HE LATEST UNSEEN ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

By Edwin Cooney

I could be wrong, I often am, but we’re so wrapped up in either our justification or condemnation of President Trump’s “no tolerance” when it comes to illegal immigration, that we’re missing the real issue  — or, as they say, “the elephant in the room.”

Of course, everyone loves drama. Sadly, even more, too many of us (especially President Trump) get a huge emotional release born of the twin dramas of resentment and hatred. In fact, the president has cut his political teeth on those two negative attitudes. Of course, a healthy dash of political resentment has always kept the body politic of our free society running. The danger comes when everything political is about resentment and hatred.

Both Republicans and Democrats share the blame, to a substantial degree, for the people’s confusion on illegal immigration. The wealthy have more than once taken advantage of the vulnerable status of immigrants and hired them for peanuts. At one point, Caesar Chavez’s United Farm Workers fought the influx of too many illegal immigrants. Generation after generation, Americans have resented and resisted immigrants going back to the 1790s. The issue against immigrants wasn’t about their work ethic, it was about their religion or even with their potential lack of loyalty. Prohibition was largely the result of anti-German feelings during World War I.  Even though America needed to bring large numbers of immigrants to the empty plains to resist claims to wide open western territories by Native Americans, Mr. and Mrs. America have nonetheless been generally pretty consistent in their nativism.

Thus, in this country, we are divided over the President’s “no tolerance” policy. After all, we are supposed to be the leader when it comes to “family values.” For many of us, this observer included, it was quite satisfying to see President Trump retreat last Wednesday, June the 6th, and sign that executive order disallowing the deliberate separation of children from their parents.

However, the elephant in the room is the cause and effect issue that no one is talking about.

The president insists that these immigrants are leaving their homelands because they want a piece of the American pie so badly that they’re willing to steal to get it. However, there is a lot of evidence that the real cause of this mass immigration has to do with conditions in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. These societies are essentially out of control at home. It appears that some of those Latin American governments are impotent when it comes to protecting the civil and legal rights of their people.

If such is the case, then it seems to me that the heart of the problem is a diplomatic one. In other words, it is an international political crisis. The solution isn’t to punish El Salvador or Guatemala or Honduras. It seems to me that they must be engaged to become a part of the solution to this crisis.

If Latin and South American governments are in fact riddled with drug cartels and gangsters of other types, isn’t it time to jointly address the problem through the United Nations or the Organization of American States?

Consider for just a moment or two what these illegal immigrants have to go through. How many times in our lives have you and I traversed the geographical territory of two or three countries in an effort to find safety and perhaps even prosperity? Can this effort be laid entirely at the blame of criminal greed? What kind of a message is 21st Century America sending to future generations?

I’m convinced that the average person does everything he or she can do to avoid the inconveniences of a trek across hostile territories which inevitably subjects a person to banditry, rape and even murder. How many of us would risk what they risk completely for the sake of greed? I insist — damn few of us!

Somehow, the cry of illegality when it comes to these people’s attempt to flee terror rings a little hollow when one considers the defiances in our own history. There have been numerous times when Americans have deliberately contradicted our own political  principles and even defied the Constitution of the United States when it suited us. In the 1850s, for example, southerners who insisted that the federal government had no business interfering with states’ rights were more than pleased when Presidents Fillmore, Pierce and Buchanan supported the Fugitive Slave Law in defiance of the laws and rights of the Northern states which sought to protect slaves living within their borders. Even more to the point, Prohibition was as constitutional as the National Rifle Association’s beloved Second Amendment, but it was successfully defied and revoked by largely law-loving and abiding “true blue” Americans.

The argument that Latin American immigration is bad because, or when, it’s illegal misses the point. Separating parents from their children, or deporting them to their native lands is like insisting that those who run from a fire ought to be sent back into the building because they escaped the flames by running rather than walking!

As I see it, it’s outrageously immoral to punish people because they’re frightened! What do you suppose President Trump would do if he were frightened? Would he worry about legalities if his physiognomy was “in the ringer?”

