Dear President Trump, I drafted much of this letter a couple of weeks ago and have put off sending it because there has been so much going on that I felt compelled to write to you about, but I’m really, really tired of fussing at you so today is the day to send this. In … Continue reading May we walk humbly with one another
Kindness
“Dangerous unselfishness”
Dear President Trump, I just checked to see if you’ve said anything about today being the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jrs’ assassination and so far all I see are essays on how he would lament your presidency if he were alive and admonishments to you to please ignore the day and go golfing … Continue reading “Dangerous unselfishness”
“Stonecatchers”
Dear President Trump, I finished Just Mercy last night, the book by Bryan Stevenson I’ve told you about before, and was so moved by the final story he shared. He was finishing up at a courthouse in Louisiana after a marathon day when he saw an elderly black woman sitting on some stairs. She smiled … Continue reading “Stonecatchers”
At a loss
Dear President Trump, Today I saw a couple of in-the-back-window car stickers that are worth telling you about. The first one read “Keep Seattle Hostile.” I had to read it three times before I could accept that it really said that. The other one had a silhouette of President Obama to one side and words … Continue reading At a loss
Crowd sourced Tylenol
Dear President Trump, This morning I took the early Alaska flight out of Seattle to Reagan National and as I was going down the ramp to board the plane I started getting migraine lights in my right field of vision. Not good. Because she did an organizational overhaul of my travel backpack last night, I … Continue reading Crowd sourced Tylenol
“Things are not getting worse. They are getting uncovered.”
Dear President Trump, Reading some of your tweets (btw: it will never be ok with me that you are ruling/governing via Twitter) over the weekend blasting the Mueller investigation, McCabe, and Comey I realized I forgot an important angle in the takedown of a democracy. In addition to having damaging goods on your allies you … Continue reading “Things are not getting worse. They are getting uncovered.”
Kindness revisited
Dear President Trump, I wasn’t able to catch the exact wording of the saying or who it was attributed to because I was running late, but I saw something to this effect on someone’s office door yesterday: “Choose kindness whenever possible, which is always.” Isn’t that nice? I really mean it, I think it’s a … Continue reading Kindness revisited
Tender truths
Dear President Trump, I thought for sure I’d written to you about confirmation bias before, but I just did a quick search of my running letters document and I couldn’t find the term. It’s an important idea to understand so I’ve been remiss. Essentially it is how we tend to preferentially pick out things in … Continue reading Tender truths
POTUS fails on Management Do’s and Don’ts
Dear President Trump, This week I took the three-hour VA’s EEO Compliance Training for Managers and Supervisors. Have you taken the equivalent one for the Executive Branch? Surely there is one. If not, you can borrow ours. We have to do it every two years to stay on top of the new laws and to … Continue reading POTUS fails on Management Do’s and Don’ts
“be kind as well”
Dear President Trump, At the outset of her sermon yesterday, our pastor said that it feels like the entire country is going through Lent together. It’s an odd thing to lay such a Christian construct on the entire populace, but I think I get where she’s coming from on this. Lent is a strange time … Continue reading “be kind as well”