A man was telling how, a century ago, his father sought 20 acres in the middle of rural Pennsylvania so he could raise his children away from “the mean streets of Huntingdon.” (Huntingdon has a current population of 7,000. The word “mean” seemed hilarious, and I hope it referred to raccoons.)

Also, recently, a young couple near me was speculating about the best place to raise their toddler. Should you isolate them from exposure to harsh realities, or coach them through? That is, how do you teach children about “reality,” and also instill in them HOPE and JOY, and keep them safe?

This is playing into my feeling that our society has turned mean in the last two years. Yes, hate and meanness are being modelled by our leaders on a daily basis. And it is expressed by random “haters,” also on a daily basis, who are killing Muslim children in the formerly-safe suburbs or plowing their cars into crowds or blowing themselves up in popular cafes. Or posting vicious—the worst--things you could say, in great numbers, on social media.

We are hearing that some things we held precious are going to be destroyed: national parks, spiritual places on Indian reservations, whales and dolphins, and clean drinking water. Dog fighting is okay again. It’s okay to say you love dog fighting. BRUTES and BULLIES are in!

Yes, I think we have entered a dark age. And I believe we will come out of it.

But meanwhile, there is period (one year, a decade?) of visible evil and suffering. And yes, a democratic society voted for a leader who is bringing this catastrophe, possibly because they felt so hopeless already that they wanted the whole country to get blown up and suffer along with them. We are headed to be like the banana republics in South America, where the rich live in gated communities and drive from house to rich play-grounds in black-tinted limousines. Like Africa, where septuagenarians suck all the money out of the population, sock it into foreign bank accounts, and turn away from refugee camps full of starving, sick people (who comprise most of their society).

Yes, there are thinkers who say Africa will be saved by the youth, who will rise up and take power back.

Who will save us? Will there be enough leaders and activists to put jobs, health care, money and opportunity back into the hands of the majority of the population? Undo the “wired” capitalist systems that let billionaires avoid taxes, export jobs, exploit workers, make higher education exclusive again, and disdain charity? It doesn’t look like our elected leaders are willing to fix this. Those in power have reached levels of corruption and sell-out formerly seen in other countries.

While the pendulum swings between horrible and okay, in our daily political life, we have to find redeeming hope and joy, and not succumb to hopelessness and anger. Be more kind than we’ve ever been. Help others as much as we can. Random acts of kindness, tolerance, respect, and appreciation. Materially, most of us still live better than most of the world.

I am compartmentalizing. Most of my day, I try to behave like my best self, the person I would want to be in a good, spiritually ideal society. The kids need to witness decency and respect. People around us will see that and we can lift each other. But during other moments of the day, I am angry, incensed. Depressed, hopeless about the good things I value: equal rights, support for the weak and sick, equal opportunity. Social justice. We need to keep acting, and voting, for the values we hold.
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Thanks to all the people who are RESISTING the transgressions against democracy, against civil rights, against charity and giving, and respect. I think we will prevail. I am sorry we could not take it for granted, and the election swung us into a dark age, making it hard work again. 

​We are indeed blessed and having a charmed life if we are physically and emotionally comfortable, have access to education and jobs, and are safe from discrimination and oppression.

How many people is that?

On the news last night, a UN official said that 1% of the world’s population was in “refugee status.” I thought, “how close to home is this experience?”

I’m foreign-born, an immigrant. In the USA, 13% of the population is like me. That’s more than one in ten.
Other countries have more foreign-born immigrants: Australia has 27% of population, Canada 20%. Europe is at 7%.

That’s a lot of “displaced people.” Some fled certain death, economic disaster, hardship, oppression.

How many of us are familiar with the “immigrant experience?” A majority of the population identifies as within three generations of an immigrant. Those within three generations may be actually as high as 75% of the population.

You’ll be encouraged that second-generation Americans do very well, almost catching up with “natives” in many respects.  That’s almost miraculous—and explains why a LOT of people want to come to the USA.

Remember “foreign-born” can mean: I don’t know the language, I have no house, I have no job or financial security, I don’t know how to get food-housing-jobs-healthcare-schooling. A huge learning curve in a foreign language. The days and months go by as you try to get out of poverty, send the kids to school, provide for the family.

Even so, for the second generation, median income and home ownership are CAUGHT UP with “natives.” And the percentage of college graduates EXCEEDS the rate for “natives.” Immigrants must be desperate for security and basic needs.

My parents were part of the 12 million people wandering around Europe right after World War II around 1945. I won’t repeat all the groups behind the numbers. They were all in misery over some reason they could not “go home” anymore.

There are other miseries besides being “displaced.” We could have the legacies of slavery and racism in our family experience. Native American mistreatments. Or, losing jobs and dropping into poverty, having to move and start over, for reasons other than national politics. “Food insecurity” which means you don’t have enough to eat, even though you may be born here.

There are about 1.5 million people seeking asylum in Europe now.
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The numbers seem to say: Don’t be cold-hearted about immigrants. In America, there is probably one in your family tree within three generations.

Amanda Taub says Donald Trump gave us a master class in sexism. She analyses various ways that he attacked the moderator Megyn Kelly. I thought it would help to think through HOW TO RESPOND to each of the "types" of deflections a sexist typically uses.

See Amanda Taub’s article, Aug 7, 2015: http://www.vox.com/2015/8/7/9114943/donald-trump-sexism-debate.

The strategies of sexists (per Taub), with my examples of how to respond:

1.      Claim that the complaint is an exaggeration in order to imply that the complainant can’t be trusted.

“Mr. Trump, your personal mockery of Rosie O’Donnell does not answer the question. It might be a fun comment in a reality show (The Apprentice?) where bullying and name-calling are a form of entertainment. She’s a comedian, and you are bidding for the part of leader of the free world. How do you explain your frequent categorical insults about women and to women? They are on record and observed by many others, and experienced by many others. You give me too much credit for this observation.”

2.      Dismiss demands for respect and equality as mere “political correctness.”

“Mr. Trump, you seem uncomfortable with big changes in our society. It used to be ‘correct’ to put women (and minorities, and immigrants) down, as inferior and unworthy of equal respect and treatment. Are you saying that your respect for these groups is false, on your part, and that you feel that this is just pressure to pretend that you respect them, when you don’t? Do you think their campaigns for respect are frivolous?”

3.      Insist that this complaint is too minor to bother with when there are more important things to worry about.

“Mr. Trump, you’re a CEO and we have to assume that you take the job of managing people seriously. Do you find that bullying, insulting and humiliating individuals improves their performance? Do you subscribe to the management (and political philosophy) that leaders need to win people’s loyalty through respect for them, to build teams and to bring them together? That national leaders need to build national consensus and national identity? Maybe build corporate or national cultures that tolerate and respect diversity?”

4.      Say it was just “fun.”

“Mr. Trump, have you ever asked the people you are insulting if they think it’s funny? Do you think making fun of certain groups is a way to bond with others? Do you only work with people who all agree on what groups are okay when it comes to this kind of fun? Do you need personal attacks and mockery of women to have fun?”

5.      Pretend the complaint is really just about personal animosity.

“Mr. Trump, I am honored that you think that your feelings about me personally are important in this discussion. I feel I am presenting a question many other people have. It’s really not about me. It’s about you. How about speaking to the complaint and answering the question?”