Dear President Trump,

LOL – I almost wrote “Dear President Tramp.” It actually works pretty well if we consider the verb form; “ to walk heavily or stomp about.” You don’t do anything cautiously, let alone thoughtfully – you’re a stomper, for sure. Then there’s the noun form, which refers to someone who “travels from place to place on foot in search of work or as a vagrant or beggar.” Arguably we can’t assign this one to you right now, but if justice prevails, your future situation will be more that of a beggar or vagrant. Or way better yet, locked up. One of the synonyms for “tramp” is “derelict” and here’s that definition: “shamefully negligent in not having done what one should have done” and this, I swear, is the example sentence given by the online dictionary “he was derelict in his duty to his country.” Dang. Nailed it. And after only the slightest bit of circuitousness. J

Onto other topics of interest (to me and not you)…. Even when it was fresh all day yesterday, I still found myself uttering both Band-aid apologies and not stepping up with a proper apology when I actually had messed up and there was a consequence for someone else. Of course if addressing apologies was going to be easy, it wouldn’t make for a good Lent choice, but still, it was humbling to see just how much on autopilot I am with these things.

The other thing to tell you is that it’s March 7^th and it’s snowing (and sticking) again here in Seattle this morning. The daytime temperature has been below normal for over a month and there are still patches of snow on the ground around here from the last storm. Down at the VA, the filthy piles of icy snow ringing the parking lot seem like they are never, ever going to melt. The point is that we are clearly starting to tangibly experience climate change even in one of the most temperate parts of the country. The canaries in the coalmines of the desert Southwest, the forests of California, and the wetlands of Houston all perished quite some time ago. Yet, despite so many harsh climate change related realities hitting every part of the country (and the world), you want to make coal King again and roll back a bajillion other environmental protections, which means countless more canaries, and people, are destined to die ugly deaths.

Actually, “derelict” is far too kind a word for the likes of you.

May we be safe from leaders who lie for votes. Duh.
May we be happy to hold on and do what damage control we can.
May we support leaders who are working on election and campaign reforms.
May we prioritize peace as we face whatever is coming at us.

Sincerely,
Tracy Simpson