A Sad Day

A Sad Day

Saturday 19 September 2020

This morning we awoke to the sad news that Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died. She was an absolutely amazing woman and will be greatly missed. I already had grave misgivings about the future of this country, but the prospect that the current president, with his profound lack of ability and integrity, may get to appoint a third supreme court justice is just horrifying. As an American citizen I am obliged to say this is a “great country” (self-awareness and humility is frowned upon), but I can tell you that over the past three years I have grown to feel ashamed to be an American citizen. Just because a country is great at one moment in time is no guarantee that it will remain great … anyone with any awareness of world history knows that to be true. I believe that America can recover from Donald Trump’s lack of ability but may be irrevocably harmed by its acceptance of his lack of integrity. When it no longer matters whether the president speaks truth or lies, when facts and science become irrelevant and when anyone who disagrees with the administration is bullied and humiliated, then we are very far from being a great country. When the individuals that occupy other positions of leadership fail to stand up to abuses of power, we no longer have a “balance of power”.  When it’s more important to salute the flag than to address serious cultural and social issues then there is only one way to go and that’s down. 

On a more positive note, we had a lovely afternoon getting together with our friends Steve and Laura. They bought an Indian meal from a restaurant in Providence and we ate it in Goddard State Park, here in East Greenwich, sitting at a picnic table in the sunshine. We haven’t seen Laura and Steve since before the pandemic started and this was a really good way to meet up in a socially distanced way. The food was also amazing!

Mike 

Meeting up with Steve and Laura in Goddard State park - awesome Indian food - socially distanced!

Steve showing what happens when you avoid the barber for 7 months during a pandemic!