A Cataclysmic Disaster?

The nature of democracy is that everyone who is eligible gets a vote and there is an outcome. The people speak and some get the result they want and some don't. And so Donald Trump will be the 45th president of the United States of America. Who am I to presume the wishes of those who voted for him are any more right or wrong than those that voted against him. Of the many people from the USA who visit my humble offerings on here I hope you all managed to vote for it a precious right that we in the "free world" get and many others don't.

What a momentous year 2016 has been. I have many friends on my social media who might describe themselves or be described as "Liberal Lefties". They are all up in arms and outraged by the result just as they were by the vote to leave the EU in June. You cannot undo what a majority voted for because you don't like the result.

Like the EU vote there seems to have been a vile, divisive and hateful campaign waged. And Mr Trump has many wounds to heal. What none of us know just as on that day in June is exactly what happens next.

There has been way too much hatred and bigotry but it has been a year in which large numbers of voters chose to attack and dismiss what is often referred to as the Establishment. And that is the power democracy has.

I have no idea if either Mr Trump or Mrs May actually have a clear plan on the future. Let us hope they find a plan to avoid what so many see as a series of cataclysmic disasters.

Away from the big world my passage has been pretty bumpy in the last few days. It has been a mighty long week and my ship hit a very large iceberg yesterday. I'm not sinking but I'm questioning whether I should still be in this business. Can I hang onto the good not the bad? The lesson though is I need to be more circumspect when it comes to pointing out psychiatric realities as it can get me into trouble. Perhaps a dignified silence may be the approach in future.

But it is Wednesday and that means reading and music. Verdi and The Undertones accompanied my car journeys and now Mozart as so often accompanies my evening. With that I will leave you and return to Graham Greene.

I Heard a Voice.