The expert, the scholar
Said that the vote by
House of Representatives
In passing the new health
Care bill was, “the biggest
Redistribution from the
Poor to the rich of any
Bill in history,” and this
Is the health care bill,
Apparently geared just
For the health care of
The rich and a very
Specific message for
The poor – “Go to Hell.”
And life is upside down
And America was estab-
Lished to kill off the less
Fortunate and to bless and
Favor those who have
Money as was ordained
By God, “BY GOD,
GODDAMMIT!!!” cried
Those on the way to
The White House.
And I just wanted to
Write a poem about
Nature and how beautiful
Life is all around us this
Very moment, and now
The whole idea has gone
To hell in a handbasket
Which, in all honesty,
I got at a Goodwill store.

The artist showed up at
The artists’ reception having
Been told that one of two
Entries was accepted into
The show only to find out
That neither was exhibited.
She wondered and then
Groused and then asked
What had happened and
her question was turned
Over to the final judge
Who had nothing to say
About the initial judging but
That judge said, “No way,”
To the artist and her husband.
It was decided the same day
The United States’ House of
Representatives voted to
Repeal and replace the
Affordable Care Act.
They said, “Finally,
Obama is out of way.”
It’s a fine new day
For the one percent of
One percent and who
Cares about what is
Right and what is just
And what is the right way
Even for an artist who
Was told that she had
A piece accepted only
To be cast aside with
A flip, “No way,”
And that appears to be
The unloving, unjust way
In America today.

A friend sent an article about two counties in Pennsylvania that switched from being traditionally Democratic to vote for Donald Trump and how Trump capitalized on use of the idea of “hope” to appeal to the voters.

Here is my reply:

Such a sad story — angry, angry people left behind, geographically, educationally, vocationally, completely out of step with scientific and technological advances, world-wide trade, Friedman’s “Flat Earth.” For them, it’s a “scorched earth,” and in coal country literally it is.

They are so angry at what they see as an out of control world economically. And because they see themselves as victims of such a world, they have put their “hope” in The Flim-flam Man and may, like so many other Trump supporters, look for scapegoats everywhere — government, Muslims, media, effete elites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, journalists, etc.

They have to have someone, something, anything to blame.

They certainly have been exploited by greedy coal companies and other corporations who used, abused and left them destitute and for dead and, in that sense, they are victims. Somehow they couldn’t see beyond the mountains surrounding their towns. It has made for the perfect storm of resentment, anger and rage, due, I believe, to endemic trends and patterns such as lack of education, lack of ambition beyond what was right in front of them, lack of family encouragement, lack of vision, contentment with the status quo, gullibility to and dependence on the “victimizing” exploiters.

I will use my children as an anecdotal example of adaptation to a rapidly changing economic, technological culture as you could just as easily cite your children and their accomplishments.

Matthew has a liberal arts education in elementary education from Hope College. While there he became an All-American swimmer and an All-American scholar. He had been swimming competitively from the age of nine. He then got his Masters in Management and Labor Relations (a program rated third in the country) from Michigan State. He taught for six years but saw that the future was in internet technology and he loved the mountains so he moved to Boulder and got an entry-level job (because of his education and his ability to sell himself) and has continued to move up and adapt to that rapidly changing environment. He has changed jobs often but has managed to stay ahead of the learning curve. He is married and the father of three children.

Rachel has a liberal arts education in communication and art from Hope College. She moved to Phoenix, got a job in marketing with an office furniture company, rose to marketing director, left after ten years to start her own business in marketing and “branding” for established companies, government agencies, start-ups and individuals who are looking to do things like publish books. She is adaptable and stays alert to trends in business and knows how to sell herself and her talent to changing markets. She has become an ultra-marathon trail-runner having just completed a thirty-five mile trail run through the Navajo reservation near the Four Corners. She is married and the mother of two children.

