America the Blind

Hello, my lovelies!

Yes, I know.  It’s been far too long.  I made myself a New Year’s Resolution to write every day and then promptly broke it. In my defense, you all know that I love the horror genre and lately I’ve been glued to my new favorite horror channel: BBC News. 

I checked my blog stats the other day and without a trace of modesty, I’m proud and humbled to say that people all over the world have visited these dark pages.  People from Egypt, France, Brazil, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, China, Canada, the US and beyond have all at one point (either intentionally or through circumstances of over eager internet surfing) have come to these pages because we are united in one thing.  Love for our visually impaired children.  It is my most sincere hope that you’ve found some comfort here.  That has been my mission all along.

I’ve got several other projects in the pipeline and it’s usually not unless something happens that I’m possessed with a desire to write a blindness blog post.  Well something has happened, I’ve been possessed and I feel a bit of a rant coming on. Brace yourself.

I am an American.  I haven’t lived in the States for a decade, but that doesn’t negate the fact that I’m a true Yankee-doodle-do.  I’m from New Jersey, which is by far the best State..the very best. Boom! Done! Deal with it. 

New Jersey has mountains, beaches, pine barrens and 1,672 different ways to tell the car in front of you to fuck off in traffic. Jersey also has an incredibly diverse population.

Long ago, in a lifetime far away, I worked in a busy industrial pharmacy.  You could have mistaken our staff meetings for a UN summit.  Any preconceived prejudices I may have about people were quickly washed away as I got to know my coworkers on a human level.  I’m a better person because I worked alongside Mohommad, Alecs, Mala, Irena, Rashonda, Shaniqua, Pam, Nidia, Mercy, Michele and all the other people from other places I had the honor of bonding with over pharmaceutical drugs.

We were all there holding each other up on Sept. 11^th 2001.  We had patients in nursing homes waiting on their medication, we had to get the delivery out.  Some of my coworkers had spouses or loved ones working in the City that they couldn’t reach.  It was a very dark day. We were all terrified. But we stood together, united and finished the job.

In the wake of that tragedy, I saw both the best and the worst of people come out.  A few days later on my way to work I noticed that a gas station run by a gentleman from Afghanistan had been vandalized. That evening on my way home I saw three, big, intimidating looking white dudes on motorcycles guarding the gas station with him.  That’s just one example of the many extraordinary acts of kindness that I witnessed while thick, black smoke still poured out of the ruins of the twin towers.  

I was never more proud to be an American.  We rose up out of the ashes of disaster, we honored our fallen, we helped those we could and prayed to our various gods for those we could not.  It was a heartbreaking time, but the heartbreak was tempered with love, strength and unity.  That is what my America is all about.

Right now, I don’t know what the fuck is happening but I no longer recognize my country.  I’ve been watching the abomination that is the 45^th Presidency with the same feeling of heartbreak I had 15 years ago.  Sadly this time that heartbreak is only tempered with confusion and dismay.

What the holy hell is happening people??

America is not about walls; it’s about welcoming people to the ‘Land of Dreams’.  

America is not about banning people based on their beliefs; it was founded in the name of religious freedom.  

America has a dark and seedy history of racism and sexism but noble heroes like Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, Fredrick Douglas (still doing great work) Martin and Coretta King and so many other champions - with their words, and their passion and their lives – fought for equality and won.  It was a hard fight (and it’s far from over) but America went from having racially segregated schools to being a place where I had the luxury of forgetting to tell my blind kid that people come in different colors - in less than 50 years.  

I don’t understand the notion that America needed to be great again, because I always thought it was pretty spectacular. 

I’d like to think that if America had a physical disability it would be blindness - just like justice, faith and love.  It’s supposed to be a place where your character matters more than your color.  Where personality matters more than nationality. Where the love that’s in your heart matters more than the gender of the one you love because it’s a nation that was founded in the name of freedom for everyone.  This kind of thinking may be idealism to the point of insanity but it was the good kind of insanity - the kind that pushes people to overcome bigotry, fear and hate. The kind of crazy that tears down walls, not builds them up.

We have entered an era of a new kind of crazy.  And sadly, America’s blindness has been replaced with incredible short sightedness.  In a time that we should be focused on globalization, we’re busy learning about alternative facts and honestly, I don’t know what to say.  I’m not even completely sure what my main point here is.  

I guess I just wanted you guys out there, in Egypt, France, Brazil, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, China, Canada, the US and beyond that what you see on the news these days is not my America and the vast majority of Americans stand beside me in my outrage and disbelief. We are resisting.  We are speaking out.  We are teaching our children that what’s happening right now is wrong and we are desperately hoping that this Presidency will be both short lived and remembered only as the cosmic joke that it is.

I hope that you will all bear with us during this difficult time and join me as I pray for America to go blind again.