Dear President Trump, Yesterday I went to a writing class for people who want to become better allies both through their writing and in real time encounters. I left quite humbled and feeling as though I have a lot of remedial work to do. One of the exercises involved writing a manifesto framed by the … Continue reading Make it so
Kindness
Cruel and usual
Dear President Trump, I’ve decided writing to you and sending us all loving-kindness meditations has become too important to me to let go of yet. Besides, it’s highly likely I would become impossible to be around if I didn’t have these letters as an outlet for my frustration, dismay, and anxiety over what’s going on … Continue reading Cruel and usual
Be careful who you hate
Dear President Trump, By now you should know that I’m someone who actually reads and is often affected by bumper stickers. Part of it is that they are usually short and pithy; easy to digest. More importantly, though, is that someone has chosen to adorn their car with one or more statements that will be … Continue reading Be careful who you hate
What have we done?
Dear President Trump, I’m not sure at what point I started crying. I think it was during the video of President Obama’s highlights in office the HP put together for his birthday today. Seeing him smiling and engaged, signing the marriage equality act into law, flipping burgers for people on the White House lawn, talking … Continue reading What have we done?
It’s so tempting to dehumanize dehumanizers
Dear President Trump, Laura flew to Atlanta last night to be with her brother and our brother-in-law (BIL) for several days. We now know that the bone cancer came from a tumor in one of BIL’s kidneys, but we don’t know yet whether it’s spread elsewhere. He started palliative radiation treatment yesterday for pain and … Continue reading It’s so tempting to dehumanize dehumanizers
The gift of feeling useful
Dear President Trump, I was wondering what you are up to this weekend so I asked Google and the website “Factba.se” told me you are at Trump National Golf Course with no meetings scheduled for another 23 hours and 15 minutes. I was hoping you’d be golfing so we could catch a bit of a … Continue reading The gift of feeling useful
Are you leading with love, or not?
Dear President Trump, Even though I don’t believe in a God figure that’s out there orchestrating things, it does seem like messages come in on cue pretty often. Of course humans like to glean meaning from pretty much anything so we are apt to interpret things as though they are messages meant for us when … Continue reading Are you leading with love, or not?
Self-appointed arbiters of personhood
Dear President Trump, This is not an original thought, but it hit me yesterday in a clearer way than ever before that religion is frequently used as a cudgel to deny certain people full personhood. The core messages of the central religious tracts we say are foundational to our country focus on treating others as … Continue reading Self-appointed arbiters of personhood
Please watch Fred Rogers’ 1969 congressional testimony
Dear President Trump, There are a lot of beautiful scenes in “Won’t you Be My Neighbor,” the movie about Fred Rogers, but my favorite covers his 1969 congressional testimony in support of continued funding for PBS. I was all of six years old at the time so I wasn’t aware that President Nixon wanted to … Continue reading Please watch Fred Rogers’ 1969 congressional testimony
Swamp creatures and Goodwill ambassadors
Dear President Trump, When it was first announced yesterday that Scott Pruitt had “resigned” my initial thought was that the EPA would be temporarily hobbled in its de-regulation and repeal melee. Later in the day, however, I realized it’s far more likely you cut bait on Scott P because all his blatant unethical B.S. was … Continue reading Swamp creatures and Goodwill ambassadors
Daily Trump Letters 