I grew up in a time and place of manners and civility. By the time I was six, I had been taught on which side of the plate to set the fork, and that respect for the people around our table was required. Twice a year, at Easter and Christmas, I helped to polish the silver until it shined and wash the fine china until I could see my face in it. These were days of significance and celebration when guests were invited and honored.
I did not have to like those guests, but I was to treat them cordially. To treat them otherwise, my mother said, would be a blot on our house and our family, and I would only be hurting myself.
Tomorrow, we celebrate a day of great significance–the inauguration of our new president, voted into office by the people of America, not the politicians. Yet some of the politicians have decided to snub the people they serve by not attending. By their own incivility, they will be hurting themselves. And only themselves.
Because the train has left the station, Elvis has left the building, and Donald Trump is our next President.
Even a mindful six year-old can see that.
Those who don’t like it, don’t have to like it. But they ought, at least to respect the Office of the President of these United States. To do otherwise is a blot on America and a disrespectful snub to Americans.
So, grow up.
Translating a World on the Edge 