Nuts!!! 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY

TALK ABOUT FAKE NEWS — GUESS WHO IS ITS HEAD HONCHO?

By Edwin Cooney

Okay, I’ll risk it! The biggest fake news story in recent times is the Trump/Kim drama. Sure, the existence of nuclear weapons is real enough, but the story behind the story is nonsense.

In the first place, Americans have been historically hornswoggled about North Korea by both Republicans and Democrats since 1953. Richard Nixon campaigned three times for president insisting that there had been peace in Korea since Ike put Kim Il-sung in his place by privately threatening him with nuclear destruction. Second, President Clinton, President Carter, President George W. Bush, and President Obama all allowed themselves to be snookered by generations of the Kim gangster family that rules North Korea.  In 1994, in 2005, and throughout the entire Obama administration, American administrations had been the victim of whiny threats coming from Pyongyang. Finally, “Dealer-in-Chief” Trump is now insisting that he and “Rocket Man” (Kim Jong-un) have a workable understanding that will lessen tension on the Korean peninsula.

I’ve been accused by some readers of being naive regarding the significance of the threats emanating from North Korea. I’m convinced, however, that my analysis is absolutely on target. In their use, nuclear weapons are deadly. Ah, but the existence of nuclear weapons is a hell of a bargaining tool. You may never intend to use nuclear weapons. However if you never tell the world you’ll never use them, the world will be scared to death wondering if you really might.

As for North Korea being a Communist state, whether it is or isn’t is quite irrelevant. North Korea isn’t really a Communist state in the true sense of the word. The Kim family has exploited Communist doctrine because it ideologically fits the Kim family’s generational goal to maintain power. Essentially, they insist that they’re part of the worldwide movement to advance Communism when their real ambition is primarily to plunder for the family’s social, political and financial benefit. Someone, I’ve forgotten who it was, once observed that the same was true of Soviet Communism, that Soviet Communism was merely state-sponsored autocracy no different than the rule of the Czars. Only the Chinese, it has been observed, really and truly have attempted to practice pure Communism. In this analysis lies the basis of my own assessment of what’s really going on.

Between 1945 and 1991, Americans were indoctrinated to believe that we were in a struggle between “Godless Communism” and “God-fearing moral freedom.” On the surface of that struggle, it seemed that both sides were determined to live and die for their core principles. Another important factor in our analysis of Soviet or World Communism was our belief that Communism was a religion rather than an ideology. What we failed to understand was that there’s a difference between a belief system and a religious or a spiritual orientation.

Belief in God, Buddha, or Allah is neither contrived nor ideological, but based on faith.  Belief in human ideology is both contrived and conditional. (An agrarian society for instance has little interest in capitalism.)

As I see it, where the rubber meets the road is what whole societies are willing to both live and die for. Twentieth and twenty-first century history teaches us that Communists, who are primarily materialists, exist for material things. Lacking a spiritual dimension they tend to prefer living to dying. Of course, patriotic Soviets fought bravely against Hitler’s Nazis during World War II as did we. However, the decision-makers at the highest levels of Soviet society ultimately preferred the preservation of their vacation dachas to the deadly risk of a nuclear confrontation with the United States over North Korea, Berlin, Cuba or even North Vietnam.

As for North Korea, it is unlikely that it could get involved in a nuclear exchange without seriously affecting the well-being of China which has been its primary support system since Kim Il-sung crossed the 38th parallel on Sunday June 25th, 1950.

I’m convinced that North Korea’s insistence on building a nuclear capacity was designed, at the least, to scare the hell out of those “capitalist running dogs.” Obviously, Kim Jong-un, upon taking power in 2011, made the decision to escalate a nuclear program with the full compliance of both Communist China and the former KGB agent Vladimir Putin.

Having created this frightening scenario, Kim has lured President Trump into the same concessions as Presidents Clinton, G.W. Bush and Obama. The agreement signed last Tuesday, June 12th, 2018, has no more guarantees and understandings in it than the 1994 and 2004 agreements. Yet, Kim Jong Un has moved one step closer to dominance over the Korean Peninsula than ever before.

