My dad was an incredible person. He enlisted in the army in October of 1941 and spent four years fighting for his country in World War II.
When he returned to the U.S., he could not find a job here, but eventually found employment with an overseas contractor and spent the years from 1945 until 1962 helping build the oil pipelines in North Africa and the Middle East.
The war taught him about inhumanity, his career taught him about humanity.
My dad taught me to appreciate other cultures, to embrace new experiences and most of all, he taught me to be kind — to live by the Golden Rule — “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Or as author Karen Armstrong writes, the accurate translation is, “Do not do unto others as you would not have them do unto you.”
During the presidential campaign that finally elected Donald Trump as president of the United States, I was positive that he would not win. The people of my country, my dad’s country, could not vote for someone as cruel, ignorant and vile as him.
I only needed one reason why this man should never be president, and I was done listening to anything he had to say. The day Trump imitated the reporter with a disability, I was positive that he had lost. But I was wrong.
The examples of how abhorrent this man is, how destructive, would be never-ending. He adds new deplorable behaviors every day. We are now unfazed when he tweets his insults or stumbles his way through a diplomatic event. It is becoming a normal way for a president of the United States to act.
Many people I know tell me to not get distressed by Trump's behavior. They tell me they just shake their heads and move on. I can’t do that.
I can’t sit by and say nothing as this man makes a mockery of our institutions and values assisted by powerful people in the GOP. I can’t listen to my fellow citizens cheer him on. I can’t sit by and watch as hard-won civil rights are jeopardized and act as if what our president says and does doesn’t matter. I can not tolerate the acceptance of this behavior and I can vote.
Every day I read about new abuses of the Golden Rule by our president, new ways that this administration is chipping away at our humanity. To say I am disappointed in my fellow citizens is an understatement. I am actually shocked that the most depraved among us have become the ones to emulate.
Then I realize that I have no real basis for my astonishment at what has become acceptable behavior, as I remember the nooses put out to greet our first black president. I am losing hope that anyone in the Republican Party will ever admit that this president has said or done anything reprehensible.
The longer we go without any powerful member of the GOP standing up for human decency, the harder it will be to repair the damage that Trump has left in his wake. I hope that 2020 is not too late.
Maureen Kilgour
Maureen Kilgour lives in Alpine.