We are living in troubled and divisive times. And we are all, for the most part, afraid that things will get much worse before they get better. Anyone who knows me knows that I knew him way before he was #47 and #45. The first time I met him, he came to visit the architect for whom I was working, pointed to me and simply said “coffee” – no “please”, no “might I have a cup of”…just “coffee”. I very politely pointed him to the firm’s kitchen telling him a fresh pot was brewing and to feel free to help himself. That was when I knew he was a self-centered misogynist.

Flash forward about 12 years or so. I have now become a senior real estate lender at a major international bank, and the same person now proves to me he is a self-centered racist and slumlord. He applies for a major syndication loan to build a casino in Atlantic City…he pads his financial statements and tax returns, tells me with that HUGE sense of grandiosity that he has a lot of property in New York that he is trying to sell to up his net worth (at the expense of the tenants, by the way)..and I recommend to our overseas credit policy committee that we decline his application. And we did. And he was upset.

Those are facts. That is who he was and is, just bigger, older and more grandiose…in his own mind.

And I am afraid. I am afraid of the possibility of Marshall Law. I am afraid of the gutlessness of the GOP and the Supreme Court to curtail what appears to be the future according to #47, or at least the foreseeable future. I am afraid for the innocent and the helpless, for the sick and old, for those who have sought protection on our shores, for the poor and the middle class. I am afraid for anyone of color, for anyone who worships on a day other than Sunday or who does not worship at all. I am afraid that the clocks are all going backwards and not just by one hour but by decades. I am afraid for our educators, and for their students who have felt safe with them regardless of what they may or may not have been able to tell their own parents. I am afraid for our air, our parks, our nature and our history. I am afraid that superstition and cult beliefs will overtake science. I am afraid that children will languish in foster homes or orphanages because same-sex couples (if they are still allowed to marry, that is) won’t be able to adopt them. I am afraid that children born in the US to immigrant parents will be sent to countries where they know no one or have nothing. I am afraid that no one seems to understand what the right to bear arms means, and that even if they do, they no longer believe in the need to live by the Constitution and that all of the rights provided to a bunch of IMMIGRANTS and their heirs by our forefathers are being burned to the ground along with books and newspapers.

But my fears are all based on fact. Not on falsehoods.

Like many of us, I spend a fair amount of time on social media. I never post anything I haven’t checked out to be real – not just because of my own sense of integrity, but because by posting phony stories I become no better that “the other side” – I fuel that burning fire of hatred. I have seen way too many stories posted recently by friends of mine who are on the same political side as I am…posts that were ludicrous, exaggerated, taken out of context, sometimes laughable but mostly just a downright load of crap.

We who know the reality of current events, who investigate the truth, who analyze the facts, who understand the history, who abhor what is happening to our country, who can distinguish between nationalism and patriotism …WE are the ones being hurt by the false posts, by the insulting memes, by the foul language. I HATE what is happening, but at least what I am hating is not a figment of my imagination. It is real. It reeks of Germany in the 30’s and 40’s. But by posting unchecked tales of threats, or hidden secrets. For example – ooooo what does JD Vance have to hide since he changed his name??? I don’t like him, and I think he is unfit to represent this country, but NEWSFLASH – he changed his name to take the name of his stepfather because he had had a troubled relationship with his biological one. Not unusual and there was no secret agenda.

Check your facts – don’t just repost things – there are plenty of sources to investigate stories before you post them.

I truly think Michelle Obama nailed it when she said “When they go low, we go high”. If we sink to their depths, to the pits filled with insults, fear-mongering and hate – they win. We can’t let them.