As for President Trump, it’s hard to grasp what is in it for him except the immediate historical precedence of the first ever meeting between an American president and a North Korean leader. What’s even more puzzling is the degree to which President Trump’s Republican Party, which has traditionally been fiercely anti-Communist, seems to be going along with him. My guess is that had Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton or Barack Obama made such concessions to one of the world’s most ruthless and murderous dictators, the GOP elephant would be fighting mad.

Hence the fake news! I insist that neither Chinese, Russians, or indeed the American taxpayer will be likely to approve a nuclear exchange between North Korea and the United States. Too many very powerful people would lose everything they have including their very lives should such a confrontation take place.

If you are looking for a genuinely scary international crisis, that could come if the Shiites get control of a nuclear weapons system. For Shiites, death is as much of a reward as a military victory. Now you would be talking about the possibility of Armageddon. Then it would be time to be very, very afraid. Over the past ten days, the real news has been President Trump’s contempt for the top leaders of democratically elected societies along with his admiration for Putin and Kim. Progress in our relationship with North Korea could conceivably be real news over time, but for now, it’s no news at all.

Therefore, to the degree that it’s yet to become news and not yet news, it is fake news.

What say you, Mr. President?

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY 

JUST FOLLOWING THE SUN! *

By Edwin Cooney

This coming September 1st, 2018, a Saturday, as the sun approaches the autumnal equinox, you and I, in our homes and in our hearts, will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first student to our beloved campus. His name was Samuel Stilwell. We know little about him. We wonder if he was known as Sam, a grizzled and perhaps embittered Civil War veteran, or was he called Sammy, a friendly, frolicking happy little boy? Whichever he was, Sam Stilwell was the first citizen of the Empire State whose parents would make a heart wrenching decision each fall over the next 150 years. That decision was to send perhaps their most vulnerable child in some cases hundreds of miles away from home to get an education locally available to that child’s sighted brothers and sisters. For each set of parents and for each child the experience was a little different. For some it was pretty hard to bear, while for others the adjustment came more easily. In fact, for most of us, returning to school following each Labor Day weekend became almost a natural part of our lives. So let us remember for just a few minutes what it was like and what it meant to attend NYSSB.

It is the Tuesday after Labor Day and the vehicle you’re riding in slows down to turn in to NYSSB’s 50 acre campus. Simultaneously, you’re suddenly aware of two contrasting feelings. There’s the lump in your throat because you’ll soon say goodbye to mom and dad. Down in your middle, however, there’s that feeling of excitement and even anticipation for what’s just ahead. As you enter your assigned dormitory, you’re hit by two immediate senses. First, there’s that echo bouncing off the bare cement walls that somehow had escaped your awareness over the summer months at home. Second, there’s that smell and sense of cleanliness about the place. It’s almost the refreshing smell of a new book or automobile.

Before you know it, you’ve been greeted by a houseparent and assigned a room with two roommates. If you’re the first to arrive, you get to pick either the bed by the door, in the middle or by the window. You also get your pick of two drawers in the six drawer dresser. As for your roommates, although a close friend or friends would be preferable, you realize you’ll adjust because those friends will be very close by.

Your sadness immediately after your goodbyes is steadily diminished as your friends arrive in approximately 15 to 20 minute segments of time. There’s much to talk about. You exchange happy summer memories about birthdays, usually birthday presents, vacations, as well as of your and their brothers and sisters. Then there’s the subject of the latest hit songs on the radio. Eventually, you meet and greet the new girl or boy and you’re especially sensitive about her or his homesickness. If the afternoon is bright, you go outside to the playground to swing or just sit under the trees continuing to share your summer experiences.

