DoY 273

 Who is us?

Us is good people, good citizens.  Us goes to church at Christmas, Easter, and the Fourth of July, or whatever the Holt Days are in our faiths.  Us votes, ua goes to Support Your Local Police rallies,  Us stays no more informed than we have to be, or need to be.  Us are shocked to learns our government tortures,  Us never quite make the connection that our government supports dictatorships outside our country.  Why would us want to know unpleasant things like that?  Besides it's none of our business, right?  Us has a hard enough time keeping a job or jobs that give us some pocket change, let us feed the kids, and keep our automobiles running.  As long as the world out there leaves us alone, us is just fine with what they do among themselves.  Us is not busybodies.

DoY 266

 Who is us?

Us is a nice people, a clean people, a pretty people.  And us is.  I think us breeds for those.  (Fortunately, us can't tell.  We have to wait for archaeologists or at least anthropologists to get some perspective on us and our behavior to guess whether we do.  But consider a current amateur anthropologist's verdict:  we seem to.)  But mainly us breeds for lying.  Most of us is pretty good at it, and some of us is outstanding.  Us tells ourselves us is peaceful, kind, loving, gentle, thoughtful, et cetera.  But deep down us knows = I think us does - each of those holds a nugget or kernel of truth exploded into a lie.  When us studies history, what does us study?  States.  Wars.  Empires.  Religions - which mean pogroms, tortures, burnings at stakes, "civil" wars, slavery, annihilations, all that good, kind, merciful, loving stuff.  Us may be nice, clean, pretty, but that's not the record us leaves behind!

Doy 259

 Who is us?

Us is Biden scolding us for not living up to who us claims us is, sometimes, if us can do it anonymously, like singing it in church, or hollerin' it at a political rally, or better yet, cheering on the guy or gal who's declaiming who us is at a political rally.  Or "Amen!"ing a preacher on or near the Fourth of July!  Yup!  Us avoids risks as well as us can!  Even by protecting our anonymity when declaring how good us is!  That doesn't commit us to much, does it?  Us is cagey, clever, and obtuse!

DoY 252

 Who is us?

Us is, maybe, who we say we are?  Nah, I can't get there, not yet.  At least, us is also who we do we are.  Us is the bullies who tease the little girl with the broken leg.  Us is the principal with the unlivable rules of conduct.  Us is teachers teaching "history" as the school board requires instead of as it happened.  Us is church people storming the streets for black, brown, or tan people to terrorize.  Us is a car industry so locked to petroleum that it doesn't even try hard to convince us to go electric.  Us is an oil industry that won't quit, not until it's sucked Mother Earth dry, one way, or filthied her unlivable another way.  Us is singing hosannahs to our own sweetness and generosity while incarcerating over two and a quarter million of ourselves.  But on top of all that and more, us is nice, us is polite, us abides by the law, us sings in choirs.  And some of us, universe bless us, sings alone.

DoY 245

 Who *is* us?

Us is a people who complain about ending a war after only twenty years of accomplishing nothing.  (Yes, I know President Biden claims we accomplished something - we killed ben Ladin in Pakistan.  How does that count as part of our war in Afghanistan?  I guess that makes as much sense as attacking Afghanistan because nineteen Saudis attacked us.)  Us is a people who fight a war for twenty years without ever finding out whom we're fighting, or whom we're aiding whether they want it or not.  Us is a people who fights a War on Drugs that triples and quadruples and may ten-tuple the drug problem.  Us is a people who fight a War on Poverty by incarcerating two million (going on three million) of ourselves.  Heaven help us if we ever fight a War on Ignorance!