The other day, I watched John Boorman's film "Hope and Glory"-his recounting of his childhood in London during WWII. It begins in that fine late Summer of 1939 as the clouds of war hung over Europe. When war is declared in early September, it began what became known as the "Phoney War", a eight month period where there was little direct military conflict between Britain and Germany. It ended in May 1940 when Germany invaded the Low Countries and France.
People got on with their lives the best they could but always, there was growing, gnawing fear and anger about the future.
This situation reminded me of how I've been feeling in these final weeks leading up to the elections. Folk's nerves are on edge with the veneer of civility cracking here and there depending on the individual as we collectively are holding our breath: will we be living in an insane 3rd World banana republic where many are pushed into poverty because government programs are shut down by the cruelty of our "leaders", the military being used against the people they are sworn to protect, the mass deportations, living in constant fear of increased open violence as well as the proverbial knock on the door?
Or sublime relief that democracy and sanity has held as we dodged a major bullet? If we can pull this out, it won't be the end of it as half the country will be at odds with this outcome. There is a helluva lot of work to be done on so many levels and it is beyond me how to accomplish it. Perhaps that is the problem, it is beyond any of our abilities to solve the mess we have created for ourselves. And damn us for dragging all the rest of the creatures that share the planet with us into it as well. Shame on us.
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