I did not want to write a blog post for today. I did not want to blog on Maundy Thursday.
Maundy Thursday is a day to ponder Christ’s Last Supper with His disciples. It is a day to remember Christ’s arrest and his betrayal at the hands of His disciples. It is a day to anticipate His brutal treatment and hideous crucifixion on the cross that we will remember tomorrow.
Maundy Thursday is a day to slow down and consider the sacrifice Jesus Christ made for each of us. The horrors He endured for us on “Good Friday” should weigh heavily on our hearts and minds today, tomorrow, and Saturday as we dare not let the joy of Easter Sunday creep into our thoughts yet.
I did not want to blog today. I did not want to rant and rave. I did not want to call out my fellow Americans for blindly following Donald Trump. I did not want to get all worked up and end up with a headache or high blood pressure or a stomach ulcer.
So that’s not what I’m going to blog about today. Instead, I am writing about some of my very deep concerns and try to put the pieces together of how in the world America got to this place of distrust and disagreement.
I never anticipated that writing my little blog this is supposed to be about my writing, my reading, and my love of studying history was going to consume all my time in 2025 or that a US President’s abuse of power would come to be all I can even think about.
I never thought I would be able to truly understand what happened in Germany in the 1930s, but I now have a crystal-clear understanding. It only takes an extreme level of evil in a handful of people and the brainwashing of enough of the population.
It comes on slowly.
Each thing that is said or done sounds bad when you see that one thing in isolation.
You convince yourself that good people will prevail.
Something else is said or done, and you start to realize that “good people” are believing the lies.
You eventually realize that too many of the “good people” and “good Christians” in particular aren’t who you thought they were.
You realize that too many of the white people in America have a deep-seated prejudice against all the non-white people.
You realize that the white people in America who fly the Confederate flag in their yard or put a Confederate flag sticker on their pick-up truck aren’t just stuck in the past. They aren’t just showing their pride that one of their ancestors fought on the wrong side in the American Civil War. No. They hate black people. They don’t just hate black people… they wish them harm. If this is not how they really feel, they need to realize that’s the impression they are giving to black people and people who think racial prejudices are a bad thing.
You realize that too many of the professing Christians have completely pushed aside the teachings of Jesus and have put a political leader above Christ and the good of the whole. You start hearing them say they truly believe that Trump was chosen and sent by God to save our country.
They hijack the American flag as theirs and theirs alone, along with the color red which used to be my favorite color. Now I’m afraid to wear red for fear someone will assume I’m a Republican.
You realize you cannot reason with the people who support the President of the United States. You cannot have a civil conversation with them. You can find no common ground with them because their world view is something you can’t comprehend.
This is not only tearing our country apart. It is tearing families apart.
“As a lifelong Presbyterian, I was taught that one should always strive to agreeably disagree”… to respect others’ points of view… to be able to calmly discuss our differences. Although we may not convince the other person to see things our way and they may not convince me to see things their way, the two of us should respect each other and in the end agree that we see things differently but we will still be friends.
The prejudices and hate were already there, but it became common during the 2016 presidential campaign that family gatherings for holidays or family birthdays and anniversaries are strained to the point that such gatherings only leave people with a sense of dread because they know there is always at least one person in the family who feels compelled to bring up politics at the table even though they know everyone in the group does not agree with them.
It seems to always be the family member with the most extreme right-wing opinions that will bring it up. They don’t bring it up for discussion. They bring it up to start an argument… an argument no one wins… and eventually everyone goes home and either dreads the next time they have to be together or vows they will just cut themselves off from the relatives they disagree with. It is impossible to find common ground anymore.
One thing we were taught in school about the American Civil War was that it often pitted “brother against brother.” Those words never made any sense to me because I couldn’t imagine being at such deep odds with my brother that we would be on opposing sides in a civil war. How can siblings raised by the same parents under the same roof be at odds over basic tenets of their faith and the basic tenets of the US Constitution?
I can’t believe my country has turned into a nightmare of a place where authoritarian fear-mongering reigns and the US Constitution is trampled every day and no one seems able to stop it.
I can’t believe I live in an America where people defending the US Constitution are openly belittled, made fun of, and shouted down on live TV by people who are willing to defend a US President to the death because their allegiance is to one man and not the US Constitution. I can’t believe it, but I see it every day.
