by By: Hardin, Kenneth L.
When my 34-year-old son was home recently, I reminded him of a lesson he had learned thirty years before while we were reminiscing. To demonstrate to him that even while my memory had deteriorated a bit, it was still capable of putting boots on the ground when I needed them, I even had video evidence of two pivotal instances.
I remembered how he was a rough-and-tumble child at the age of four, with no fear. He once bounced from cushion to cushion on the three-seat couch, using it like a trampoline and landed on the harder wooden armrest.
I once cautioned him about the dangers of this, but he disregarded me and continued to have fun. The video ended with his squeals of laughter and resumed with him lying on the couch, rubbing his head and shouting aloud while crying.
About a year later, he lay down on the hardwood floor and mimicked a long-forgotten TV star clown’s worm dance, which was his second learning experience. My son missed the crucial dance step where the weight should be distributed equally across your arms and chest as you descend in a snake-like motion because he pushed his body higher.
Rather, he threw his entire weight onto his face and struck the ground with great force. He instantly leaped to his feet while gripping his nose, inventing a brand-new, excruciating dance. My wife was furious both times and asked me why I hadn’t intervened before he hurt himself.
On both occasions, I gently said that I could have warned him about the agony that was about to happen and told him to stop, but he probably wouldn’t have listened or learned anything. I concluded by promising that he would never again do either of those things. I never had to accompany him to the emergency room again in the years that followed.
I hope that people will learn a similar lesson from the suffering caused by this twisted and vile presidency over the past six months. The agony will be genuine when you vote recklessly and selfishly against your own interests or with the intention of benefiting yourself at the expense of others.
I hope that when you get the same chance to vote in the 2028 presidential election and the upcoming midterm elections, you will remember how badly your face and head hurt right now and cast a more informed ballot.
I don’t want Democrats to provide any kind of calming or therapeutic relief by acting like the big guy or doing what’s best for the nation if they win a majority or the presidency. Like my small son, you have to learn a lesson.
Everyone involved in transforming this nation into a haven for hatred and division, those who took pleasure in depriving others of fundamental civil and human rights, and those who deprived their fellow citizens of life, freedom, and the ability to pursue happiness must be held accountable and judged.
After taking their oath, I would love to have the next Democratic president and members of Congress declare, “Okay, now you’re all going to learn today.”
The National Association of Black Journalists counts Kenneth L. Hardin among its members.
