Fringe
Carpets.
Carpets have a fringe.
A fancy decorative edge.
A flash, a glint there to catch the eye.
The broad weave of the carpet, the dull, boring part in the middle, is usually not as attractive as the golden edge.
The center of the carpet is where you stand.
The fringe has an initial appeal.
Look what I have bought into.
But it soon gets old.
You walk into your room, and the fringe trips you up.
What was once a feature is now a distraction.
It catches the dirt.
You can't get it clean.
Its only purpose was to draw attention.
Maybe I spent too much?
The broad weave of the carpet does the real work.
It keeps your feet warm when you walk across the hard, cold floor.
The fringe can't do that.
Now, the fringe has tripped you up once too often.
It's time to trim the fringe back.
Maybe cut it off entirely.
Once free of the fringe, your carpet has a new life.
It no longer serves two purposes.
It can fulfill the reason why you bought it in the first place.
It can do the real work.
Fringe.
Political movements.
Movements have their fancy edges also.
They throw out flashy objects on social media to draw attention.
They stir the pot and get people talking.
But do they put feet into motion?
When the world is cold and hard, are they there to give comfort and compassion?
Or do they only think of themselves?
Do they only think about how much money and power they can pile up?
Often, the political fringe will trip up a given society.
It will cause the self-destruction of the individual.
The political and social fringe can draw attention, but when it comes down to doing the real work, they trip up the body politic.
Fringes, political, and social fringes are out only for themselves.
Like the social media poster who sets out a sympathy trap, they bait for clicks only to increase their following.
They're not there for the children.
They're not there for the dogs and cats.
They're not there for the poor.
They're not there for the person who has done their time and needs a job.
They're not there for those who have lost the people they love through addiction.
They're not there to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and give comfort to those who despair.
No.
No, they are there only for themselves.
Right or left self-interest does not discriminate who they ask for money.
On the contrary, self-interest is an equal opportunist parasite willing to take advantage of the compassionate as well as the racist.
It's not just those who want to save the turtles that get taken advantage of.
The hardcore racist gets taken advantage of, too.
People like the President tell them things that they have long believed to be true about non-white races.
He makes a pact with them that only he can change the movement of time and restore the glorious White past.
They want to believe in their racist Santa Claus and will follow him over a cliff to their own economic and social doom, only to make it all come true.
The fringe.
However, remember that the fringe is not the broad weave of American society.
The heart of America is where the real work is done.
The fringe, all fringe, wants you and me to believe they are there for us, but they are not.
The pitchman who wants to sell you the greatest frying pan ever made will not be there to comfort you when your job goes away.
He won't be there when you can't pay for the medicine you need.
He won't hang with you at the time of your despair.
He'll still want that payment of $19.99 each month.
Our attention should be on the broad weave of our Republic.
Let the voices of intolerance, racism, and hate be so much fringe.
Like a crow at the top of a tree that squawks, don't let it distract from our true purpose.
Our purpose is to give warmth and compassion to each other in this cold, hard world.
To give a place for each of us to stand upon the earth.
To realize each one of us our truth, our purpose, and to reach for and obtain that purpose.
We are all here to embrace, not pull apart.
We are here to bring people together, not separate them.
We are here to love, not to hate.
Peace
Daniel J Frey aka Toby