Trending
A friend told me about a group called Iowans for Decency that was going along the RAGBRAI route doing a listening tour. Intriqued, I met up with them at Marshalltown's great public library. Peter Hedges, author of "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" had some thought provoking questions.
He started by asking "How are you doing?" which provoked me to say I was mad at what is happening to my country. To best channel that anger, I've been going to farmer markets and county fairs in support of Chris Jones efforts to clean up Iowa's waters. There's so much more I could have said because I'm spitting mad and at times overwhelmed by the barrage of injustices, criminal behavior and lack of integrity.
When Peter asked "What does indecency look like?" I didn't know where to start. I mentioned the current indecencies of Iran and Gaza but I could have added Venezuela, Cuba, and Ukraine to the list of war crimes. I was saddened and horrified on January 6, 2021. Donald Trump's meeting with President Zelensky in February of 2025 made me ashamed to be an American. The disrespect he shows to our allies around the world is sickening. ICE and Border Patrol unconstitutional actions killing citizens and immigrants, sending children to concentration camps. Defunding healthcare, education, USAID, public broadcasting and Voice of America. Destruction of the East Wing, gilding the people's house and paving the Rose Garden with taxpayer’s money. What makes me the angriest is the amount of corruption that is being ignored and tolerated by our Congress. The question that bothered me most was the last one "In 25 years when a young person asks what you did during this time; what will you say and how will you prove it?" What will you and I say?