Family Vacation

What matters most is not the chaos that dominates our news cycle, but the people we love and the values we choose to live by.

Uncharacteristic for my family, we took some time off the last two weeks of May. We are often away in August when Washington, D.C. gets quieter, but this was a special occasion. My daughter-in-law just graduated from medical school and had those two weeks off before her medical residency began. So we celebrated!

The heart of our family time was centered around my one-year old grandson who is now walking everywhere. My oldest son, his now doctor wife, and sweet baby James, blessedly, live near to us in the Washington DC area, and we see them often. When they come over to our place, James greets me with a big smile, holding his arms up for me to pick him up and saying “Gampa”. That moment makes everything else disappear for me. During his visits, there is no political crisis, and no Donald Trump. James is my greatest source of absolute joy these days, and I plead with everyone I know to find theirs in a time like this when joy feels hard to find, but is absolutely necessary for our preservation.

Our time away was spent in Block Island, off the coast of Rhode Island, where as a young man I used to go and hang out with mentors William Stringfellow and Daniel Berrigan. Now the Island has become a family place for me. I always look forward to August as a grounding time before the next semester and the fall season of politics begins. But this time, I was excited to see how my little grandson would respond to our favorite beaches where the waves roll-in strong every day. Would the splashes and sounds scare him–or not? Maybe he would put his little feet into the cold Atlantic water with us holding his hands. I discovered that my grandson is a beachboy, like his grandfather. “Wawa” is his word for water which he said over and over again, pointing to it and always wanting to go back in. I told him this was the Big Wawa.

Some other family with two little boys joined us for several days, as did my younger son who joined us from New York City. These three little boys played together day in and day out. Card games and charades took up adult time in the evenings, with the NBA playoffs on for those who stayed up. It was all family all the time.

I decided to not watch the news during our time there, which I do every day at home, but wouldn’t have been popular while we were all together. If I am being honest, I did check the New York Times occasionally, but my regular flow of media consumption was interrupted for most of the two weeks. Second only to the fun I had with all the boys, my wife and in-laws; was the relief I felt from not watching cable news. Some beach walking on my own gave me the space for moral reflection on everything that has been happening.

Back at home, I picked up the news again. I was surprised at how little had changed. Trump had grown bored with the war in Iran, but kept threatening more bombs and destruction anyway. And as of yesterday, the House of Representatives, with support of four Republicans, passed a War Powers Resolution asking Trump to end the war in Iran or gain congressional approval to continue. Although mostly symbolic, as a resolution has not been able to pass in Congress, this felt like a small win.

The legal battles continued as well, with one ordering for Trump’s name to be removed from the Kennedy Center. Yea! Finally, some good news.

There was also the “slush fund” of it all. After suing his own government as a serving president and settling the case by granting himself a 1.8 billion dollars slush fund. Trump reportedly planned to use the money to support his allies who had faced legal consequences but were later pardoned by him. That would include compensation for participants who hurt and killed police officers at the Capitol in the violent January 6 insurrection. The only surprise was that it was finally one thing too many for some Republicans who persuaded the President to drop the idea…at least for now. Between the house votes and this, are we finally seeing more sanity among Republicans? I am not counting on it, but just maybe. They are still all afraid of Trump and that fear trumps any courage on their part.

All that to say, I came home being less interested in what Trump was going to do next, than what people, especially ordinary citizens, were doing around the country.

One example that really struck and encouraged me, and made me smile, was from Philadelphia. In response to a Trump directive, federal workers dismantled and removed plaques on the former home of George Washington, that highlighted the Atlantic slave trade and detailed the lives of nine people who where enslaved by Washington at his presidential mansion. This was just one more Trumpian effort to erase and white wash American history.

Following the dismantling of the exhibit, Philadelphia locals created Old City Remembers, a grassroots activist group of volunteers that were inspired to act. I watched, on cable news, people taking shifts reading the language from the panels that were taken down. Their public reading efforts have received more and more attention and support, bringing more awareness to the lives of the people who were enslaved at George Washington’s house. Although a federal judge had previously ordered the exhibit be restored, this has not yet happened. On Tuesday, the City of Philadelphia argued in the Third Circuit Court against the Department of the Interior for doing what they did without prior consulting with the city.

Coming back from a reflective two weeks, and catching up on all the noise of the news made one thing clear. Trump is a morally empty madman, and the most dangerous president in American history. Those who kowtow to him are complicit in his madness. We should all strive to be more like the people in Philadelphia, who took positive action. Instead of worrying about what Trump might do next, we all can act on our best and most truthful instincts. All of us can do that. Which is the best way to protect our precious families, our kids, and our grandkids going forward. Oh yeah, it is also my birthday today and guess what one-year-old is coming over to celebrate!

---