I try to keep quiet unless asked, but the way things are coming to life these days I feel I cannot keep silent.While driving along on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, I found myself behind a truck with a rather large, rude and considered by some, vulgar bumper sticker.
I didn’t feel angry. I felt saddened; saddened by the crass and crudeness of such a display, lacking any type of dignity and class. First of all, I know we have “freedom of speech” and that’s all well and good, but can’t we display our feelings in just a bit more of a considerate and intelligible manner? I mean, someone thought of this sticker and someone printed it , co-signing saying “yeah, this is a good idea”, and then someone is/was selling it. So now it’s on the back of someone’s truck, who obviously feels some kind of way about our President. Perhaps he or she disagrees with some of his governing, leadership or executive decisions. And that’s fine, but when we disagree with someone do we have to be disrespectful? This man is the President of the United States. Like it or not, he holds the highest position in the land. Doesn’t the Office of the President at the very least deserve a modicum of respect if not the person holding it? I would think it would deserve at least the same respect one would give their boss regardless of whether or not he agreed with their actions and decisions. Never before have I witnessed such disrespect of the office than while it has been occupied by the first Black man to hold it. As unprecedented levels of disrespect have unfolded in the last seven years, I am convinced… that the election of our nation’s first African-American man to the office of President didn’t signify how far we’ve come through racial barriers, rather it’s proven to have unleashed deep-seated, long-harbored sentiments of masses of people we took for granted didn’t exist anymore. I have seen some of the most disdainful and disgusting depictions of the President and the First Lady and I’m sure there have been many more.
Unfortunately to a disappointingly large number of people, regardless of his success in office, if he single-handedly rescued their entire family from a burning building, they would still despise him because of what’s in their hearts; void of basic human levels of decency and respect. But all is never lost. I’m a “hope springs eternal” kind of girl, and I still pray and believe that “one day”, a higher standard of humanity will prevail.