Stepson Jim graduated with an associate’s degree in machine tooling from Ferris State University, following the mechanical aptitude he inherited from his mother’s family. He worked as a journeyman mold maker for two years and then saw an opportunity to follow his father’s family tradition in the military. He paid his dues in combat and now is moving up the ladder using his mechanical skills and leadership skills (inherited from his father who was the CEO of a non-profit corporation) as a warrant officer, an area of the military requiring both mechanical and leadership skills. He is married and has one child and three step-children.

I use these as examples only because of my familiarity with them. What we have in these examples are good core values coupled with education and insight to trends and the willingness to follow the opportunities provided by the trends. They have had their finger in the air to see which way the wind of vocational change is blowing and how their skills could be used to carry them in the right direction.

Has it been easy for them in the workaday world? No. Are there economic guarantees? No. But, are they the people who feel hopeless, angry and betrayed who are written about in the article you sent? No. Do they see themselves as victims. No. And are they looking for scapegoats to blame for any misfortune. Certainly not.

All three have overcome extreme adversity having endured at young and vulnerable ages the tragic death of a parent. Anyone of those kids could have flipped out and taken a nosedive in life. How easily they could have seen themselves as victims but didn’t.

All three children (now adults 48, 43 and 38) were raised in family and social environments that celebrated gifts and fostered achievement but none was born with a silver spoon in his or her mouth. They got what education they have through scholarships and federal loans (all of which have been paid back). Matthew paid for his masters with money he earned as a stock broker, something he pursued and accomplished as a young adult because he and his mother had fun playing the market when he was a kid.

What’s the point? Family environment, encouragement, goals, achievements celebrated at every level along the way, fortitude, government support and last but not least, some luck.

By the way, I think the same could be said for both you and me. We are early generation children of immigrants, we came from home environments of solid core values and encouragement and we have experienced significant personal tragedy along the way.

I will forever be grateful to the programs of social security, Medicare and Medicaid. Without them, my mother would have been completely dependent on me and my sister for her survival.

Now back to the folks in the article. Those folks are now, because of the election and the party in power in Washington, going to see programs geared to help keep them alive cut, slashed, trashed and burned. Their already poor public education system is about to experience further devastation at the hands of Betsy DeVos.

For starters, we have to realize that these people written about in the article are all God’s children and deserve respect, compassion and the help needed to bring them up to speed, to not only survive but thrive. The basic federal programs have to be secured just to help keep them alive, but then, the monumental task of providing opportunities that will foster true hope have to be developed through cooperation and collaboration between the public and private sectors.

We as a country have our core values upside down and backward right now — we want to slash people programs and reward the corporations which have shown no wisdom regarding helping those who would purchase their products nor the inclination to invest in the advancement of those very people.

Further, we want to throw more money at a military twice and thrice the size of the military of any other first world country and larger than all of Europe combined.

We want to eliminate environmental safeguards and ways to save the planet not to mention the areas of the country addressed in the article which are polluted by acid run-off from strip mining.

We need a time of national repentance and a major paradigm shift.

One last example. We have a friend who at age 74, through no fault of his own but because of an unscrupulous tax consultant, finds himself financially destitute and completely dependent on federal programs of social security and Medicaid.

What will happen to Chuck if the Republicans have their way?

Bob

Don’t talk to me about equality
Until you understand what it’s like not to have it.
We live in a world in which women are held responsible for the crimes committed against them.
Today, little girls are taught self-defense instead of self-confidence.
While our brothers are playing outside,
We learn to never put our drink down.
Never trust a stranger.
Never walk alone.
There is a chronic lack of breathing room in this world for girls.
We grow up knowing that men will stare at us with hungry eyes,
So we shouldn’t be surprised when they decide that we are food;
Right?

There is little equality in being seen as ripe fruit,
Waiting to be picked by any man who so pleases.
Don’t talk to me about equality
Until my body is no longer a product sold for your
Consumption.

*Mackenzie Acree, seen below, is the granddaughter of a close friend of mine James Berbiglia, a PC(USA) minister and retired chaplain [LTC] United States Army. Mackenzie is a sophomore at 3,500 student body, O’Connor High School, San Antonio, Texas and ranks in the upper four percent of her class. Mackenzie’s poem will appear in a literary compilation titled The 2017 O’Connor High School Literary Magazine.