All too soon it’s supper time. Supper that first night consists of potato salad, baked beans, minced ham or perhaps egg and olive sandwiches, fruit cocktail, a cookie and a glass of milk. You’re greeted once again by familiar waitresses named Bonarigo, Sawyer, Carolonza, Bergman and  perhaps Mrs. Russell, the dietitian. Then, it’s back to the dorm and even more arrivals. As the evening passes, you learn secondhand of new faculty and  staff personnel. If it’s the year 1957, you learn that the Alumni Association has purchased a set of Big Ben Chimes from the Stromberg-Carlson Corporation in Rochester which will change your environment on campus forever. Also that year, you hear of a new nurse, Ann DeSormeau, and new houseparents named Mr. and Mrs. Ellis. Even more surprisingly, you’re told that Mr. Cimino has gone from being the older boys’ housefather to being the school’s combination guidance counselor and high school world history teacher. You learn further that Mr. Paradise has become both a gym and math teacher.

All too soon, it’s bedtime and you crawl between pristinely cleaned sheets and you whisper into the night with your roommates until suddenly the morning bell awakens you from a sleep you never saw coming. As your feet hit the floor, you really and truly get it that summer vacation is over. You dress and report once more to the dining room to gobble down your oatmeal and prunes, a piece of johnnycake and milk or coffee. Then it’s back to the dorm to make your bed and brush your teeth.

The bell rings at 7:55 calling you to this very room. Here, Principal Edward Brayer or, later, Paul Ruhland greets you and, before assigning you to your homeroom, introduces Superintendent Palmer or Sanborn for a formal welcoming message. If it’s the fall of 1962, you’re introduced to the new senior choir director, Henry Emmans. If it’s 1963, you meet the new industrial arts teacher Charles Rufino, the new homemaking teacher Kathy Butters, and the new science teacher Tom Fridy —  you’re told that he has a garden snake named Hector you’re just dying to meet! As for the older boys, they meet Edith Gassman whom many of them will learn to love and cherish just as she loves and cherishes them.

Your grade assignment is no mystery. You learned about that from your July report card. Now, however, the name of your teacher increases the significance of it all. Finally, it’s to your home room where your teacher makes out desk assignments and calls the roll. Next, you receive your first Braille textbook of the season and an intense and rather weighty feeling flavors the atmosphere. Thus, NYSSB’s academic season has begun. Ah! But there’s more to come.

During the days, weeks and months ahead, in addition to academics, you discover once again that life at NYSSB is made up of both the tangible and the intangible. After school, there’s time for riding wagons, scooting on scooters, swinging and sliding in the playgrounds, and roller skating.  On crisp fall weekends, you make leaf forts from the many oak and maple leaf droppings. There are fall field trips. If you’re one of the older boys, you sell brooms on the weekend, not only in Batavia, but you actually hitchhike to nearby towns such as Attica, Oak Field, Medina, Clarence, and Perry where you struggle to earn a few dollars. If you’re one of the older girls, you may work in the dining room as a waitress or even learn how to operate the switchboard from Miss Hammond in the superintendent’s suite. There are jack-o-lanterns, and candy at Halloween. As fall becomes winter, huge wooden slides are erected behind each dormitory so that you can take a sled and slide down a slide with sufficient momentum to continue coasting down the hill at the foot of the slide. Additionally, there are weeknight clubs after study hall. There’s reading club, skating club, swimming club, and the most favored of them all being Mr. Monaghan’s recording club — after all, sound is really where it’s at for you! Sooner than you know, it’s another time of year.

Following an all too brief Thanksgiving holiday, the Christmas season is upon you. There are Christmas parties  and teas. As a member of the junior or senior choir, you’ll perform in the Candle Light service the last Sunday night before Christmas vacation. If you’re really lucky, you’ll be picked to sing in that small group of the senior choir that closes the program with “Silent Night” that fades into the background for those in the audience with such drama that the chills up and down their spines, along with the tears in their eyes, causes them to hug themselves in their Christmas sweaters while wondering if they’ve just developed a wintertime case of hay fever!