Our “founding fathers” (and founding mothers, who get no credit!) warned us about totalitarianism, kings, and wannabe-kings, but after 249 years we didn’t think it could happen here.
I don’t recognize my country anymore.
As I commented to a blogger friend earlier this week, “I’m at the point now that I watch the world going on around me and on TV as if it’s 2024 and I wonder how they can ignore what is happening in real life. It reminds me of the feeling that one has when a parent dies and as you drive to the funeral home you want to roll down the car window and scream, “Don’t you know my ________ just died? How can you be going around business as usual as if nothing horrible has happened?”
My faith is in God. I’m not afraid to die because I know where my soul is going to spend eternity. I look forward to eternity! It is everything between now and then that I dread.
On the bright side, at least I don’t have to spend Easter with relatives with whom I disagree on politics and religion.
Janet
Janet's Writing Blog 
I hope your Easter will be peaceful and joyful.
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I hope your Easter will be peaceful and joyful.
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Good sermonette, Janet. I agree with every anguished word you write.
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Yours, too, Vicki. It will just be my sister and me, and we are of one mind when it comes to politics. Our brother in Georgia? Not so much.
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Thank you, Pat. I think I need a break from being an American citizen!
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I understand your feeling. It was gratifying to read that both Australia and Canada have shown a growing support in upcoming elections for politicians that are pulling away from Trump/US rather than closely aligning with his mis-principles. And BT (before Trump) these were two of our closest allies, part of Five Eyes. (The Five Eyes alliance is a global intelligence sharing partnership composed of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It originated from a 1946 agreement, the UKUSA Agreement, and evolved into a comprehensive intelligence-sharing arrangement focused on national security. ) Too bad he can’t discern what has worked/been beneficial from his misguided beliefs in his own infallibility.
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I’m so ashamed of being an American right now that I want to apologize to people from other countries.
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What you wrote, Janet, struck me deeply. Not just because it feels so relevant today, but because it reminds me of a time we thought was long behind us.
My parents lived through the world war II as a young man and woman. They witnessed how hatred didn’t arrive with a bang — it crept in slowly. It started with jokes and rumors that seemed harmless. Then came the small measures: who was allowed to speak, to shop, to enter which places. And then came the real exclusion. The bans. The lists.
Antisemitism didn’t start with violence. It started with suspicion. With the idea that they were different. That they were a threat.
And the majority? They stayed silent. Or looked away. Or told themselves: “It won’t get that bad.”
Until it did get that bad.
One day, even simple kindness became dangerous.
Offering someone bread could be too much. Asking a question became risky. People whispered instead of speaking aloud. Even at the dinner table, you had to be careful — about what you said and to whom.
I recognize that atmosphere again today. The silence. The fear of speaking up. The postponement of words, just to keep the peace. People keeping their opinions to themselves — not because they have nothing to say, but because saying it might cost too much.
That’s how it always begins. Not with violence, but with silence.
Not with blows, but with people looking the other way.
History teaches us: democracy rarely vanishes all at once. It crumbles bit by bit.
With small concessions. With excuses. With shifting boundaries until no one remembers where they once stood.
Still, despite it all, I want to wish you peace in your heart, and I hope you find comfort and light this Easter weekend.
Even in dark times, those small moments of hope and connection matter.
Warm regards from The Netherlands.
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Yes, Pat. the Five Eyes Alliance has worked so well for so long. We now have a President who not only does not know history… he doesn’t care. He can’t be bothered with history or facts. Thank you for the reminder about The Five Eyes Alliance and the link! It appears that we can depend on Australia, Canada, and all our former allies to do the right thing. Their leaders seem to have more sense and integrity than Trump has on the nail on his little finger. He is ignorant of how government works and how international diplomacy is supposed to be conducted. He is blinded by his own craving for power. I often said during his first term that he didn’t know what he didn’t know. But now he has surrounded himself with just enough evil people who have learned how to work the system, and they spent the four years of the Biden Administration writing Project 2025 and finding every single crack or weakness in the system. The destruction is happening at warp speed. We all underestimated the depths of evil in the MAGA nation.
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I do, too, Liz. That’s how I feel.
