The Meek Shall Inherit
Rock on, Bishop Mariann Budde!
It’s my birthday, and I’ll bitch if I want to.
For the last day or so, I’ve had the song “The Meek Shall Inherit” from Little Shop of Horrors on a loop in my head.
With my ADHD brain, I leap around from thought to thought, and I usually end up in the horror realm or in a musical, and here we are in a horror musical with a Choose Your Own Ending.
The other day, I saw zero issues with a religious person asking for kindness and mercy for the meek and less fortunate during a religious service based on a religion that prides itself on saying that it will help the meek and the poor.
I saw zero issues with pleading for kindness and mercy for people who actually believed what is written on the Statue of Liberty. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…”
The New Colossus
Emma Lazarus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
However, it seems like the US is living in a Little Shop of Horrors with a Mean, Green Mother from Outer Space, and that Green Mother is not Lady Liberty.
Things have turned topsy-turvy, just like in a horror movie.
Thank you to amazing, brave people, women such as Bishop Mariann Budde, for having the courage to say what most of us sane people have been thinking. The Emperor Has No Clothes. Thank you. Thank you, Bishop Budde.
Asking for clemency for poor, meek, unhoused, struggling people apparently is Forbidden.
Yet freeing 1600 criminals into the streets is The Way.
As a US citizen who has been paying taxes to a country that I’ve not lived in since I was five years old, I feel I can express my opinions. I didn’t want to get started so soon into Season Two, on my birthday, no less, but I’m angry, and the bullshit will no doubt keep piling up.
I remember January 6.
My dad, who has since died, and I were talking on the phone right after the Trump speech in front of the capital. We talked about how Trump had told his followers to come to the Capital for the transfer of power hour, and he would be inside to greet them when they arrived. He said he would give them directions when they arrived.
After Dad and I chatted, I turned the TV back on to see if any of them went to the Capital while the power transfer was taking place.
I turned on the TV just as a flag pole was shattering a window. I had the same feeling I had when I saw that second plane in the Towers. I watched with horror as hundreds of angry people broke glass, piled into the capital, fought and trampled policemen and guards, and so on.
People died that day.
Yes, I know that some of the cops “let in” the rioters. I would, too, if a bazillion angry people with weapons and tear gas were storming the building I was to protect. It seemed logical that a few cops against hundreds in an angry mob would have to let them in because more people would have died in scuffles. It was the safe thing to do. Logical. I thought at the time, and I wasn’t wrong, that there were cameras everywhere, and the cops could figure out who was violently rioting and go arrest them later.
It was hilarious to see some of the insurrectionists wearing masks when so many had been antimask during the heights of the pandemic, and this was still in the pandemic. But they wore masks to hide their faces.
It was even more curious and weird to see people taking off their masks for selfies. I saw tons of live streams and, later on, pictures and videos that the people took of THEMSELVES breaking the law, shitting in the offices, destroying things, mocking things, rioting, and torturing police and guards. They gleefully posted on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and likely other places I don’t have accounts for. They told on themselves, we didn’t need security cameras and such. The insurrectionists proudly documented themselves violently rioting.
The J6ers told on themselves for weeks, months, years after as if it was a pledge of honour to be part of an insurrection to overthrow the government. They craved the attention from all levels but most of all, their Dear Leader.
I saw the people proudly showing off the noose they wanted to hang Mike Pence, the Vice President with if he didn’t do what they wanted.
And another thing I noted, when I called my dad back later that day after we both watched the storming of the capital, was that Trump wasn’t there to greet them as he promised.
We talked for a bit about how we saw and heard Trump say he would meet them at the Capital.
But he did not.
He broke his promise to them.
I thought that many would mention it, “Where is Trump?” “Why isn’t he here?” “We showed up, now what?” And some did question it a bit that day. But most of the insurrectionists seem to have forgotten over the years that he had promised to meet them and give them directions about what to do next.
It was on live TV. I saw it all Live. I saw Trump speak live. I saw the riots live. I did not watch replays or doctored after the fact footage after the fact (though I did later). I watched it LIVE.
Yet, most of them seemed to have forgotten that he was going to greet them and give them instructions.
I’ve watched tons of livestreams of the jail vigils and the waving of the posters of Ashli Babbitt. I have heard endless speeches from her mother, and both are symbols of martyrdom for the insurrectionists. Ashli broke into the Capital Building and then proceeded to break into a section that was off-limits. She was warned many times (we saw footage from several angles) not to do that before she was shot dead by security. I’ll never understand why she thought she was so special that the people aiming guns at her wouldn’t fire when it’s their job to protect the Capital.
For the vigils, I even happened to catch one by chance where Trump himself called into the vigil and he told them they were all doing a great job and he was going to get people out.
No surprise that he pardoned them.
However, I thought, like so many others, that he would go through the various cases as sure, some people were swept up in the chaos and were sheeple in the riots and likely didn’t really do much but scream and wave flags. But then there were others who actually killed people, who hurt security and police, who vandalized and destroyed their own Capital, and called for the Vice President to be HUNG with the hangman’s noose they had ready.
There were some who have gone through trials and been sentenced by a jury of their peers, not democrats or The Enemy, but Their Peers, and thrown in jail for decades.
However, Trump is lazy, as we know. He couldn’t be bothered to read through the reports, so he decided they were all Good People and set them all free.
I worry for the actual good people who turned in friends and family for their despicable deeds. I worry about the fact that illegal acts now have no consequences, yet poor people running from war-torn lands are suddenly the enemy?
Has Trump not noticed that the Bourbon Street Van Killer and the Las Vegas Truck Blowup Guy were born in the USA? Most school shootings are by Americans? Hey, those assassination attempts on him were by Americans. And weren’t some of these people Republicans? Most horrible crimes are Americans on Americans.
There are good people and bad people. There are mighty and meek. The mighty need to take care of the meek. The good people need to keep fighting for what’s right.
People aren’t good or bad by their race, their nationality, their gender, their sexuality, or their wealth. We know who people are by their actions.
As the Wizard of OZ said, “Good deed doers.”
In fact, this clip might be good for all of us to watch to brush up on our good deed doings, our courage, and our brains! Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!
It isn’t wrong or bad to show mercy to the less fortunate.
It IS wrong and bad to show mercy to those who have not earned it, who have zero remorse, whose hearts are full of hate and revenge.
Anyone with a brain knows that Trump freed those people because they are his biggest fans. They are a ready-made attack army who will do his bidding, and they’ve already proven it.
I think we all heard Trump tell them in the First Season to stand down. Now we’re hurtling through Season Two.
Depending on which version of Little Shop of Horrors you’ve seen, the monster might win or the heroes might win.
Keep battling those ever-spreading tentacles of hate, and don’t let them take root.
Don’t Feed the Plants!
