They traded Woke for Woes
This week was no picnic. So many folks I know got their heads in a boil over stuff coming down the pike from Washington. Some are just plain dumbfounded by their best buddy Trump’s not-so-surprisingly “whackadoodle” actions.
Being a friendly neighbor and decent listener, I’m a target for the disgruntled and bereaved, and this week I got myself an earful.
Bruce, a neighbor down the road whose home bears a large MAGA flag across the bay window, was out walking his Yorkshire Terrier and noticed me fiddling around with my sprinklers. He approached and said, “Hey-ya, pretty wild stuff going on, huh?”
“Yeah, I’d say so.” I said.
“What the hell? He’s lettin’ that Musk fella run the show. No way I signed up for that ****, did you?”
I figure Bruce just assumes I voted like he did. “Naw, I didn’t sign up for none of that,” I said.
He shook his head, looking quite defeated. “My son-in-law just lost his job for no ******* reason—AND health insurance—they got three kids to support!”
I didn’t know what to say other than tell him I was real sorry and repeat the old Irish proverb: “If God shuts one door, He opens another.”
Bruce scoffed. “I’m serious. It’s not like anyone 'round here can just snap their fingers and make a new job appear…the kids already live paycheck to paycheck.” I told him again I was really sorry and asked if there’s anything I could do to help, but we both knew there’s not.
He was but one of the many folks I ran into this week, all with their own worries and complaints about those they know who are getting kicked to the curb by the Musk-a-tears. A majority seem to have voted for Tump who was loud and clear about what he’d be doing. Now they all feel betrayed, like they traded Woke for woes.
Last night as I was reflecting on all this angst, I was reminded of something I was given to read when I was struggling with my own woes. It was an article written by Dr. A. J. Cronin, author of “The Citadel” who faced his own job loss which led him to become a very successful author and winner of the National Book Award. I’ve kept it in my keepsake box and I’m sharing a bit of it here for anyone who’s fearful or feeling like their head’s gonna be the next one on the old chopping block:
“God never takes without giving something in return. Life is no straight and easy corridor along which we travel free and unhampered, but a maze of passages through which we must seek our way, now lost and confused, now checked in a blind alley. But always, if we have faith, God WILL open a door for us, not perhaps one that we ourselves would ever have thought of, but one that will ultimately prove good for us.”
It's a truth I live by because it's a truth that's always true. Maybe pin it up on your fridge and remember, God is good even when it don’t quite look like it.