Monday, December 03, 2012

After the Aftermath

This theme for our Autumn Quarterly Fundraiser was one of my great ideas that should have been shoved back into the closet to be dragged out again later, during less parlous times. But I figured talking about the horrors of Autumn 2012 — Sandy at the beach, Benghazi under cover, and the re-election of the most incompetent president ever — would be worthwhile. I thought those subjects could stand an airing, and then we could move on.

Wrong!

All that happened is that I got mired down in those images myself —

  • The homeless and bereft that our Feckless Leader ignored as they went without electricity and food — and in some cases, their homes;
  • The grim pictures of the abandonment of Americans in Libya while our FL & Friends just stood there and watched;
  • The smug smile that has been on the Feckless One’s face since election night (“I won”)

Writing about them, thinking about them didn’t allow me to process the Aftermath after all. Instead of helping, the process sucked me into the maelstrom as though they were all still happening. In retrospect I can see I’d have done better to stick to one catastrophe and let it go at that. After two days of dwelling in the valley of the shadow of death I found myself wandering the trackless wastes.

I have okay moments here and there. The generosity of our donors was a welcome distraction. I have never taken for granted the willingness of those readers who come through for Gates of Vienna each quarter. But in addition this time, there were lots of first-time donors (twenty-three, the Baron tells me), and that is especially reassuring.

And there was an usually wide spread of states and countries that sent out gifts to us:

Stateside: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, N. Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin

Near Abroad: Canada

Far Abroad: Australia, Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, and the UK

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

The Baron’s (almost) unfailing patience with what he calls my “deer in the headlights” look — my facial muscles freeze into a “what-me-worry” expression that wouldn’t fool anyone — is a great blessing in my life. He may have even questioned the wisdom of focusing on so much horror, but he let me go ahead. Next time, I hope he takes my computer away and tells me to go read Jane Austen or something.

This is going to take some time to heal. Once I can begin, once I can start to recover my Pollyanna persona, I’ll know I’m going to make it through the desert. Right now all I can see is the valley of death and Obama’s smirking grin.

One bit of good news, though: On January 21, which happens to be Obama’s public inauguration and also the observance of Martin Luther King Day, there is a march planned by concerned citizens who want the questions about Benghazi answered. It would appear that not even Obama can get away with watching an American die before he returns to campaigning.

Now there’s some aftermath I can look forward to. I’ve seen several blogs mention it, and there is a Facebook page and several posters: one is from a Tea Party group and another from a vets’ organization. But it’ll be a tough sell. January 21st is more or less the bottom of the winter in Washington, D.C. It can be bitter and damp. In addition, the mood of the country isn’t good. Obama may have won, but his programs are still unpopular.

I get the sense that there is indeed a national aftermath setting in. Perhaps a combination of a sense of loss on one side and buyer’s remorse on the other. And everyone wishes Congress and the administration would just follow one another over that cliff… the silence of that aftermath would be golden.

5 comments:

Crusading Medievalist said...

Dymphna--

“The men of the East may spell the stars,
And times and triumphs mark,
But the men signed of the cross of Christ
Go gaily in the dark."

--G.K. Chesterton, "The Ballad of the White Horse".

I hope this makes you feel more hopeful. It always lifts my spirits.

Anonymous said...

" the re-election of the most incompetent president ever"

With all due respect to the masters of GOV, who I respect tremendously, I don't see Obama as bad as some of the losers who have been President in modern times.

George Bush, shrub, got us into an entirely useless war in Iraq costing us trillions of dollars, more than 2000 American lives, with the result that our worst enemy in the region, Iran, has essentially taken over the Iraqi government. In addition, Bush bungled the one real objective of the Afghanistan invasion, to kill Osama bin Laden.

Clinton used massive American air power to bomb into submission the Serbian self-defense forces, and install on the European continent the Muslim country of Bosnia.

Lyndon Johnson lost 58,000 Americans in Vietnam, not to mention a million Vietnamese, in an entirely unnecessary war he never intended to win.

And, Woodrow Wilson, of course, involved the US unnecessarily in World War I, losing hundreds of thousands of American troops protecting the tottering British empire and instituting the beginnings of socialist government in the United States.

Obama is bad, the the bar for American Presidents is very low.

Judenlieber said...

RonaldB
I agree with much of what you say, but I never got the feeling that Bush,Clinton, Johnson and Wilson were TRYING to destroy America. Five days before the O's inauguration he said "We are five days away from the fundamental transformation of America". What this means to me is that he is trying to transform America into something we never were and were never intended to be. While the Dems may think of this as progress, I think most Americans who love their country would think of this as a form of destruction.
And if you have been listening to what the Dems have been saying for the last several decades, you know that many of them want us to be like Europe, which is an imploding civilization.
Anyone who is trying to bring about that kind of destruction for our country is either ignorant, evil, or incompetent.

Anonymous said...

It is not Europe that is imploding, it is the former European empires that are collapsing on top of it and crushing it into extinction.

All those former colonies throughout the world gained their independence. The USA was probably pleased to see those empires go but I wonder how the Americans feels now. But did those countries become like Europe, no, I wonder why? So finding out that life as ex-colonials was worse than life as colonials they came rushing back to mummy and daddy begging them to look after them.

What is a bit of a mystery is that the countries of Scandinavia, which never had colonial empires, wanted to share in the fate of those who did. Putin has said that France has been colonised by its former colonies. The same goes for Britain now the most "diverse" country in the world ( this is meant to make it as really exciting and hip place to live - well it ain't, its a third world nightmare ).

Anonymous said...

Great comment with much merit, but Europe IS indeed imploding because the Godless MARXIST traitorous leaders of traditionally white Christian countries have convinced the world at large that non-whites and/or non-Christians are LESS GUILTY of human sin and therefore MORE important to exist than white Christians. This successfully suicidal belief is why the very white Christian Scandinavia is accepting of its own punishment for past and present 'sins' and near certain eradication at the willing hands of self-important non-whites and/or non-Christians.

Mystery solved.

Egghead