Is it too hard to show empathy and compassion, with a heartfelt, food for the soul, patriotic apology? For this President, maybe it is too hard….sadly…
I remember my father saying often when I was around 5 years old, earliest memories, “President Roosevelt loved all of us, not just some of us…” I don’t remember much during those chaotic years following WWII, but do remember Dad’s loud confident and often scary voice. I remember his bellowing oratory, just like a hardened angry old Master Chief Boatswains Mate who survived Pearl Harbor and the Pacific War would sound like. He was sure as his soul was speaking to him that President Roosevelt loved all of us, not just some of us…
You know, President Roosevelt was struck with polio too, just like me and so many from my generation. President Roosevelt loved all of us, not just some of us… President Roosevelt loved me!
With great sadness in my heart, a new hole in my old soul, and tears streaming down my face, I now ask myself this question for the first time in my 74th year in this life as a patriot of this great country. “Does the President of the United States love all of us, or just some of us?”
As a 73 year old born July 6, 1946; senior citizen, US Navy Vietnam era veteran, college educated, retired corporate executive and public servant. And like so many other boomers who were born into war, suffer from serious mental illness, and all sorts of stuff we happily make adjustments and heal as a single All American Family. We are privileged to be alive to make a difference for all of us, not just some of us. Starting with our fathers and grandfathers, we fought the wars after our Dad survived Pearl Harbor, WWII Pacific War and finally the Korean War.
The tears flow uncontrollably down my face everytime I return to reading Dad’s US Navy medical records from 1936-1960. I do this to be reminded of the extreme and inhuman sacrifice of veterans of all wars. To be reminded of not only the physical damage, loss of limbs, and crushing brain injuries, but far worse, the emotional damage that continues to this very day in all of us, not just some of us. My soul cries out for those who serve America and the families who serve too.
We need a President who loves all of us, not just some of us. We need a President who goes to work for all of us in America, not just some of us. More than anything else, we need a President who can feel the humility and humanity of all America’s people, not just some of us. President Trump needs to learn how to love all of us…not just some of us… Then, only then, is there hope for empathy and compassion for all of us, not just some of us…
