I seek refuge in imagination, pretending the concrete walk is a woodland escape and that our republic’s current nightmare isn’t real. Unfortunately, reality bites back – the path is concrete, the nightmare undeniable.
But look closely: there are sparks of resistance, small signs that ‘we the people’ are beginning to organize, even if Congress remains inert and the Courts’ judgments uncertain. This reminds me of Tolkien’s exchange between Frodo and Gandalf. Frodo wished the darkness hadn’t fallen in his time, and Gandalf agreed, adding the essential truth: “…All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
That decision point is here. People, crucially including younger generations, are starting to decide what to do. The real weight of the coming struggle will fall on the shoulders of the 20-to-60-year-olds. While figures like Angus King and Bernie Sanders lead in their way, they are just two elderly individuals. Note well that these two old white men are neither Democrat nor Republican. But simply Americans.