I came of age in a country that at least seemed to be striving to become more loving and generous and compassionate, where so many of my compatriots sought earnestly to end poverty and bigotry in all its forms, to acknowledge and welcome the power of those who had been sidelined for centuries, to end a brutal imperialistic war, to become a true and lasting democracy, to rejoice in multiculturalism, to lift up the benefits of education and wisdom and kindness and decency, and to save the planet.

Now I live in a violent, extremist “Christian” theocracy-kleptocracy where I fear constantly for the lives of all and everything I love, where I spend my days anxious, heartbroken, and enraged all at once in the face of unspeakable cruelty, greed, and deceit, where I believe that things are just going to get worse and worse and worse in the remaining days of my life, and where I know that speaking out for justice is just as likely to get me killed by a gun as thanked, and that others who speak out for justice will suffer infinitely more than I will.

How, how, how did we let this happen? I am heartbroken.

Elizabeth Leonard

Waterville