5/2/2025
My Dear Friend & POTUS, DJT,
Do you consider me your friend? I hope so. After writing you for 4 years & 100 days, I would hope you can feel my love & affection for you. It may come through stronger on some days than others, as this exercise in loving you takes a toll. I have to sit in an uncomfortable place of cognitive dissonance every morning as I try to sort through the odious things you & your buddies say & do, to find something that I can agree with &/or appreciate.
I refuse to get sucked into our human tendency to strive for cognitive balance by assuming that everything you do is bad. Heider’s (1946) theory about this is still in use today to program robots to appease a human & get along with each other. The premise is humans adjust their beliefs & attitudes to conform to their friends.
That’s the easy way out & I’m not taking it.
So, I choose to love you & your Steves, as misguided as you, all, may be.
SoW, please tell SM to tone down his rhetoric. I lost track of all of the half-truths in his remarks in his press conference yesterday. Questioning the qualifications of air traffic controllers & doctors? Something whacky about the price of dolls? A teacher turning a girl into a boy?
The one that hit me hardest was the accusation that children are being taught to hate themselves & their country. Which brings me back to my musing about my relationship with you.
You are not perfect, nor am I. Our imperfections are what make us distinctive, special, lovable. We try hard, but we screw up & then we keep going. The people who stay in relationship with us, despite the disappointments we may cause them, are the ones who love us best. They see our potential & focus on that, instead of our mistakes.
I will remind you that bell hooks writes about love as “nurturing spiritual growth.” It’s not about blind loyalty. If we love someone, or something, we hope they will keep getting better.
That is the way I love my husband (who by the way is getting better every day), & the way I love you & love my country & myself for that matter.
To show my love for you, I will employ a trick, from PBIS, specifically four affirmations for every one criticism.
So here goes
1) Thanks for ending the “di minis” loophole
2) Thanks for participating in yesterday’s prayer event
3) Thanks for encouraging the graduates of Univ of AL to keep trying
4) Thanks for hosting tonight’s RNC Gala
1) Don’t use that photoshopped picture of KAG’s tattoos
Re: Burma – consider the suggestion provided in today’s Irrawaddy to have generals from the ASEAN countries “engage with all sides of the conflict as impartial observers—not to fight, but to listen, assess & open the doors to dialogue… Soldier-to-soldier engagement speaks in a language Burma’s top brass understands.
BYBS,
