We Have to be Kinder. We Have to Smack Those Bad Guys Down.

It’s not kindness when we allow people to be hurt.

This is my flag. It’s our flag. It’s not their flag. (Author’s photo)

There’s much to celebrate in this country, what with a new administration working to right the things that have gone wrong and to change our attitudes about the need for legitimate, responsible Big Government. But at the same time, the forces working against it are building to an obvious pressure point.

Who is going to win the battle for the life and soul of the country? We’ll know more in November, when the polls close and we know which side is going to be in charge of our lives. Do we get better health care, more equitable social services, a move toward climate responsibility, a stronger work force, a weaker billionaire class? Or do we go back to the Trump era, where all we’ve worked for continues to erode until it finally disappears?

What is our role in all of this?

I know we all think we’re good and kind and an asset to, rather than a carbuncle on society, but can we be good and kind and still have bad thoughts about those people who aren’t? Those awful people who refuse to give a thought to anyone outside their own circles and have no desire at all to be anything but mean to the rest?

Damn right we can.

It’s a kindness to go outside of yourself and think more about those who can’t speak for themselves, who have no power, who need a helping hand against an entire segment of society bent on destroying them for no other reason than sheer meanness.

It’s a kindness to demand justice when those who are strongest are holding down and intimidating those who are weakest and most vulnerable.

It’s a kindness to castigate those who go on the attack against others over their gender, their beliefs, their sexual orientation, their poverty, their illnesses, their addictions, their caste, their color, their places of origin.

Along with that kindness comes a need to stay strong. The only way to save the people we keep working to save is to get out there and knock a few heads together. Not literally, of course, because that’s not us, but figuratively.