Banning Muslims - Making America Great Again

Banning Muslims
Making America Great Again

Along with an addition to my family of Ginger, this past Christmas, GiGi flew north from Buena Vista, GA for her annual checkup at the University of Chicago Medical Center. After being checked out, I picked her up around noon in Chicago and returned to Crown Point for a late lunch. As she and Ginger got to know each other, we had a chance to get an update on each other's family. Then we traded various medical ailments and medical treatment.

GiGi began her litany of medical issues with her neuro-ophthalmologist checkup. "When I was younger, an ordinary ophthalmologist was more than I needed. However, nowadays, I guess that I need more. Then I saw the team that deals with my vertigo, which is tied to a hearing issue. It is strange how medical issues interrelate."

I asked GiGi about changes that might have occurred since her last trip to the Big City, which is what she calls Chicago. She seemed pretty happy about life especially with all her medical concerns.

GiGi said, "Things hadn't improved, but, thankfully, they hadn't gotten worse. Then she added, "At my age, people start to slow down and start to fall apart."

I responded, "We aren't running on all 8-cylinders at this point in our lives. Nonetheless, remember about the Social Security actuarial prediction that they made for a person your age. As I recall, you had over four more years."

GiGi nodded that she agreed about the four years. She liked the issue that the Social Security's website has that actuarial calculator.

Then I added, "Four years from now, the actuarial tables will add more years since others who were not as fortunate as those who extend their longevity. I am still driven to outlive George Burns, which means I have twenty-six more years."

GiGi's retorted, "You'll make it, but how have you been?

"My internist's diagnosis was that my headache was the result of glossopharyngeal neuralgia (GPN). He gave me tetrytol, which is a med for seizures, but someone discovered that it deals with GPN."

"I never heard of glossopharyngeal neuralgia."

"Well, neither had I. However, GPN, which is easier to say than the full name, is some sort of inflammation of the ninth cranial nerve. I looked it up and found that a bullet or knife could be two possible causes for my inflammation."

GiGi laughed, "Have you been shot or knifed recently?"

"I don't recall either event, but another cause that rattled me was a possible cancer. I didn't want to go through months of radiation and hormone treatment. However, the tetrytol stopped the headaches but made me sleep 12-15 hours per day plus naps in the afternoon. Finally, my inflammation issue has been resolved. I'm fine again."

With my comment about being back to normal, GiGi started off on the election of the Donald. "I can't believe that he will be our president in a couple of days, which happens to be your 74th birthday."

"It is one thing when another party elects someone with whom you don't agree. I get that. So, you don't like someone for four years. However, the Donald is more than differing political viewpoints. He is sexist, racist, dishonest, arrogant, and a windbag of the worst kind."

GiGi agreed and added, "Merely the way he acts bothered me like during the debates with Sec. Clinton. If any of my children acted like that in grade school, I'd send them to their room without dinner."

With that, off I went venting about the Donald. "Back in the 60s, when I was in college and graduate school, we were fighting against racism. Back then, the forbearers of the Donald were Bull Connors, George Wallace, Jesse Helms, Lester Maddox, and Strom Thurmond. Nothing has changed, just the name. What is the difference between segregation back then and building a wall or banning Muslims coming to the US?

"I don't see any difference. The Donald talks about Mexicans crossing the border as rapists and druggies or all Muslims as ISIS supporters. Man, it is like being back in the 60s. All blacks were rapists of white women, etc. The Donald disses men misusing women. Really? Ask a dozen women who went public with the Donald's transgressions or watch the Access Hollywood interview."

GiGi responded with the Donald's Make America Great Again slogan, to which I merely added, "The 60s was an attempt to end racism. America wasn't great for blacks. That is true still regarding minorities, women, and Muslims. If we want a great America, we need to make substantive changes, not merely changing names, which doesn't change anything."