justice. He is a man of eloquent words, but more importantly, he is a man of meaningful action. A small-town pool, the use of which was denied to citizens and then closed to keep them out, may not seem like much. But it is exactly the kind of injustice that Mr. Lewis has acted against all his life.

Mr. Trump may not like what Mr. Lewis has to say, and certainly it is within his rights to voice his disagreement with Mr. Lewis's statement that Mr. Trump is not a "legitimate President." But to say that Mr. Lewis is "all talk, and no action" is patently false. It is likely that Mr. Trump is not aware of Mr. Lewis's history as a civil rights activist. Ignorance, however, is not an excuse for falsehood. Sadly, ignorance and falsehood comprise much of Mr. Trump's worldview. That will not likely change after next Friday. That is why it is important for all of us to follow John Lewis's example and match words with actions.