As time passes, you understand that, like every aspect of life, living in a residential school isn’t all fun and games. There are rules and regulations, there are unfair and rigid houseparents and teachers, just as there are friendly and unfriendly fellow students. You’re living after all in a cloistered community. In fact, one of your friends every time he meets someone from off campus says: “I met a citizen today.” Above all, life at NYSSB is indeed challenging.

Hence, on this Friday, June 8th, 2018, as the sun approaches the summer solstice,  you and I come full circle. We meet on this stage and in this auditorium where we were assigned our classes, where we performed in the junior and senior choruses, in Mr. Grapka’s orchestra, as well as in plays. From this platform we received academic and athletic awards, thus becoming instant Braille reading and writing notables, track and wrestling stars, singers and even musicians. From this very platform, many of us graduated.

Therefore, from this place, at this time, as President of the NYSSB Alumni Association, I reaffirm, as we celebrate our Centenary, our abiding love and appreciation of our alma mater. 

Since 1918, we’ve returned again and again to our alumni home. Born during World War I,, alumni business has beckoned every year except during World War II and, in 1950, during construction of this very building, Severn Hall. We’ve  returned in peace and prosperity, during national depression and in times of sadness and uncertainty. We’ve sought to share what resources we possess with the current student body. We cordially invite them to join us when their time at school is complete.

Each year we assign ourselves the task of befriending and nurturing one another so that we may retain the energy to serve as far into the future as possible.

We’ll be here next year, and for years after that. We won’t be hard to locate either, because, after all, you’ll find us aboard “The Good Ship Batavia!”

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY

* From a speech delivered at the 150th anniversary of the New York State School for the Blind - NYSSB.

YOU’RE WELCOME, YOU’RE WELCOME, ALREADY! BUT PULL THE PLUG ON SOME OF THAT GRATITUDE, PLEASE!

By Edwin Cooney

I know you’re not going to believe this, but just three weeks after interviewing Uncle Sam, Father Time arranged an interview for me with “The Unknown Soldier.” I came away from that interview with a few pieces of advice and an interesting perspective. Here — I’ll share them with you this Memorial Day.

“So! You’re the real Unknown Soldier from World War I. Is that right?” I asked.

“Yah, that’s me,” he said, “but don’t ask me too many questions, because I like being unknown. If your readers get to thinking they actually know me, I’d lose my job.”

“Yes,” I said, “but people get real satisfaction remembering you because as an unknown, you could be anyone’s beloved ancestor. Isn’t there some glory in that?” 

I inquired.

“What makes you or anyone else think I get a special kick out of  being glorified? What worries me most is that by glorifying me, political leaders of all nationalities and types invariably give themselves permission to think about winning future wars thereby creating generations of new Unknown Soldiers!”

“Why would they do that?” I asked.

“I think there are several reasons for that,” he said, pulling out a tiny American flag from his jacket. 

“First, war is almost a tradition among the nations of the world. If you don’t believe me, consider this: much of the time, if a nation isn’t at war with another nation, leaders arrange quarrels among their own people. For example, take 21st Century America and its political and social divides.  Currently, you’re involved in a severe culture war. You have Conservative versus Liberal, the secular-minded versus the religious-oriented and, as always, the haves versus the have-nots. When I was growing up, there were also several unfortunate social divides: farmers versus railroads, labor versus management, and, of course, cowboys versus Indians, just to name three.

“Second, somehow humanity believes down where it lives that a punch in the nose is more powerful than a handshake or even a hug. Waging peace, as President Eisenhower reminded us in his 1964 book by that name, is much much more difficult than giving way to national and international anger thus creating war. Hasn’t one of the most popular slogans since World War II been ‘peace through strength’? I believe that myth comes through Mr. Churchill who, throughout much of his life, was as much a warrior as he was a politician. The idea is that two strong nations will avoid fighting each other. If one of two contesting nations is weak, war is more than likely to result. If that were true, I wouldn’t today be the Unknown Soldier! Europe had been at peace, well almost so, since the 1814 fall of Napoleon Bonaparte. By 1914, the leaders of Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungry, and Russia were all heavily armed. They literally smelled of gun smoke. They weren’t afraid of one another. I would have been better off if they had been at least a little leery of each other,” asserted the Unknown Soldier with a grim smile.

