American FUBAR
The disgraceful events in Charlottesville, Virginia prove to me that love is a stronger force than hate. It may not seem so by watching the cable news networks, and it may not seem so by studying President Trump’s reactions and matching them up with the White House staff and advisors he has surrounded himself with, and the confusion therein. And it may not seem so by listening to all the reactions across the political spectrum.
But 32-year-old Heather Heyer lost her life there and that is the only thing we should focus on to bring the sobering truth of this lunacy home.
All the idiots with the helmets and clubs and flags and symbols went home safe. But Heather, who was hesitant to go to the “rally” in the first place, did not return to her safe home. Instead, she will never return home again. She’ll never again be able to express her opinion of love and justice.
FUBAR is a military term meaning Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition. It’s commonly used when frustration sets in, particularly in the lower ranks, regarding how things are going when the chain of command or administration foul things up beyond all recognition with incompetence, egomania, power and rank.
One of the best illustrations of a FUBAR situation is portrayed in a scene from the film “Saving Private Ryan‘ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwvFNtWP0Ag
America seems to be a country without a strong leader with the correct measure of a command presence. There seems to be no truth in Donald Trump’s heart or integrity in his soul. He seems not to have a brain in his head. Or maybe he got that “Abi Normal” brain. He’s not the kind of man you’d want your kids to grow up like.
I was astounded when I saw the first official White House reaction to the Charlottesville melee coming from “First Lady” Melania Trump. She tweeted “Our country encourages freedom of speech, but let’s communicate w/o hate in our hearts. No good comes from violence.”
Yeah, Melania, thanks for the tip, good advice. We’ll be sure to do that. It means so much coming from you. And be sure to tell that to neanderthal James Fields the driver of the car that killed Heather Heyer. And BTW, Melania, where have you been lately, haven’t seen you around? Odd that you should surface now under these bizarre circumstances. Who put you up to that?
In my opinion, Melania Trump’s tweet was ill-placed, ill-worded, and ill-received. To me, it was insulting. I was insulted for Heather Heyer. While Melania was tweeting, maybe while having her nails done, and the president playing golf, Heather was dying.
FUBAR.
I’m sure I will forget Melania’s tweet, but I will make it a point to remember Heather Heyer. I will always associate her tragic death and her innocent love of justice with the Charlottesville incident, and believe that her loss, her memory, her love, was stronger than the hate in the crowd that day. If Heather’s story doesn’t sober you up and bring a tear to you eye, you better find someone or something to love pretty damn quick and hang on to it with your life so you know how hard it is for Heather’s family and friends to lose her.
FUBAR.
It feels to me like America has been abandoned. Hijacked may be the better word. Donald Trump as president has always been a sketchy proposition but we were all willing to give him a chance. Many of us still are because we have no other choice and we are hoping that he grows into the job. But it doesn’t look like that will happen. His infantile, short-sighted perspective is as transparent as the fact that the job is wearing him down and he’s running scared. People keep saying he doesn’t know what he’s doing, and I believe after much observation, that he doesn’t.
It’s just been a little over six months and he has both the world and our country in utter chaos. And he seems to be promoting it.
I don’t like it that the White House seems to be full of creeps, the president’s closest advisors and staff, you know their names, the kind of people who would promote the kind of divisive antagonism we saw in Charlottesville, deflect and deny the truth of it, then roll out Melania veiled as the First Lady to tell us that no good comes from violence.
I don’t trust them.
And I don’t mean to proselytize Heather Heyer as the martyr that she is, but how do you justify her death? How do you respond or react to her significance in the current scheme of things and to her fate? How does her life and death balance out with a tweet from Melania Trump? It doesn’t. It makes Melania’s tweet look like the insignificant, silly pap that it is.
Heather got up that morning ill at ease and conflicted about going to the rally. But she went anyway to be a part of it, to be a part of the action, because she was curious. Because she had a strong feeling for her America and her interpretation of truth and justice. She wanted to make a showing and voice her opinion and belief in her America.
She just wanted to cast her vote.
And while all the idiots with the helmets and flags and clubs went for beer afterwards and then home to safety, Heather lay dying in the street.
FUBAR.
John Kushma is a communication consultant and lives in Logan, Utah.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-george-kushma-379a5762
http://newsbout.com/a/John+Kushma
