A couple of years ago, I had my granddaughter all to myself while her parents were at work. We live on opposite sides of the country so this was a special day. While she was in the bathroom, I turned on the TV to get a news update, and Madi returned just in time to hear it: shots fired in a high school in the state of Washington.
“Another school shooting,” she said, shaking her wise little four-year-old head. She knew it was bad news, but the resignation with which she spoke told me that, in her world, it was also sadly unremarkable.
Children assume that the world as they see it in their earliest years is normal. Imagine. If you were four—or five, or six—and your earliest memories of a president were of Donald Trump. What would you think? About him? About government? About the country? About grown-ups?
For awhile, it seemed Trump and many other Republicans were determined to drag us back to the 1950’s, a time when we gave lip service to equality while we practiced precious little of it. That’s bad enough, but if Trump’s behavior is any indication, he aspires to take us even farther back than that—to a prehistoric time when civility and civil discourse were perhaps a gleam in some dreamer’s eye. But here's a telling update from the The National Geographic about the Neanderthals:
“As modern humans were first migrating out of Africa more than 60,000 years ago, Neanderthals were still alive and well in Europe and Asia. It seems that our ancestors met, leaving a small genetic trace of these ancient relatives in our DNA.”
Elsewhere we're told this DNA affects us in various ways, ranging from skin and hair quality to mental health and susceptibility to various diseases. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
Following Barack Obama, one of the most articulate, intelligent leaders in our country's history, Trump makes a mockery of the office of the president and turns the White House into a circus tent. The contrast couldn't be more stark.
I’d like to think we’re strong enough to right the ship after Donald is deposed, whenever and however that occurs. Meanwhile, the danger is that not only our kids, but we ourselves will come to accept this White House spectacle as “normal.” We can't let that happen.
Vigilance, people, vigilance!
“Another school shooting,” she said, shaking her wise little four-year-old head. She knew it was bad news, but the resignation with which she spoke told me that, in her world, it was also sadly unremarkable.
Children assume that the world as they see it in their earliest years is normal. Imagine. If you were four—or five, or six—and your earliest memories of a president were of Donald Trump. What would you think? About him? About government? About the country? About grown-ups?
For awhile, it seemed Trump and many other Republicans were determined to drag us back to the 1950’s, a time when we gave lip service to equality while we practiced precious little of it. That’s bad enough, but if Trump’s behavior is any indication, he aspires to take us even farther back than that—to a prehistoric time when civility and civil discourse were perhaps a gleam in some dreamer’s eye. But here's a telling update from the The National Geographic about the Neanderthals:
“As modern humans were first migrating out of Africa more than 60,000 years ago, Neanderthals were still alive and well in Europe and Asia. It seems that our ancestors met, leaving a small genetic trace of these ancient relatives in our DNA.”
Elsewhere we're told this DNA affects us in various ways, ranging from skin and hair quality to mental health and susceptibility to various diseases. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
Following Barack Obama, one of the most articulate, intelligent leaders in our country's history, Trump makes a mockery of the office of the president and turns the White House into a circus tent. The contrast couldn't be more stark.
I’d like to think we’re strong enough to right the ship after Donald is deposed, whenever and however that occurs. Meanwhile, the danger is that not only our kids, but we ourselves will come to accept this White House spectacle as “normal.” We can't let that happen.
Vigilance, people, vigilance!
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