I do not want to trivialize what is going on this week by writing a blog unrelated to the pain many of us are experiencing.
My first thought was not to blog on Tuesday, for Monday is Inauguration Day—a day of grief for many. And Tuesday would be too raw for many to go for trivial, myself included.
Instead, as a citizen of the U.S., I am apologizing.
First, I apologize to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that a man who seems to be the antithesis of what Dr. King stood for—non-violent resistance—is being inaugurated as President of the United States on MLK day.
I apologize to Dr. King that many people in our country do not know or care about the peaceful protests he so eloquently orchestrated to bring about civil rights. And to the people who believed that all individuals in our country should be free to pursue life, liberty, and happiness.
I apologize to Dr. King that his dream of the Promised Land, which I felt was within arms' reach, is being pushed further back.
I praise Dr. King, who adopted non-violent protesting from Mahatma Gandhi, an Indian lawyer who led the struggle for India's independence from British rule by using non-violent means and influenced modern civil disobedience movements across the globe.
Second, I apologize to our Immigrants who work and live in our country, who came here because they believed it would give them a better life, for the fear they have and the possible deportation they face.
I apologize to the Roe vs. Wade lawyers and the Supreme Court of 1969, who upheld their decision that the performance of abortions deprives women and physicians of their fundamental rights of privacy and liberty in violation of the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution.
I apologize to those who have stood their ground for Women's rights, that many of rights they fought for are in jeopardy.
I apologize to the women who have spoken out about sexual abuse only to see their issues swept aside.
I apologize to our children that we have birthed them under a democratic system and then elected a President who has little regard for the very system we thought we were giving them.
I apologize that we elected a President whose morals are not in keeping with basic decency, like not lying, cheating, bullying, degrading females or people of other races from ours.
I apologize to the children that we voted in a Commander and Chief who does not place much emphasis upon the planet upon which we live to see that it survives.
And I apologize to the plants and animals that their home is in danger because the up-coming President and his appointed cabinet do not see their livelihood as a high priority.