The befouling of government
I’ve been out of the state for a tad less than a week on a trip up to the U.S. and Canadian Pacific Northwest. It’s a beautiful area of the world, full of intensely green islands and crystal blue water. A boater’s heaven, really. Preserved, pristine, and things “work” all around. It’s a great place to go visit and a hard place to leave.
But, like most of us, when a vacation is over it’s usually truly time to get home, and going home almost always feels good and comforting and brings its own rewards and satisfaction.
Coming home, it was great to see all the new construction work on the Interstate 5. Oh, true that some may groan and bleed all over about the inconvenience and traffic backups. Some moan about, “Why did it take so long?” And yes, “Why did it?” We’ve had the worst section of the Interstate for some time now.
In any case, CalTrans and our great state finally got around to it and, “Here we go.” It may take a couple of years, but the 5 is being rebuilt essentially from the 14 intersections up to Castaic. Whew, we needed that.
And there’s more! I was also greeted with a whole new top-coat over McBean, south of the mall. The street had indeed become weathered and worn and this too, was a bit past-due. But the wheels of government finally turned and tax dollars are being turned into infrastructure. Hurray! Again, a positive contribution of government on all our behalf. And, there’s a new bridge over McBean by the YMCA. And all-around town, there’s new repairs and enhancements to our roads and bridges. We may quibble on timing and efficiency, but positive things are happening at the state and local level and it’s a welcome sight to see and come home to. Our government is doing progressive, productive work.
But the trip coming home to this happy locale was at the same time, seriously compromised. What should have been a typical slog on a “puddle-jumper” from Victoria to Seattle and Seattle to Burbank became an air-polluted, disgusting, offensive, and unnecessarily awful experience. And all because of just one ill-behaved, thoughtless person.
A woman one row back thought it a great idea to bring her cat aboard the plane. These days, you can call just about anything a, “comfort animal” and bring them right alone without a care in the world for the people around you. Cats, dogs, reptiles, turkeys – all have been carried aboard.
But we all know cats don’t like to travel. They can hardly make a trip on a car, let alone a plane. They cry, they get sick, they have… problems.
This was no exception and the result could have been anticipated from the get-go. Her poor cat meows and cries. Louder and louder. The cat pees all over the carrier. Our rows are overcome with the putrid odor only cats can produce. We’re already suffering mightily from the stench – yet as the plane descends the cat loses all control and befouls the carrier and itself with “cat-poo.” Folks are now near losing it themselves, and still, the owner sees only her own needs.
She removes the cat from the carrier with thoughts of cleaning it, but the filth is instead spread all over the airline chair and seat belts.
Not enough? As we approach the customs terminal we’re told we must wait as there’s a broken plane stuck in our spot. We circle around and stop… for a half hour, suffocating in this now foul stench of a plane – all for the very thoughtless and poor choices of one individual on a plane of 86 now suffering souls.
The stewardess’s eyes are watering as we finally debark into clear Seattle air. Oh, what a relief to finally be free of the “befoulment by one.”
The morning of our trip I’d read that “President” Trump had retweeted a video worked up to show him driving a golf ball into Hillary Clinton’s back, knocking her over as she entered a jet. Yeah. The President of the United States of America, and “Leader of the Free World” sent out a video of him driving golf balls into the back of a woman, knocking her down.
The same morning, he taunted our newly crowned ultimate bad guy as, “Rocket Man.” Score another adolescent hit for the man who controls our nukes.
Meanwhile, Trumps Interior Department is stripping vast sections of pristine public spaces, in the ocean and on our interior, of ecological protections. Hundreds of thousands of acres will lose protections against industrial fishing and mining – and will be… befouled.
In all these things Trump is much more like the thoughtless lady befouling our airliner with her unfortunate cat than the productive government currently surrounding our fair city. Trump befouls the prestige of the office of the presidency. He befouls our decency. And soon will befoul the physical world around us. Our president is a Befouler in Chief; certainly not a productive builder of community as we see here, locally.
And this part was an unfortunate and very sad part to come home to.