Six Months

 

The Wordless Wednesday picture I posted the day after the election

I still wake up and wish it all would be just a dream. Much has changed during the last six months. I still laugh a lot and giggle like a little girl, but there is also a sadness in me that you can often see -and hear- when I read or watch the news. 

Many of the changes have disheartened me more than ever before. This is not my first rodeo, but it seems to be the hardest one. Presidents have come and gone, and I have respected them all -even the ones from THE OTHER SIDE. In the end, they always meant well, just in a different way. My respect is gone, it flew away like a little Tweety bird.

Laws have been changed, and I have cried tears over it; tears of anger and tears of helplessness.

The U.S. animal abuse record has been removed from the website of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) which had been posting them publicly for decades. No more inspection records or annual reports for commercial animal facilities. The documents are not public anymore, now we have to file an official request to see them. I fear that it will prolong the suffering of animals if we hide abuse. To me it doesn’t matter, I am still a volunteer in animal rescue -always will be.

Trump and Pence gave the states the right to defund Planned Parenthood, and I made my first donation.

I could go on and on. We all have read about the environmental changes, the Paris Climate Agreement. What could I add that hasn’t been written or said. I adjusted my life and support causes I believe in. I am as outspoken as always -just quieter -if that makes any sense.

That’s how I felt after Trump’s first 100 days.

The most significant change is something that only I can hear -and people like me.

Americans are friendly people -still are. They hear an accent, and they want to know more, they don’t hold back, they ask. “Where are you from?” It is a standard question that I have heard for 30+ years. “Ah, Italy! Ah, Austria,” they respond and share their knowledge and anecdotes with me. Often I end up talking about my life with complete strangers, something that I am used to by now. I have met amazing people that way.

Lately, another question has been added. “Do you have two citizenships?” they want to know and when I confirm the look at me. “You are lucky! You could leave.”

The first time I heard that it floored me. The second time still took me by surprise, now I have heard it too often. I thought it was just me, but it’s not. A good friend of mine is from Canada, she gets the same reply.

Americans consider people with a double citizenship now lucky because we don’t have to stay. That’s the most dramatic shift.

The poor from South America don’t want to come to the United States of America anymore, they go further, either Europe or Canada. Trump supporters are cheerful about it, they don’t want them here. I am afraid they don’t see the big picture. If the poor don’t feel comfortable here, what makes you think the rich won’t feel the same?

Students are going back to their home country or study elsewhere. “We don’t need them,” they say, but most of us know that that’s not good.

As for me. I have hope, and I still believe in unicorns, dragons, and fairies. In the end, time flies and all of this all will be over soon. It just feels like a lifetime.

Blindfolded Hope