THE WORDS: I listened, my throat closed tightly, I could feel a surge of my gut wanting to find its way to my mouth and then free fall to the ground. There I was on my typical day, doing cardio; having forgotten that today, Wednesday, February 21,a group of survivors, a group of mourners, a group of Americans all attached somehow or someway to gun murder and gun violence would be sitting with the guy the Russians elected as President , the VP whose own sordid history with approving gun violence, and a billionaire Secretary of Education whose own disdain for the public school is horrendous, recounting stories, more horrifying than those told around a campfire in the middle of a deep dark forest with flashes of lightening and thunder roaring over head. The cardio was silent, most of us who had our ear phones on listening to our own choice of words or music, tentatively watching as parents, siblings, and kids, reminded us of just how dangerous and deceitful a world in which we try to survive. I as a parent, I as an American, I as a human could never dream of such tragedies, torment, and sinister behavior as these people, these once average people witnessed. With respect to the man who demonstrates no respect toward others, each and every person acknowledged Trump, thanking him for this opportunity (I gave them credit as I grew nauseous) each time they paid respect. This was to be a listening moment, which usually means great optics and not much else. These survivors were brave, and as each and every one spoke, I prayed to my God, saying thank you for not letting this be me.
THE OPTICS: Young and old, some politicians, mostly Americans hurt by senseless gun violence, emptied by mass murder, destroyed by the creeps in public office who swear life maters, but not the lives of those killed by guns…yes guns kill! How wonderful one might suggest, the Commander in Chief, his VP, his paid to play Secretary of Education all cozy in a semi circle. Microphones shared, names mentioned. It looked like a real effort was being made to actually provide this nation with sensible gun laws…and meanwhile yesterday, as survivors of the most recent mass shooting watched, the optics of the Florida Legislature, a large majority of Republican NRA puppets declined to do ANYTHING to curb the use of assault weapons. Buy a gun at 18, but go to jail in Florida if you dare purchase alcohol!
NON-VERBAL: Watching the victims and the survivors tentatively trying to be respectable, to not let the anger of their emotions get the better of them (They are stronger people than me), I was proud, proud that these individuals understood that to be heard they had to behave in a manner that others might listen. But often times the camera would focus on Trump. What an embarrassment, of a human! He either was folding his arms in front of his chest…he was either nodding his head so fast and so often one might think his neck would implode…his blank stare as people spoke was empty as his heart, and his ticks and movements demonstrated the inability to focus on the there and now. The victims and survivors were amazing, the guy Putin selected to run this nation was as usual a total waste of time!