The trees by the pond
are lower than the trees by the street.
The trees by the street
are sprouting leaves but not the trees by the pond.
This all bodes a double treat.

Actually a triple treat,
because they experienced Arizona’s spring
before their upper-Midwest double spring.
It’s where east and west meet.

Although everything has a plus and a minus.
All these springs bring a triple threat to one’s sinus.

The man found himself in his
Old neighborhood
Where passersby lock the
Car doors realizing
They made a wrong turn and
Hope to get out of
Town before some random
Bullet crashes through
The window and into someone’s
Head. He stood close to
The wall of the church his family
Attended when he was
A young boy. He looked at little,
Colorful stones attached
To the wall. He looked up and
Down and all around
At all the beautiful stones
And then he took
one step back and then another
And another and
Soon he stood across the street
with his back
To a burned-out drugstore and
Before him on the wall
Of the church was a beautiful
Rainbow and a black
Jesus sat where what otherwise
Would have been
A pot of gold. He had a warm,
Loving, open-lipped
Smile on his face revealing
Dazzling white teeth
And he held out his up-turned,
Open hands with the
Wound in each palm. It was
As if Jesus
Was beckoning everyone who
Passed to come home
To the true pot of gold
Right there where
They were. The man stood and
Basked in the
Glory of Jesus in the ‘Hood
And then an alarm
Sounded. Frightened, he looked up
And down the street
For a police car before he awoke.

*idea from a meditation by Henri Nouwen

Deficit-financed, gift-to-the-rich
tax-plan has a nice ring to it,
except the ring is a siren of an
emergency ambulance screaming
down the street to get to the crime
scene before the coroner arrives
and then declares the victim dead
on arrival at a hospital down the
street.

Do things seem
	Out of order --
		Askew?
Things you wish to eschew –
			Kind of
	A jumbled up stew?
There are quite a few 
				
				Who 
Feel that way,             too!

What to do?  One flew 

Over of the cuckoo’s 

Nest. 

Some say protest
Is best.
Some just want to give it a 
				Rest.
It’s spring; the robins and 
           cardinals are building 
			Nests. 

We can build resistance
And vote our conscience
And wish this empire good riddance.

That's good, better and perhaps even
                                    Best.

It started in time immemorial
and for us with Washington
and continues with Trump

and includes everyone in
between – state and church
sanctified/salvific violence.

It’s May and Memorial Day
is coming, he thought as the
passed the cemetery in the

small town in which he once
lived. His son, upon seeing
the town for the first time,

called it Beaver Cleaver-ville
with a church on every corner –
a slice of white Americana –

sturdy, upright, industrious
people, descendants of sturdy,
upright, industrious immigrants

who believed they followed their
God to America, signed on for
the Civil War and every war

since then and who have walked
the streets every Memorial Day
in the biggest parade of the

year to salute fallen daughters
and sons and God and guns and
sanctified/salvific violence

and when the parade is over,
they take the flags back to
the chancels of the churches

where preachers proudly pontif-
icate on patriotism and in a
room in the basement of each

church Pilate and Caiaphas count
the collection, otherwise known
as the offering.

*the idea came from a meditation
on the destructive nature of
sanctified violence.

It’s May One.
May Day! May Day!
Today in this country.
But as he sits looking
Out on the rainy day,
He remembers walking
Through the Pine Grove
On campus, a transfer
Student, an insecure
Boy, somewhat belonging
But longing as he watched
Buddies and friends
Laughing and prancing
Along the walk, and
Then he saw the May Day
Maypole in the middle
Of the grove — female
Students in pastels, holding
Pastel ribbons and dancing
Around the pole. He stopped
And, for a moment, in his
Heart, he danced with them
Round and round and then
With books under his arm,
He headed back to the dorm
As the rain began to fall
That early spring day —
The first of May.