“When you went off to war during World War I, was it because President Woodrow Wilson urged you to make the world safe for democracy?” I wanted to know.

“Well, as President Reagan once said to President Jimmy Carter during their only 1980 presidential debate: there you go again!” said the Unknown Soldier, as he marched steadily along.

“I knew fellows who went to war for a lot of reasons such as to avoid pregnant girlfriends and outraged fathers. I knew some who joined the army to avoid a judge’s jail sentence. Of course, there were many guys who went to war because they wanted to protect America from the Kaiser’s Prussians and that pleased President Wilson,” said the Unknown Soldier.

“What becomes increasingly bothersome to me after all these years is that the message is always the same. They cry over our loss in one breath and in the next breath they speak so glowingly of military service that the very idea that one might not want to serve seems anti-American. I agree with Harry Truman who observed ‘…any fool can go out and start a war!’ Besides, where do they get the idea that dying in war is especially glorious?”

“Okay,” I said. “Does that mean you don’t appreciate our recognition of your sacrifice?”

“Oh, it’s an honor of sorts, but it’s more of an honor for you than it is for me. Remember, funerals aren’t really for the dead, they’re for the living. America is right to celebrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. In that spirit I think the world would be better off celebrating  Policeman’s Day, Teacher’s Day, Doctor’s Day, Children’s Day, Farmer’s Day, Family Day or, even better, Fireman’s Day. It’s my understanding that in modern America, policemen and teachers are no longer universally admired as they were when I was growing up. That’s really and truly sad!”

The Unknown Soldier suddenly stopped in mid-march and exclaimed, “I’ve been at peace for nearly a century now. My pain was terrible, but short. I think you need my blessing much more than I need yours!”

Thus, as he slowly but steadily faded off into the mist, he almost prayerfully proclaimed:

“If you’d only honor your living selves I’d understand. I don’t quite understand as of now that you’ve really and truly learned from my loss. If you’d first value life before physical or material gain, before national and political pride, my peace would be even sweeter, because I’d be reassured that never again would there be a need for an Unknown Soldier.”

Suddenly, he was gone and as I turned to go, the ever so faint sound of Taps came through the eternal ether.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY  

LET’S TALK ABOUT THE DEVIL’S DUE

I was absolutely fascinated by the responses I got to the general theme of last week’s musing. I was especially interested in learning what or who were the individual readers’ devil or devils. No one responded to that inquiry. Still, I loved the responses.

Sandy from Maryland rightly corrected me. She said:

“In your column on Devil’s Due, you said:

‘....I have a number of “Devils.” One is institutional racial and gender injustice. The thing I must remember, however, is that such injustice has yet to be the absolute goal of any society…’  Methinks you have misremembered, or simply not remembered.”

My mistake was the word injustice. I should have said that justice has never been the absolute goal of any society. Sandy pointed out the institutional injustice written into the laws and social structure of South Africa beginning in 1948. Thanks, Sandy!

Then there was the observation of Bruce from Philadelphia. Bruce said: 

“You wrote:  ‘In the case of President Trump, one of my current Devils.’  When I think of evil, I think of persons like Richard Speck, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gasy, and Gary Heidnik, to name a few.  Do you suggest that Donald Trump, with all of his faults, rises, or sinks as the case may be, to the level of these people?  I’m not even sure that Donald Trump sinks to the level of Adolf Hitler, at least not yet.  I suggest that time will tell if Trump is truly a devil.”

Ah, Bruce, you’re assuming that murder is the only deviled evil. Remember, the commission of murder is far from the only human act condemned by the Ten Commandments. Mr. Trump has clearly violated God’s Commandments regarding marriage, pride, treatment of one’s neighbors. No, he has yet to sink to Hitler’s evils and I don’t guess he will. Still, he is one of my devils. He shouldn’t be where he is and I hope we’ll remove him from “the high temple” of our government in 2020.

