On the playground in fourth grade is where it all starts.

A rule is laid down concerning kickball, what the boundary of a foul ball is.

Most of the kids understand.

A few take that rule and write it in stone.

It's the beginning of a lifetime of two outwardly similar individuals living under two different assumptions.

The heart of the law and the letter of the law.

The letter of the law says you can't cross the street when the light is against you.

The heart of the law says I'm rushing to the bathroom before I have an accident.

The letter of the law person believes you should fill your pants; those are the rules.

The heart is soft.

The letter is hard.

Two different types of people living side by side in the same office, the same job, the same family.

Rules have to be obeyed, or society will break apart.

Rules are ethical up to a point, but circumstance has to be taken into account.

The heart of the law individual most always will jump to the end of the book and read the last page.

The letter of the law individual will dutifully read each and every page till they get to the end.

The heart of the law person will play their music loud after 10pm because they are in the mood.

The letter of the law person will call the police and report a noise violation.

The heart doesn't temper its designs with practicality; it jumps.

It is emotional, it rushes to the end, knowing its conclusion is correct because it feels it.

The letter takes each step in a decision with precision, with effort, step by step, the procedure followed by procedure never making a judgment until all the facts are known.

Neither is helpful.

Neither has a grasp on reality.

Neither helps moves humanity towards a better day.

Each in their own unique way, keep on keeping on holding humanity back from advancing.

Advancing towards a better day towards a real brotherhood of man.

Each can learn a lot from each other.

The letter needs to be tempered and internalize that circumstance plays a significant role in all of our decisions.

The heart needs to develop the patience to let all the facts come out before proclaiming what is right and what is wrong.

Our nation has been wrestling with the law for a good long while now.

Who is the law for?

Who is the law against?

Who does the law work for?

The President believes he is above the law of the United States, which he represents.

There are people in the House and Senate and in the media who agree with him.

They believe that the Constitution is in error.

They believe that the President sets what is real and what isn't real.

My question is, what happened to law and order?

What happened that so many of our representatives believe they are exempt from the laws that they write?

The laws that the administration is to enforce.

The laws that the judiciary is to adjudicate.

How can they defend injustice?

How can they support criminality?

How can political tyranny within a party be justified?

What happened to all those individuals who believed in the letter of the law?

They may have been stick-in-the-muds, but they could be counted on doing the right thing when everything was said and done.

What is it that adheres them to this President, who shall go un-named, so tightly that they would abandon their rigid principles of law?

Case in point...

Secretary and Ambassador John Bolton.

Has a point of view.

A person who has expressed a belief in the rule of law.

A person who worked with and around a group of people who do not believe in the American Experiment.

He traveled and networked with people in this administration who look to subvert the Constitution to maintain their power and accumulate personal wealth.

Is he okay with this?

Has he been corrupted also?

I say this all in bewilderment because what was up is now down and what was down is up.

Republicans and Democrats have traditionally disagreed with each other over how to cut or raise a tax.

Not how much of the Constitution they were going to agree with or burn.

A real palpable sickness has entered into the minds and hearts of our conservative brothers and sisters.

I lament that it may be caused by a weariness of our rocket speed societal changes.

A weariness caused by the stress of too much too fast.

With no way of digesting and integrating change into their lives.

Conservatives, liberals.

Tortoise and rabbits.

Slow, fast.

Different but two outward-facing ideals on the same coin.

They don't see eye to eye conservatives and liberals; that's because they are back to back.

They need each other more than they know.

Conservatives in our nation have a fever.

We liberals need to show our compassion and be the hope that they need.

We have to lift the hate they're holding onto.

We have to reach out and demonstrate that we can walk the walk and talk the talk.

We have to let them know we have their backs.

We have to support them and help them see past their fear.

We just can't sit around and hope things will be better.

We can't have justice alone, and they can't either.

Reconcile and find truth together.

That's how democracy heals.

That's how freedom rings.

That's how justice sings.

That's how hope works.

Be the hope.

Peace

DFrey