Bullies On Parade

 I am still getting emails from Democrats. The party about which I made such a fuss a couple of months ago. The party to whom I donated what was for a school teacher a considerable chunk of change. I put my faith, nickels, dimes, quarters and pennies into them in hopes of changing the direction of the country, this one in particular, and came up empty. 

Control of both houses of Congress. The White House. And by extension, the Supreme Court. 

A recent missive from the Democratic National Committee wanted to know if I was going to watch the inauguration. The underlying theme seemed to be that by turning a cold shoulder on the festivities for Mar A Lago's resident golf pro would send some sort of message. This has an appeal to the third grader inside of me but the last time I watched a presidential inauguration live was back in 2009. Back then, as the school's tech guy, it was my job to make sure that every adult and child who might bear witness to the swearing in of our first black president had a chance to see it. 

Four years later and subsequently, we have not made the same kind of fuss. To be clear: There will be no joy for me in watching the festivities of January 20. Conversely, there will be no joy for me in making a point to ignore them. I do confess to a bit of schadenfrfeude in hearing that the fact that all the flags in our nation's capital will be lowered to half staff to honor the passing of Jimmy Carter ruffles the scales of the big orange lizard, but mostly this serves as a non-event in my world. 

I understand that this makes me a "bad sport," if we are currently describing the outcomes of elections in terms of playground behavior. Instead, I will choose once again to use the tools I prescribe to kids who feel that they are being bullied. The first part begins with ignoring. Bullies do not like to be ignored. I also understand that things can escalate mighty quickly if a bully is given power, like election to the highest office in our land. I also know that when this happens what we need are a group of upstanders, who won't simply turn their heads and walk away. The next four years will take a lot of upstanding. It will take courage and patience and bravery. 

But it won't necessarily require yet another cash infusion to the DNC.