The most staggering set of objections came from Erie Pennsylvania’s adopted son, Chesterton. (That’s almost his real name but not quite.) He really takes me to task and I love it. He said:

“You wrote: ‘The unvarnished reality remains that the world is such that in order to keep our sanity, we must give the Devil his due in the form of a healthy tolerance.’

Why? Why should I tolerate a liar; one who exploits women; One who accused his opponent of being a criminal and riled up his supporters to a frenzy during which they would yell: "lock her up!"

One who engaged in at least two extra-marital affairs while his third wife was experiencing the birth of a baby;

One who is taking credit for a lousy tax plan;

One who claimed that Mexico would pay for his ridiculous wall, a wall which will never be built, of course!

No Ed, Donald Trump is someone I will never be able to tolerate; and were I to try to, I would lose my sanity not to mention any self respect I may possess.”

Well, my dear Chesterton, in the first place I didn’t say you should think, do, or feel anything. I’ve learned the hard way that “you shoulds” are seldom effective communication. My point is that if we join President Trump in what we regard as the destruction of the legitimacy and power of his office, there’ll be little institutional respectability left for his successors. A better question is: how is it to my advantage to tolerate and do what I can to support the institution of the presidency?

In the first place, President Trump is a reality and reality must always be handled rationally. Second, President Trump, like a broken clock (although he may not ever be right twice a day), possesses more gravity when he’s right, than you or I.

Remember the delightful story of the little boy who saw former president and, by then, Chief Justice William Howard Taft coming down the steps of the Supreme Court saying: “Oh, I know who you are. You used to be President Coolidge!”  

Next, here’s the short but reassuring response from Bob, a gentleman from South Jersey:

“Finally, a more tempered and objective view of DJT.”

Thanks, Bob! Unfortunately, too many of us prefer to read commentary that reinforces our views rather than commentary with tempered objectivity.

What’s interesting about most of the above responses (with the exception of Sandy’s) is how they reflect the defenses of the individual advocates or conclusions. Bruce, who wants at least to support President Trump, hears only the worst of all evils in a so-called devil. Chesterton, on the other hand, winces at the slightest call for tolerance or forbearance of the president.

Finally, I offer the reaction of a good clergyman from Florida, Reverend Paul:

“Edwin must be careful not to bite down too hard.  His tongue in cheek comments are, in my opinion, right on.  He skewered the feminist, the religious right, atheists, liberals, and the rest of us in general.  Is evil in the eyes of the beholder???   Thanks Ed for your very appropriate observations.”

My response to the good Reverend is, unfortunately and to our disadvantage, yes. All quoted here, myself included, to a large degree, find it exceedingly difficult to adjust to any truth but our own. Hence, the devil, like the innocent and beautiful princess, mostly resides in the eye of the beholder.

Therein, or should I say herein, we find the real devil. The devil is both you and me and each and every one of us devils have one thing in common: we always demand our due!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY 

WHAT IS “THE DEVIL’S DUE?”

By Edwin Cooney

Okay, perhaps there is no such personage or spirit named Satan or, more popularly, the “Devil.” Still, there’s a sense in most of us that evil is real and part of evil’s reality is the existence of its power. There are elements of truth in evil. If there weren’t, evil wouldn’t have the power to tempt humanity. So, this week I address “the Devil” and consider giving the Devil his (or even her) due. This just occurred to me: I’ve often heard modern feminists suggest that God might be a woman, but I’ve never heard a feminist insist that the “Devil” might be a woman, have you?

Even secularists who, for the most part, are agnostic or even atheists, contribute to the popular significance of the Devil. Of course, the Devil generally appears in human form. For millions of Americans, the Devil exists in the personage of President Donald John Trump — but wait a minute! There are a couple of discomforting flaws here! For some fundamentalist Christians, DJT is quite the opposite of a devil. He’s a moral savior, especially for the Right to Life Movement. In addition, the concept of devilry in the Bible casts confusion on the very nature of who the devil is.

