The Writing on the Wall

A framed sign on my friend’s bathroom wall says, “Sprinkle kindness like confetti.” Her kids see that reminder with every trip to the toilet, every reach for a toothbrush, every step into a warm tub.  I imagine “Be kind” is written in cheerful crayon colors at the top of the list of guidelines in almost every classroom in the country.  At least, I hope it is.

“Be Respectful” and “Think before you act” are usually on those lists as well, crucial guidelines for living, although they often blend too easily in a sulky child’s mind into the “blah, blah, blah” of adult-speak following an incident of shoving, mean words, tears, and bruised feelings.

There are plenty of axioms for behavior that we teach our kids, all embraced under the wise umbrella of “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you,” but the Biblical “unto’s” and clichéd familiarity of the phrase blur its significance. How could it not after thousands of years of repetition? Still, it is a recipe worth remembering as we choose our words, actions… and candidates.

Although the election season has barely begun, via one screen or another, it has assailed us with images of intolerance, threats, lies, and vile language that not so long ago would have cost a child a paddling, loss of privileges, or at least a sit in the thinking chair with a well-soaped mouth.  And yet, he who released that swirl of demons, the primary perpetrator and GOP front-runner, is a former president charged with a litany of criminal acts. We have already witnessed the resulting cruelties and violence and must wonder if children feel less compelled to act kindly toward others when they see such behavior from grown-ups. 

How would any of us “others” feel if someone mocked and imitated the way we walk or move? If someone minimized, even slammed, our loss of a loved one? If someone attacked us because of gender, color, sexual orientation, beliefs, or native country? In what universe is that worthy leadership?

If I were a child in school and such an exchange occurred, presumably an adult would intervene.  Perhaps, putting an arm around my shoulders and that of my tormenter, the grown up would remind us of the school code, and ask the bully, “How would you feel if she did that to you?” Do unto others…

I have a few friends who support the presumptive Republican nominee, a position I cannot fathom. How can retribution as a platform draw millions of followers? Where many of the MAGA Republicans are Evangelicals, I wonder if they have given thought to what Jesus, a Golden Rule advocate, might think of the venom and assaults on the multitudes of “others”- women, Muslims, people of color, Jews, and the LGBTQ+ community.

In despair, my mind leaps to actual witch hunts, pogroms, and Japanese internment camps. To all the “others” who have suffered before in the tumbling, divisive, hate-fueled wake of blame and scape-goating. When I learned about these heinous episodes in history as a child, I was comforted by thinking they were in the past, that we’d learned from them, that they wouldn’t happen again… but the words and acts of hate have not changed. What will happen after the election if policy is driven by that hate?

As we lurch toward November with a potential candidate who has crumpled and tossed his copy of the school code into a trashcan, it is critical that we, the people, remember our children are watching: their future rights and planet hang in the balance. May we always speak up for others… and vote.