PERCEPTIONS AND THOUGHTS DURING BIG BEAR’S “NO KINGS DAY” PROTEST
The paradox of No King’s Day seems both enlightening and terrifying.
Under sunny blue skies with white cumulus clouds and a friendly breeze cooling everyone off,
the crowd of about 550+ in Big Bear City is full of spirit, joy, and good will, as ”resistance
citizens” protesting Trump’s policies, police actions, and military presence, join together
holding signs, calling out chants, sharing water, camp chairs, sandwiches and conversation, while enacting our First Amendment rights to assemble and protest our grievances.
And yet..and yet…
The feelings we share of helplessness and despair, fear, and above all, anger toward the Executive wannabe dictator who has conned, grifted, and lied repeatedly to those masses of citizens who seem unknowingly, for the most part, to recognize his dishonesty and manipulations.
And those citizens, like us, stand on the precipice of fascism through this lover of authoritarianism, living in the White House, citizens now seemingly mentally hypnotized or in some form of rationalizing or denial of his cruel and sadistic thoughts and actions
The paradox, of course, is the incredible contrast within our Homo sapiens species, between
those who believe and practice the collaborative moral precept: ‘Don’t lie, cheat, or steal’, and
those presently in political power in our beautiful country, with their minions and followers who delight with contemptuous glee, as they continue to suck dry, themselves and the American populace of its fundamental rights, supported by media outlets who dissemble openly and outrageously.
Still, with not simply personal hope, but with the fire of Action and the roar of our awakened
crowd, we must continue to Resist and fight so that we may, might, and should Prevail….
And, my take, with a chagrined nod to Nietzsche:
“Trump looked into the Abyss
But the Abyss freaked out and fled;
Trump became the Abyss.
So don’t look too deeply lest you be consumed.”
SM Lovell
2025
