This morning, I tried to answer a question that I’ve been mulling over in my mind for the past few days. I’ve asked myself how a truly genuine and still bold and courageous candidate for being “the leader of the free world” (someone believing in their ability of being an effective U.S. President) might want to address the public about the crisis I see happening going on. And what’s below is what I came up with. I wrote it, trying to be as “unscripted as possible”, writing “from the heart”, but given that it is in written form now, I fully appreciate that (especially in our current times) nothing will ever be as genuine as unscripted remarks–one of the many reasons Trump will always have an edge with people who have been woken up enough (by their anger).
Anyway, here goes–and I would appreciate feedback of any sort.
wow, this is hard
today, I’m asking for a favor
and it’s so damn difficult
because you’re used to being manipulated and lied to
and I’m afraid that I might not get through
because of all the lies in the past
and what I’m asking is hard for you as well
because of all the distrust, and all the anger
maybe you listen and think: bullshit! this guy’s a phony, too, he’s not angry!
I know you want the truth
and I guess that you may feel that someone who’s not angry, who’s talking calmly, just screams: LIES!
as I said, what I’m asking you is hard
because it goes so against what you’ve learned to do
to protect yourself from the lies and manipulation:
you built a wall around your mind and heart
what I’m asking you is to open yourself
maybe on the off-chance that what I’m telling you is the truth
I’m asking you to listen with your heart
and I get it: that sounds crazy
and it’s f-ing difficult to trust
I, too, am afraid to just say what’s in my heart
because I then feel weak and unprotected
and anything you might yell back at me will hit me, deep inside
but I believe I’m ready now
to give up on that flawed sense of being safe
by having a wall of my own,
by not letting anything in,
and by pretending to be hard as rock
and I hope you can believe that I’m being honest with you
because we’re running out of time
we’re living in a system that is based on selling us “news” for profits
and maybe when it started it got the job done
of informing people about what was going on
but then the people running the system found something out:
the more you tell people they need to be afraid, the more it sells
that was how news turned into stories and then into lies
and by selling us stories of how this group or that group is bad
and how we need to fear each other or even hate each other
the system became powerful,
but it also became blind
and i’m not saying that the problems don’t exist
they’re real, man:
people are living in conditions so much worse than a couple decades ago
working multiple jobs, and still not able to make ends meet
families not holding together
but you know what the real problem is?
we live in a country where so many people don’t get the respect they need
and where so many are being denied the dignity of a free people
instead, people at the top and corporations are making decisions
about what we eat
about how we are being educated in schools
about what we can see and hear on TV
about what we can find on search engines and see on social media
but the system is so blind it didn’t see the change coming
now, if you’re still with me, if you feel that what I have said so far rings true, even if just a little bit
I’m asking your for one more favor
and that one might be even harder
because we’re not only lied to
we’ve gotten so used to that
we have created a lot of armor around our minds
because we feel it’s so damn dangerous to let anything in, and move us deep inside
maybe you’re angry about this whole mess, and rightly so
the anger is telling you that how things have been going is really bad
and that we need to change, all of us,
because things can’t go on like this
what I’m asking may sound stupid and maybe also impossible
but think about it, please!
I’m asking you to forgive,
first and foremost to forgive yourself
for anything you’ve said and done over the past couple years that, if you’re honest, you think hurt someone
when you look back, I hope you will see that most of that came out of anger
and the anger has played an important part
all the anger was necessary to wake us up to the fact that we’re being played
and then I want to ask you to forgive everyone else as well
all the people who said or did something that made you angry, or that hurt you
if you need a reason, other than that without forgiveness, we cannot move forward, consider this:
on our way to this point we had to go through many periods of pain and suffering
and each time, we learned a bit about how people sometimes treat others poorly
and each time, more or less, we were given the chance to overcome this
so the anger and distrust and fear and even hatred are part of the process
they tell us that we need to grow
but it’s important to understand that anger and hatred are not the solution
they’re really just the signal that we need to grow
and it’s on us to figure out how to do that
in the past, we often resolved this by having a war
and then the anger spills really out, and it turns into a bloody fight over who’s right
and I fear that if we don’t learn how to grow otherwise, this next fight will be the last
because we’re going to kill every human being on the planet
or if not, we’re going to make it uninhabitable for those who remain standing
so I’m asking you to forgive yourself and everyone else
because I hope you can see that anger and distrust and hatred were all part of a necessary process
so you didn’t do anything wrong by feeling that way
but that continuing on that path also doesn’t look like the solution we need, not this time at least
I’m asking you to look deep, deep into your heart
and trust that what you find there is not malevolence
and instead what you find is that you care
you care so much that you were willing to hurt those who you see don’t care the way you think is right
and you want to tell everyone what you care about
so that’s the last thing I’m asking of you
to find the courage to tell people what you care about
in a way that makes you vulnerable, and not hard as a rock
we can move on, all suited up in armor for battle,
and on that path lies, so I think, another war
or we can move on understanding that,
no matter how much I currently do not understand what people “on the other side” care about
it is worth understanding,
and that if we can all lower our guard, and listen
we don’t have to kill each other in the end