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Every day it feels like we are gaining speed, rushing to a tipping point from which heaven only knows if we will ever recover. I fear for my country and I can not understand why people don’t realize the danger. You may be the a law-abiding person, with nothing you think you need to fear, and you can be caught up for being in the wrong place at the wrong time before you realize that the protections you thought you had have disappeared.
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I am deeply, deeply touched and moved by your words, Matroos. My heart aches for what your parents lived through. My parents were not touched as personally by World War II and the years leading up to it simply because the American mainland was protected by distance and two oceans. My father worked at Martin Aircraft in Maryland as a structural steel draftsman during the war. He was no drafted because he was married and had a child and was just old enough that he did not get drafted into the Army. The Martin Aircraft plant built airplanes for the war. It was near coast and close to a river. At any time, Germany could have launched a torpedo up the river and into the plant. The roof of the plant was covered with soil and made to look like a farm from the air. I have to remind myself that although the mainland was never bombed, my parents had brothers and nephews fighting in Europe and no one knew when the war would end or which side would prevail. I have the advantage of learning about it as history… history with a good ending. My parents talked about the rationing, the scarcity of items, and the constant reminders that “Loose lips sink ships.” That “Loose lips sink ships” immediately popped in my head when the news broke several weeks ago about the top US military and security people texting about the details of bombing the Houthis in Yemen on a not-so-secure app. My parents and your parents would be absolutely appalled at the lackadaisical attitude today’s “leaders” have. They are too many generations removed from World War II to grasp the dangers. I’m afraid my comments aren’t as well-organized as yours, but these are the thoughts your comments triggered in me. Yes, it all happens slowly and no one connects the dots until it is too late. Thank you for your thoughts and concern. I wish you peace this week. My best regards from North Carolina. I don’t plan to blog again until Monday and I hope it will be a non-political post. Time will tell.
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Exactly! And perhaps when something like that happens to a relative of a Republican member of Congress, maybe, just maybe, they will muster enough courage to speak up. I honestly don’t know what it’s going to take for the Republicans to stop going along with everything Trump says and does. He has crashed through all the guardrails we thought were there. We thought they would always be there.
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I was saying to my brother just a couple of hours ago that I finally understood what happened in Germany in the 1930s after a lifetime of wondering how a country full of decent, hard-working common-sensical people could have allowed Hitler to take and keep power. He reminded me that Hitler did it in large part by turning a broken economy around and making people feel less anxious about money. Trump has taken a successful economy and broken it. I doubt the rich power-brokers in America will allow him to continue for long. I have to believe that anyway. Have a peaceful Easter, Janet, and hold on to hope.
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And yet, you and I have done nothing wrong . . .
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🙏🤞🙏😇🙏😇🙏
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Easter is not celebated here and the very few Easter Eggs that I do see are expensive and melt very quickly and I don’t fancy a Kinder Egg either..hot cross buns I make myself…I do miss Easter maybe next year I will go home for Easter…
I wish you a peaceful Easter, Janet…xx
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Carol, you’ll just need to find a way to celebrate the day in your own way. I wish you a peaceful Easter, too.
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That’s right. The ones who need to apologize to all of us don’t have a clue they did anything wrong on November 5. They’re proud of what they did and they think we’re stupid.
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More’s the pity.
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It makes me so sad to read this. Like you I believe in God and I wonder sometimes if he factored so much of what happens everywhere, and I mean everywhere even though some places more so than others, especially at the moment, into the gift of free will. I just keep hoping those that understand the preciousness of our existence will override the present, somewhere in the future.
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It is indeed a sad situation as so many families are struggling through political divisions. Relationships one thought were solid and would forever remain so are now ripped apart or at best strained. We find ourselves in a nation severely divided and families divided.
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“Maundy Thursday is a day to slow down and consider the sacrifice Jesus Christ made for each of us. The horrors He endured for us on “Good Friday” should weigh heavily on our hearts and minds today, tomorrow, and Saturday as we dare not let the joy of Easter Sunday creep into our thoughts yet.” Touched me deeply
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Thank you, Sibongile, for letting me know that. It means a great deal when anyone tells me the words that I wrote touched them. I am truly touched by your comment. Thank you.
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