History not being made

In 1968 the Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago, and I was home from college for the summer there.  The convention was marked by urgent demonstrations outside the meeting hall, demonstrations that the Chicago Police Department broke up with (in my opinion) totally unnecessary violence.  It was one of the occasions when folks were chanting, "The whole world is watching!"  And those were the days before the internet.

Dick Gregory applied for a parade permit, which was denied on the basis of the unsettledness of everything.  So he headed south down Michigan Avenue anyway, and when he was confronted -- this time by the National Guard, which was much more professional in its security measures -- he explained that he and a few friends had decided to walk home.  To the south-side ghetto.  A few friends, well, maybe 100 or 200.

My mother lived on South Michigan Avenue.  I declared my intention of going up to watch the confrontation between Dick Gregory and the National Guard.  My mother admitted that she couldn't stop me if I was determined to go, but she hoped I was willing to walk because she wouldn't give me the car keys and buses would be few and far between at that hour of the night.  "History is being made 3 miles from here!" I insisted.  "It can be made without you being there in danger," my mother replied.  My mother was not known in her parenting for taking a stand, but she sure did this time.  I sat in the house fuming, not being able to be where history was being made.

Now that we're all on the internet, I was hoping to have a ring-side seat for history being made today.  I was SO hoping that the Electoral College would do their constitutionally-appointed job and elect a President competent to hold the office.  Wouldn't that have been exciting to see?  Unfortunately, almost all of them abdicated that responsibility and rubber-stamped their state's vote.  So now we really will have a Trump presidency.

I would have loved to have had a(n) historical moment like this one that didn't happen during my lifetime.  I would have loved even more not to have to face at least 4 years of the disaster that I (and many others) foresee under -- can I force my fingers to type this? -- President Donald J. Trump.  The world did not respond to my wishes.  So we go on from here, looking for ways to be faithful.  God bless us all.