The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.1
The nation lost some of its love, faith, and life yesterday. For reasons now left to historians to understand, the Democratic candidate received roughly 16 million fewer voters than President Biden earned in 2020. One may quibble that figure does not control for deaths, but neither does it factor in Republican cross-overs or new voters who turned 18 during the past four years. The 45th and now 47th president received roughly four million fewer votes.2 The Biden voters didn’t switch parties, did they just stay home? Racism? Misogyny? Likely, but the result was a clear message of indifference.
This is not a political blog, at least I never wanted it to be. But this one time I must put on the public record that the nation I served in uniform has, largely through indifference, chosen a dark and lonely path for us all. I am an older, heterosexual, white man. The country has always been optimized for those who share my northern European heritage; at the expense of others.
To not make a statement of faith on this would be to perpetuate the national indifference to those who do not look, worship, or love like me. My commitment is to each individual’s life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If that makes me the wrong kind of American3 according to the incoming government, so be it. They know where to find me, I’m not going anywhere. I stand with those they will “other” in the coming years. My transgender colleagues. My Jamaican immigrant neighbors. My gay and lesbian friends and family. They and so many others are what makes this country great, and always have.
It’s amazing why we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back.4
Elie Wiesel in U.S. News and World Report 27 October 1986
Subsequent numbers made this instead one of the closest races in U.S. history. My main message remains.
Watch the movie “Civil War” for this reference.
Doc Rivers, among others. 2020. https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/doc-rivers-we-keep-loving-this-country-and-this-country-does-not-love-us-back
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This white, female former neighbor and mother of two girls feels this in her bones. So sad