In the book of Job, we read that God gives Satan permission to harass Job even to the extent that he may kill Job’s sons and all their cattle as long as Satan doesn’t kill Job himself. It is difficult for many of us, this observer included, not to wonder if God doesn’t find evil pretty useful now and then. There’s the distinct possibility, even the likelihood, that what God considers evil may dramatically differ from what humans consider evil. When one really presses knowledgable and thoughtful Christians, they seemingly wiggle out of any possibility that God participates in evil by declaring that if God does something, it just isn’t evil. God is incapable of evil. (Amazing! I’ve always been taught that God is capable of everything!)  Does even God, from time to time, give the Devil his due? If so, what constitutes “the Devil’s due?”

In the case of President Trump, one of my current Devils, his “due” is unwavering loyalty and personal approval. Even more, as far as he’s concerned, his re-election in 2020 is the very least his fellow Americans can do for him..

His decision last Tuesday to withdraw from the agreement with Iran could result in sufficient chaos to bring about the overthrow of Iran’s Islamic government. It could possibly be replaced by a “strong man” who might be more sympathetic to American foreign policy. As unlikely as that is, that would be a significant change in the status quo.

As for what’s likely to come out of the President’s meeting with Kim Jong Un on June 12th in Singapore, it could really be good for both North Korea and the rest of humanity and earn both Trump and Kim the Nobel Peace prize. (Wouldn’t the Republicans just love to see their hero recognized and legitimized along with Kim Jong Un with an honor issued by a bunch of “left wing” European intellectuals for whom Conservatives possess consistent contempt!) 

A successful negotiation with Kim would accomplish two things. It would stabilize a longtime international danger and force many reluctant Americans to give the Devil his due — broad approval.

As for the current economic circumstance, most Americans love their money so much that the Devil may well get another due: votes for re-election in 2020. Keep in mind, however, that even six months is a generation in American politics, so there’s lots of time for all kinds of domestic and foreign circumstances to go south!

As for we “nasty Democrats” who can’t bear to wish the “Trump Devil” well, we may well be disappointed even if Robert Mueller discovers that there was collusion between President Trump’s 2016 campaign and Vladimir Putin’s gangster government. Even if he were impeached, President Trump wouldn’t be succeeded by a more enlightened leader such as Nancy Pelosi. Mike Pence is in the way!

The unvarnished reality remains that the world is such that in order to keep our sanity, we must give the Devil his due in the form of a healthy tolerance. As for why that should be, the fact is that we have lived in the world of denunciation for so long and practiced denunciation so readily that it has become a political and social expectation. If you don’t criticize someone, people wonder if you stand for anything. If it is only your friends who possess credibility or genuineness, be aware that you’re standing on sand rather than rock.

Here’s my question for the week: who is your Devil? What due — or even set of dues —do you owe him or her?

I have a number of “Devils.” One is institutional racial and gender injustice. The thing I must remember, however, is that such injustice has yet to be the absolute goal of any society. 

Another is the death penalty, especially when administered by the self-righteous. The factor I must keep in mind about that is the emotional jolt suffered by the victims of outrageous crime. Also, there is the instinctive desire to kill in order to survive.

A third is the increasing lack of political civility throughout Twenty-first Century America. What I must remember about that is that many Americans still follow the old Vince Lombardi creed that is especially popular in sports: “winning is everything.”

The fourth is the consistent lack of willingness to learn from history. (Of course, that “devil” invariably brings up the question: whose history?  Whose story is it to my best advantage to believe?)

I remain deeply concerned about the fate of the world and all humanity since President Trump took office. However, if he succeeds in calming our anxiety regarding North Korea, aren’t we at least obligated to thank him even as we look forward to his 2020 replacement?

Oh, there’s one more —  well, maybe 29 more — Devils to be conquered. There’s the Boston Red Sox. After all, the New York Yankees haven’t been World Champions since 2009!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY