Two weeks ago, I had the privilege of listening to my friend Richard sing and play guitar to songs from U2’s Joshua Tree album. I had not heard much of Joshua Tree in the years since I wore my cassette tape of it out back when I was in Bible college. Throughout the evening, Richard had me awash in college memories. I was struck by how many of my memories included going long distances on open roads, whether it was for weekend choir or preaching trips or visits home to see my parents or adventures in the hometowns of my college friends. And Joshua Tree was one of a handful of albums/cassettes that provided a soundtrack for much of those years. So, if you are reading this, Richard, thanks for taking me a sentimental journey that night.
After the concert, but before I even got in my car to drive home, I downloaded Joshua Tree so I could have it again. It’s such a great album and yet, in the last two weeks, one song has bubbled in me more than all the other tracks. As I drive around LA, or walk the dogs, or swim, I find myself humming or singing,
Ha la la la de day
Ha la la la de day
Ha la la de day.
Maybe you know it, maybe you don’t but it’s the refrain to as song called Running to Stand Still. It starts,
And so she woke up
Woke up from where she was
Lying still
Said I gotta do something
About where we’re going
It’s a sad song, a song about love not quite going right, maybe even about life not quite going right. It’s a dirge, a lament. Even before Tuesday, it had once again become a soundtrack, a part of me.
Obviously, much has been written about Tuesday, all of it on Facebook. Well, most of it on Facebook. We’ve certainly had the opportunity to air all of our opinions about this election and the aftermath. If we thought it was divisive before and we thought it would go away after the election, we misjudged that as grandly as many misjudged the outcome of the election itself.
I voted for Hillary Clinton. I can’t imagine anyone being shocked by that admission. I don’t love her in the way some of my friends do, but I did feel that with the options presented, she was my, our, best hope. I will also admit to being a big Obama fan, too. I would happily sign up for four more year of him and Michelle. Yes, I know that not everyone feels the same way.
Also, for the last week, I was working on a written piece that I hoped would be a part of a storytelling show. I recounted one of the worst things that ever happened to me, maybe the very worst, and the show’s director asked for rewrites that took me further and further from a workable piece. Have you ever written paragraph after paragraph and with each sentence found yourself drifting completely away from whatever it is you wanted to say when you started writing? When this person told me that I would not be asked to participate, it was a crushing blow. Are you ok, they asked. No, not right now, but I will be.
Ha la la la de day
Ha la la la de day
Ha la la de day.
Yesterday, after not speaking to each other since pre-results Tuesday, I called my parents. We do not talk politics much, we are not on the same page. But I was shocked to find out just how truly gleeful my Dad was about Trump’s victory. I tried to explain that I was worried about my safety and my civil rights, but he was more interested in telling me the ways Obama failed these last eight years and that Hillary should be in jail. It got heated and then it cooled. My Dad said that with Tump being president, I have probably never been safer. They told me that they loved me, I told them, I know, I love you too.
I did not post much to my FB wall this week. I made a joke about moving to Canada (how original) early on Tuesday when I still had some hope that the direction the night felt like it was headed was not going to careen in the way that it did. The next day, I posted a picture of my dog Ricky looking super adorable at the Blessing of the Animals at my church last Sunday. Also, on Wednesday, I posted a picture of Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son, a U.S. soldier, was killed in 2004 in the Iraq war. Mr. Khan’s speech at the Democratic National Convention was one of the most emotional moments of the convention. President Elect Trump made fun of the family and conjectured that Mrs. Khan, who stood silently by her husband, was not allowed to speak.
Also, yesterday, someone I went to Bible college with posted a meme that said, “Protests only work if human rights have been violated. Protesting for not getting your way is just crying.” I hesitated to comment, what good does it do, but I wrote, “I have not been protesting, so I only have a limited understanding, but I do believe there are people who fear that with Trump’s election, their human rights will be taken away. I know I fear that my human rights will be taken away. We will see what the future holds.” To which a stranger responded to me, “And what about the human rights of others being demolished right now in the protests? You are worried about nothing. The riots however are real.”
So I said, “I am not making light of the violence that is occurring at the protests right now, but you do not need to dismiss my concerns about what the future holds.” I did not think that was too offensive. As you might suspect, a part of me wanted to lash out, say something cruel. I looked at this stranger’s FB profile. Apparently she loves her grandbabies and her state university. I don’t really know why she felt the need to attack me, a stranger to her as much as she is to me.
You got to cry without weeping
Talk without speaking
Scream without raising your voice.
Anyway, I decided to take a break from Facebook. If you see this, it doesn’t mean I’m on FB again, WordPress just automatically sends my blogs to Facebook when I publish them.
It’s Saturday night, this dramatic week is nearly over. I don’t mind saying I’m glad to see it go. I have a party I need to get to and I need to change into something cute. (Typos and run on sentences, be damned.) Tomorrow is another day, a new week. But tonight, I want to raise a glass and toast my friends and say that I’m sad. If you’re sad too, I get it.
Tomorrow we can leap and soar and fly, but tonight, suffer the needle chill, we are running to stand still.
