A MESSAGE TO PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP

  NEW YORK, NY - 01/01/2017 (PRESS RELEASE JET)

Dear President (Elect) Trump,

I do not propose to attack you, nor do I propose to support everything that you say and do.  In truth, I cannot say that I voted for you, because I imagined myself standing in front of the pearly gates of heaven and found myself at a loss to defend selecting either you or Mrs. Clinton for president, so I made an alternative choice.

At any rate, I have watched, and listened, and analyzed the information I see and hear in the media every day.  I have felt the anger, heartache, angst, and fear from individuals from both political parties and the anxieties that exist about among others about what you might do to our country and how you might represent us in the world once you take office. 

As a patriot and proud American, I prefer to sit outside the “us” (Democrat) and “them” (Republican) mentalities of the nation’s temperaments and speak as someone who is concerned about what has been happening to our country and where we are headed.  For the past eight years, our country has been “managed” by individuals who see the freedoms of our country as a “given”, and who live within their own comfortable society, forgetting that there are people in our nation (nay, the world), who have not lived as privileged a life.  You are one of those people, who have lived a privilege life, but I believe that you do understand what the previous administration did not—that the people are the foundation of this nation, and they have been forgotten.  As one of the regular people, I commend you for that insight. 

To the Democrats who cry and who would fight against you because they “lost”, and who tout, “He’s not my President!” I say to you—YES HE IS.

If you are an American, then, YES HE IS. 

Whether you voted for him or not, whether you support him or not, whether you like him or not, Donald John Trump  is to be the 45^th President of these United States.  You, as Americans, and patriots have a duty to accept that truth, and adjust your mindset to support our nation and its leadership, regardless of the party they represent.  In your negative rhetoric and anger for choices made that were not yours, I believe that, by refusing to accept President Trump, you are inadvertently (or perhaps purposely?) separating our nation into “Us” and “them”. 

In 1858 Abraham Lincoln delivered a speech in the Hall of Representatives in which he stated, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."  This statement is the echo of the lord whose birth we just celebrated and can be found in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  For those of you who choose not to support the existence of God or who know not the bibles please understand that your lack of belief does not diminish this message.

President Lincoln went on to say, “I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.  I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery, will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new -- North as well as South.

As a nation I say to you, that we have become enslaved, not by color, as those of you may choose to believe, but by our own entitlements, our own ignorance, our own greed, and our own personal beliefs.  As a nation, as a people, we have taken our morals, ethics, and values to the highest levels of turpitude and we hide behind the internet, Facebook, Twitter, etc., to support the uncivilized rhetoric that spills across all forms of our communication.  Where one might not verbally tout your color, religion, gender, or nationality face-to-face, he or she certainly sees no problem with hiding behind a computer screen to spit the type of venomous verbiage that would destroy the hopes and dreams of another, or minimize the beautiful life of a face not seen.

I tell you, that use of media and words prompt deeds that encompass the negativity and destruction that has blighted us as a nation.  Mr. Trump, we are people in need of serious correction, and this correction must begin with you, Sir. 

You are to be the leader of a free world, but even freedom must be tempered when it comes at the cost of another person’s life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.  Because of the internet, we now live in a nation untempered, with bullies who would degrade and denigrate the life and soul of another with words that can, indeed cause unnecessary pain or anger, or worse, wars and loss of allies.

To make this nation GREAT AGAIN, you must eat, breathe, and live that greatness with every word and deed, or our divided nation, may, indeed fall.  We need a conscience in this nation.  We all need someone to tap us on the shoulder when we are getting off track or when we become too involved what is going on in our own world that we can’t see the forest for the trees. 

I ask you, Mr. Trump to surround yourself with those people who share the vision of greatness that you started with because we are counting on you to right this ship.  You have the tools to do just that. And you won’t make us all happy—that’s impossible.  But you have a belief and a strength that comes from the love you have for our creator, who put you where you are today.  Tap deeply into that shimmering light, sir.  For God is the illumination from which you must draw your strength and  wisdom to make the decisions and to do what is best for his people all over the world, not just for our nation.  God loves when we love all of his people (yes, even Hillary and Rosie).

I leave you now with these words of wisdom from philosopher Epictetus, please take lessons from these words of old, and serve us well, sir.

“How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself and in no instance bypass the discriminations of reason? You have been given the principles that you ought to endorse, and you have endorsed them. What kind of teacher, then, are you still waiting for in order to refer your self-improvement to him? You are no longer a boy, but a full-grown man. If you are careless and lazy now and keep putting things off and always deferring the day after which you will attend to yourself, you will not notice that you are making no progress, but you will live and die as someone quite ordinary. From now on, then, resolve to live as a grown-up who is making progress, and make whatever you think best a law that you never set aside. And whenever you encounter anything that is difficult or pleasurable, or highly or lowly regarded, remember that the contest is now: you are at the Olympic Games, you cannot wait any longer, and that your progress is wrecked or preserved by a single day and a single event. That is how Socrates fulfilled himself by attending to nothing except reason in everything he encountered. And you, although you are not yet a Socrates, you should live as someone who at least wants to be a Socrates.”

God Bless you and your family and in the New Year and may God soften the hearts of those who may oppose the hope and good works that you wish to bring to the office of President of the United States, and may God –through you, make our country Great Again.

LG