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.

Dancer in the light

When I was 10 years old, I was a dancer, a real dancer. The New Orleans Cerebral Palsy Center decided to experiment with dancing as a therapeutic tool, and I was selected to be the test subject. So every Saturday for about 2 months I went downtown to the Arthur Murray dance studio to learn how to dance the waltz, the cha – cha, and the tango (!) with my instructor. I thoroughly enjoyed it and felt like I was good at it, the way confident 10 year-olds feel good at everything they do. Then, one Saturday afternoon I got all dressed up, went to the studio, and we went through our now-routine moves, only this time we did so before a ballroom full of people – doctors, physical therapists, and a TV crew, which was there to broadcast on the Saturday evening news the promising potential of dance therapy as a fun alternative to rigorous (and exhausting) physical therapy for increasing flexibility (and decreasing spasticity).  I remember the camera lights; I remember the vastness of the ballroom dance floor fringed with dressed up adults; I remember just how easy it was and knowing that I was doing everything right, spinning around like a real dancer. On that afternoon, I was a Star.

Sometimes I need God.

hope

The Bible is a collection of writings documenting man's search for God and for responses from the biblical God, who throughout recorded life has resisted communicating with humanity, as though history is a long game of endurance. If this is true, then the lesson to humanity is that it must endure, we must all endure : thus so is Hope defined.

Christianity is wrong if it seeks to assert that its scriptural writers, and the stories they tell, are privileged over all others' quests for God. Christianity has a critical truth to convey, albeit not the specific truths, through the specific stories, chosen and insisted upon by the church :  that men can have a part of the divinity they seek. Jesus is God in the same way that righteous men throughout history, and now, are God. Maybe the concept of life lived in harmony with the principles announced by Jesus IS God.

Faith that a life lived righteously is its own reward; such is the meaning of salvation.  Endurance of this faith, through endurance of life, requires but also provides the hope that through the lives we live in the way we live them we will learn, know, some of the joy which comes with realizing, and accepting, that our lives contribute to the body of goodness and beauty in life - natural and human righteousness - that is God.