With thanks to Howard Tayler of Schlock Mercenary for his tweet which helped put me in the right mode to frame this thought.
I own two homes. One on each coast. Assuming ownership means assuming responsibility and making investments to keep the structures safe and sound. It also means that I don’t have to personally know how to fix everything to keep my structures functional, but I do have to know when something is broken and be willing to call attention to the fact. Ignoring a problem doesn’t fix the problem. In many cases, ignoring it only makes things worse later. When you spot the problem, you must fully commit to fixing the problem right then and there.
I don’t own two houses – I own two homes. My stuff is in these homes. Important decisions affecting my family were and are being made in these homes. My children were raised in those homes. It is their inheritance. Yeah, the houses (like all houses) have issues and their share of problems, but I will do my level best to ensure that the houses I leave them will be in the best condition possible and will be something they will want to leave their children. You see, these homes are my legacy to my kids and their kids and ignoring a problem in the structure of the houses doesn’t increase its value or guarantee its longevity; in fact, it does quite the opposite.
America is a lot like my houses. It’s flawed and has problems, but I am invested in it. It is my home. When I see things wrong like children in cages, political appointees violating the Hatch Act without consequences, lowering the taxes of millionaires and then crying about a $900 billion budget deficit; or the President telling four U. S. Congresswomen to “go back” to the countries they came from (knowing all four are U. S. citizens and 3 of the 4 were born here), I have an obligation to speak up.
These things are not right. But, more importantly, if YOU think all of this is right and should be the accepted norm, go ahead and do us both a favor and unfriend me now and just walk away. It would be probably best for both of us. You see, the house has problems that need to get fixed and it won’t get it fixed if it’s ignored. However, these problems won’t be solved by bringing back prayer in school, standing for the National Anthem or denying women access to medical care for any reason or any other dog whistle “memes” that seek to divide us rather than unite us.
We are a nation of laws and Constitutional rules. But when we allow our elected officials to decide that the laws don’t apply to them or that some laws should be applied disproportionately to those of us who don’t look like Western European fashion models, our democracy is structural weakened. When we allow these people to tell us what a American is or what an American should look like or whom we should love or who we should pray to, our democracy is vulnerable. None of us can afford to be silent any longer…and I won’t be. I have to be the change in the world that I want to see…and you should be too.
