I drove to work this morning to overhear updates on the tumultuous administration of America and the dawning of its 100-day marking point. Most of us knew this administration would be a bit confusing, but I know I never fully captured just how taxing things would appear.
This entire presidency began on the wrong foot. As an identifying woman, my seething and sobbing felt justified as wave after wave of commentary slipped out of the locker rooms and into the political ring. Trump made promises that contradict some of his actions within the first 100 days. I can see that he is trying, but he is encountering the same country that elected him to office: America. Regardless of how you voted, nothing about the presidency amounts to a cakewalk.
NPR plays in my car, and I listen to the callers who offer their opinions to a larger audience. While they offer unique perspectives and great insights (sometimes), I reflect back on a generation whose voice is not heard on the radio: children.
Babies, toddlers, and teenagers -- all of these groups are subjected to the Trump administration without a say in the matters that will influence everything in their lives later. The tax packages, the cuts, the propagandist subliminal messages that occur over any media -- these are all things that shape a child. We create the culture, but is it clear? Does it evoke any deeper understanding or just more confusion about what it means to be an American? How we appear to the rest of the world?
Innocence did not pervade the Obama administration. What about the time that the Office of Refugee Resettlement placed Central American children in the hands of human traffickers in Marion, Ohio? On the contrary, what about the time they championed the removal of the "voluntary unemployment" status for incarcerated individuals so that they could work towards paying the lower amount of child support in order to avoid being so far in debt that they are re-incarcerated?
Every administration makes mistakes. Obama's did a good job of keeping the bad underneath the good and hopeful; Trump is just a giant stomping through America taking whatever it is he wants. He's made a lot of promises I'm sure he intends on keeping, but when I envision a president being caught up in the craziness, I don't envision him threatening and dictating.
The conflicts and policies are crazy enough. Boil down an issue for long enough, and it becomes a contradiction. Someone always encounters a middle-grounding point. Some people call it a "stumbling block" or an "obstacle in the road." This is not to criticize Trump for tackling nuanced issues that usually leave a group of people with less and another group with more. It just seems to me that we're encountering a bit more obstacles in the road.
Speaking of - have you seen that infrastructure plan?
Trump wants to redo a lot of America's infrastructure, but did you hear about Obama's TIGER plan that Trump's budget may end up cutting out? Who you are and what you've seen in life so far will determine how you feel about one or the other. If you regulate the industries that repair infrastructure, what does America gain or lose? If you offer up grants as a solution to the lack of infrastructure, then pose yourself the same question. No matter which side you choose: encompassing the entire issue brings one back to the grey-zone matters.
When discussing these issues, many older adults like to think of my opinion as naive because I "haven't seen the world" or what it can do. Moving beyond the fact that I have seen and learned enough of things like the Khmer Rouge, Dachau, Chernobyl, etc. to know that me not being alive to witness these matters, unlike others, does not make me any more or less wise than my older counterparts, I nevertheless find myself contemplating both sides of an issue more and more through my work with American Twilight and now feel more confused than ever -- so confused, I push the point of concern.
What is a kid of ten years old going to think when this administration morphs America? Who comes AFTER Trump whether he has four or eight years? Will a younger brother turn into the pseudo-masculine character he believed himself entitled to be? Will the young daughter feel as though men do run the world and she can be treated like garbage just because she is female? Will anyone of any gender feel as though threats are the best way to tackle any issue? Your classroom education might tell you so.
You cannot avoid the cultural effects. When Trump wants to negotiate NAFTA, do you know how many lives are on the line? Lives resembling nothing like your own? Those who voted for Trump -- whether or not because of his plans to hash out NAFTA -- and work in agriculture will take a hit due to the tumultuous threats that Trump seems to make when negotiating trade terms, should things be as he intends. Others will benefit from the fact that there will be tariffs lifted. I gotta say -- I thank Trump for making it more and more clear that America is one large, business deal. Come take advantage.
When we look back upon these four or eight years, I hope the governmental effects on our country's youth do not follow the same wishy-washy, upbraiding journey that followed that one special voting day in the month of November 2016. I'm not afraid. I'm worried.
One rabble-rouser and this nation may enter a whole new ballgame. Regardless of your team preference, we'll all have to play.
