I saw Hamilton the other night (it was fabulous!- from the cast to the lighting, the music to the musicians- but I digress) and I remembered something it took me a long time to learn: our heroes have clay feet.
No one is perfect. Everyone I have ever looked up to has been flawed.
Yet somehow we demand perfection from our leaders, certainly those in politics or religion. A not-so-secret part of me demanded it of myself as a pastor. But perfection is not possible, or even reasonable. Who we strive to be and who we are sometimes diverge. Sometimes by intent and sometimes, because we are just plain flawed.
Until now we have held our politicians (and religious leaders) to unreasonable standards. I am not saying this to give people a pass but to suggest that there is a difference between making mistakes (we all do) or having blind spots (also true of us all) but to say the hope is that we are able to learn from our mistakes and acknowledge it when our blind spots are revealed.
The term “feet of clay” is understood to mean a weakness or hidden flaw in the character of a greatly admired or respected person. We are disappointed when someone we admire falls off the proverbial pedestal, when a flaw or weakness is revealed. Like when we grow up and find out that the founding brothers of our nation were less than perfect. That’s one thing. It is different from downright evil.
Donald Trump does not have clay feet. Clay feet assumes a weakness or flaw in an otherwise decent human being. Say the word with me: EVIL. I will not prance around the word. We cannot excuse behavior that demeans any human being. We know racism is evil. Sexism is evil. Heterosexism is evil. Ableism is evil. ‘Other-ism” is evil. And Donald Trump perpetrates evil everyday with the people he appoints to oversee the very institutions created to protect us, with the lies he tells about himself and others, with the decisions he makes about world politics, and with the words of hate and dismissal spewing from his anal mouth.
Donald Trump is evil. I wish he had clay feet. I wish he had a conscience so that he could have clay feet. But there is no indication that it is even a possibility. Donald Trump is evil with power. And if ever there was a time we needed to recognize the truth about this man, it is now.
Evil is being normalized and the more we accept or allow his actions to continue the more complicit we become. Now is the time to call our clay-footed leaders, our representatives in government, in the churches and synagogues and mosques, in our neighborhoods to remove the scales from their eyes and see the urgency of the tasks before us.
Even if you have been called evil by the un-saintly religious, even if the use of the word troubles you because of how it has been appropriated by right-wing fundamentalists, even if you haven’t considered the concept of evil to be relevant in the 21st century, say it: Donald Trump is Evil. If we don’t say it. If we continue to normalize his words and actions, evil will take stronger and stronger footholds in our institutions and our population.
I don’t know how to end this. I don’t know where to go with this. I only know that this is an urgent time and we are a vulnerable people. I believe we must begin with speaking the word. With acknowledging what is going on for what it is. For the past two years we have repeatedly said to one another, “We cannot normalize his words or actions.” That is true. But now is the time to name them. It will give us a clarity of focus. Say it:EVIL
.
Trump is evil. I’ve been saying it for the last 18 months. What do we do to stop his destruction?
Barb- I wish I had ‘the’ answer but what I do know is that we must each do what we can, in both small and large ways.
As always, thank you so much for your insight and for the naming of all Donald Trump is and stands for. Thank you!
Thanks, Lyda. We must keep ringing the bell, send the warning and pray that together we stop the tide.
Thank you! I saw PURE EVIL the moment he announced his run for POTUS. I cannot understand the blindness of those who voted him into this office. I am terrified that democracy is slipping away. Our allies are now Russia and North Korea!! How is this okay?
Like the smell of cut summer grass or the taste of watermelon on a steamy summer afternoon, your words almost soothe the anguish I feel over this butt plug we are asked to call “President”.
The fact that he has so many supporters makes me realize how sad and sick our country has always been. Their feelings are not new. They just went underground when we became caring and thoughtful.
No matter what the outcome of the upcoming election cycle or even the race for the Oval Office in 2020, we now know who lives among us and it is like finding invading aliens from another planet.
As soon as I hear a prospective new acquaintance speak positively about this regime, I withdraw all hope of friendship. It is difficult enough to remain close to those I already learned to like and love when I find that they support what is running through our collective systems like a cancer.
I have never agreed 100% with any leader or even legislator since I became aware of the importance of their jobs and I never expected to since they represent a broad spectrum of goals, desires and beliefs.
I never expected to be disgusted and embarrassed by anyone as much as I have been with this walking talking colonoscopy.
Yes, I have been using that particular 4-letter word to describe him since about 4 months after the election. And every day, I become more frightened and frustrated. I can’t find any hope, any where. Lord, in your mercy…
hear our fearful prayers…