Speaking of cheating on the blog instead of coming up with something original, I was also considering the notion of instinct and its current popularity in our country. The entire concept owes its value to nature and, in some respects, is an absolutely admirable trait. When a mother protects her young, when people strive to improve their lot in life, when people respond viscerally to an injustice, when heroes disregard their own welfare to save others- these are all wonderful examples of instinct bearing out its value in a socially important manner.

 But there is another side to instinct that is as ugly as ugly can get. When people automatically blame others for their own problems, when people denigrate others because of their differences, when people take advantage of others' weaknesses because it creates an advantage for themselves, when people cheat because they can get away with it- these are examples of our instincts' serving against our best interests. 

 Everyone is familiar with sports teams whose talent is not as great as their opponents, but whose teamwork enables them to defeat another team with greater talent. It is always thus- people working together will defeat those who glorify individual achievements over teamwork. I write this as a notice to those who think America can get away with isolating itself away from a global economy. We need our trading partners as much as they need us. It is in our best interests to help bring their quality of life up to our level instead of trying to treat them as inferiors. Otherwise, they will team up on us and we will lose. 

 Robert Frost speaks directly to the issue of instinct in his classic poem "The White-Tailed Hornet". He expresses wondrous admiration of the insect's innate ability to fly out of its burrow like a bullet "And stab me in the sneeze-nerve of a nostril". It's pretty generous of Mr. Frost to admire an animal after such an attack, but then he gathers some second thoughts about the event. Here is the final stanza of Robert Frost's

 "The White Tailed Hornet"

Won't this whole instinct matter bear revision?

Won't almost any theory bear revision?

To err is human, not to, animal.

Or so we pay the compliment to instinct,

Only too liberal of our compliment

That really takes away instead of gives.

Our worship, humor, conscientiousness

Went long since to the dogs under the table.

And served us right for having instituted

Downward comparisons. As long on earth

As our comparisons were stoutly upward

With gods and angels, we were men at least,

But little lower than the gods and angels.

But once comparisons were yielded downward,

Once we began to see our images

Reflected in the mud and even dust,

'Twas disillusion upon disillusion.

We were lost piecemeal to the animals,

Like people thrown out to delay the wolves.

Nothing but fallibility was left us,

And this day's work made even that seem doubtful.

The key idea is that projecting negative images of other people actually projects reflections of ourselves.

This post is a bit of a cheat, because it largely consists of a comment I wrote in connection with a NYT opinion piece, "The Non-Politics Of Disability"; the NYT designated it as one of its picks. I wanted to post it here before losing the ability to retrieve it. Here goes : 


" I am 60 years old, I have cerebral palsy, and I've practiced law for 34 years. In my opinion the Trump/mocking incident exemplifies how our society views disability : we are all acculturated to treating the disabled with generosity of spirit and seeing ourselves as committed to realizing the equality of disabled people, hence the loud condemnation of Trump's behavior; on the other hand, there is still yet an element of our biological makeup which causes us to, at some perhaps subconscious level, turn away from or even be repulsed by those of us who are visibly or otherwise more obviously less biologically suitable to society, hence the lack of any real consequences to Trump's behavior, indeed among many in the electorate a quiet acceptance or at least acquiescence. Just as in matters of race, our society has a long way to go before truly extending equality to all."  

Rereading it, I think another, more cogent way to state my position might be: Our animal instincts cause us to reject (visibly) handicapped people, even if only subconsciously, whereas we are culturally conditioned to overcome that revulsion. The result is that most people are helpful and kind, and only a minority (evidently including our President) allow their ancient animal instincts to control their reactions. 

It was quite surprising to me that so many Trump voters did not give dispositive weight to his behavior, his seeming inability to reign in his animal animus to the disabled reporter, or worse yet his unwillingness to do so. On the other hand, maybe they did. 

Everyone should go to the whitehouse.gov website, then to the We The People page that's there, and sign the Petition calling on Trump to release his tax returns. There's another Petition calling for divestment of his businesses as the proper remedy for violation of the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

We cannot overstate the significance of President Trump's attempts to bypass the press. Not only does it show an overt disdain for a difference of opinion, it reveals the man child's lack of critical thinking skills. When it comes to comparing him to Barack Obama in this regard- facing difficult questions in a public setting- his lack of maturity is astounding. Obama handled it like an adult, thinking on his feet and wrestling with difficult issues in front of us all. Trump hides from every bit of it and cries foul at every bit of criticism. I expected more from my son when he was ten.
Trump has always been the boss throughout his career. He has never had to answer to anyone and it shows. He always has the final say (Hello Twitter), and what he says, goes. At least that has clearly been the arc of his personal life and he obviously thinks that he can run the country the way a CEO runs a business. The truly frightening part is that he wants to create the perception that the truth is what he says it is. Just as frightening is that almost all congressional  Republicans are accepting that idea.
Trump admires Vladimir Putin because Putin represents the strongman/dictator type and Trump fancies himself as that type as well. This constitutes Trump's fundamental delusion. After a lifetime of being surrounded by yes men and easy women, he truly does consider himself superior to most people, because everything has always gone his way or he had an easy excuse to explain why not. He probably acknowledges a few equals but no superiors.
He claims to have won the popular vote; he claims to have knowledge that no one else has; he claims to have more money/success than he actually has; he denies video proof of his lies. Psychologically, Donald Trump is not a healthy person. Behaviorally speaking, he is a role model for no one.

I have a list of questions for our new president that will continue to grow over time.
1. What was the most difficult thing you have ever done?
2. You speak repeatedly of your superior genetic makeup. How did you fail to make it into the military?
3. How many abortions have you paid for?

My new eyes render the present clearly and clean but I can still see the past, and they still cry for my father and my brother.