In Another Parallel Universe...

It is day one-million-four-hundred-and-thirty-two of Trump's fifty-third presidency. 

Well, that's what it feels like. 

And yet, I still cannot believe it. 

I can't believe that my fellow Americans actually chose this. 

In a parallel universe, Kamala Harris is president. 

 In a different parallel universe, Kamala Harris is not the first female president, or the first black female president. 

In another parallel universe, slavery ended in the United States in 1834--the same year it ended in the British colonies with the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 (it took effect Aug. 28, 1833). 

And in another parallel universe, slavery ended in the United States in 1807, when the British Empire abolished the slave trade (except in areas ruled by the East India Company, e.g., the American colonies). 

 

In one parallel universe, people are humble because they value humility. Narcissism gives rise to pity. Everyone admires hard work, creativity, and intelligence, but nobody thinks they are better or more worthy of respect than someone else because they happen to be intelligent, athletic, or creative. 

In another parallel universe, nothing is monetized. Everyone gives and shares and takes what they need. Everyone understands that people don't all need or want the same things. They believe that having enough is best. And everyone has enough. 

 In another universe, everyone only takes. They use physical strength to take by force. They use their intelligence to steal and embezzle. They use their creativity to fabricate and lie. They use emotional intelligence to browbeat, gaslight, and manipulate. It doesn't matter if they have enough, they take and take. It doesn't matter what they must do to get what they want. They will lie, steal, cheat, exploit, manipulate, rape, torture, murder, and destroy anything that poses an obstacle to getting what they want. Everyone takes from others, and everyone is robbed by others. Compassion, tolerance, and mutual respect are outlawed. Liberty and justice pose an obstacle to people who take. This universe is dying, but the takers care only about enriching themselves now, and as long as they live--the more so in response to the hate they generate by everything that they take.