Life Adventures, Society

Seven Seconds

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In 2016, a man appeared out of nowhere onto our television screens. He proclaimed, “I, Donald  J. Trump, am running for the president of the United States.” We saw a person who stood tall and looked straight into the camera without blinking. We heard what sounded like the brave conviction of a person who promised to “Make America Great Again,” whatever that meant.

Trump was passionately convincing, a trait that is important to all successful salespersons. I can understand how this newcomer of the political world was impressionable. After all, we know the importance of that first seven seconds with any person whom we engage.

Within seven seconds, we decide that apples taste good. (Note: if you finely chew about 200 apple seeds they will be converted into cyanide and you will die.)

Forming opinions during initial encounters have helped us survive. We learned that bees sting, fire burns, and it is perilous to stand on the edge of a cliff.

Within seven seconds, whether good or bad, it is difficult to reverse our perceptions. To many people, candidate Donald Trump was the first bite of a delicious apple. Each bite has taken us closer to his core and we are now faced with a man who can no longer distinguish facts from fiction.

But we still support him.

In our physical world, we can count votes, people, and dead bodies. Hence, the following statements made by Trump are verifiably false.

His inaugural crowd was larger than he proclaimed.
2-3 million people voted illegally.
Crime is higher than it has ever been in the past 47 years.
Any media portraying him negatively is fake news.
Bad people are coming to get us.

And finally, must we live in constant fear of an enemy we cannot see? (With modest research, one will find that Trump has always had self-proclaimed “enemies.”)

I am concerned for those who struggle with the constant need of admiration and attention as the case with extreme narcissists. If this personality disorder elevates to inventing and propagating lies, the inflicted person becomes a dangerous time bomb. This person cannot be the president of the United States.

Would you agree that the following are noble traits of school principal, manager, president or any leader?
One who shows compassion, temperance, caution, and reserve.
One who weighs both sides of an argument before making a decision.
One who admits and learns from defeat.
One who listens to those who are experts in their fields.
One who considers the needs and safety of his followers above his own.
One who weighs the consequences of harm to others.

Is this Donald Trump?

Should a leader diminish the pursuit of one’s happiness by inventing false enemies? (In 2016 Trump called for “a complete ban and shutdown of all Muslims entering our country.”)
Should a leader encourage and inspire us, or should he dominate us to show his own worthiness and importance?

Is our president mentally healthy?

As our civilization has advanced, we have harnessed marvelous technology that makes our lives fun and enjoyable. On the down side, this same technology can decimate the same civilization that created it.

As tensions between nations and within our country rise, we place ourselves in such a fragile predicament. Yes, there is an enemy amongst us. You will not find this enemy across the street or even in another country. The enemy is trapped inside our own brains, and has arisen from our own ignorance and fear.

Within seven seconds, I wonder how will we form our opinions as we view the intercontinental ballistic missiles in the sky? Should we bury our story entitled, “The Complete Book of Humanity” that we can share with the next generation? Or should we conquer the invisible enemy by standing up for our friends and all those who have been oppressed? The beauty of being human is that we can look up and perceive the puppet strings by which we have been moved.

6 thoughts on “Seven Seconds”

  1. Hi I am so delighted I found your blog page, I really found you by accident, while I was browsing on Yahoo for something else, Anyways I am here now and would just like to say cheers for a incredible post and a all round interesting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to look over it all at the minute but I have saved it and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read more, Please do keep up the excellent job.

  2. I just want to say that I read your blogs daily and appreciate that you have the guts to be honest with how you feel about tRump (or #45, as my friend calls him, not being able to say his name:) I’m sure you’re getting some criticism for it, but your style is obviously heartfelt, as opposed to ugly and angry. And, I agree with your concerns about the state that this country is in with him as our “leader.” 🙁

  3. Whatever is going on inside President Trump’s mind, we can never know. We can only see from his actions what he is like, and so far, his actions have been more of a knee-jerk type response – or at least, that’s how it looks over on this side of the pond.

    There’s much prayer going on over here for him, for all Americans, and for our own parliament with this whole Brexit business.

    Sometimes, looking at the news makes me wish I wasn’t a human. I’d like to be a cat, please. But I’m a human, so I have to live with it, and do what I can to make it better to be human for the other humans around me. If that makes sense? No matter what comes from the folks in power, we have to continue to treat the people around us with love and respect and dignity.

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