All of the What-If's

 

mucilaginous - adjective - having a viscous or gelatinous consistency

Admittedly, when I think of all of the what-if's and the would've-could've-should've's I have imagined at one time or another in my life, my brain melts into mucilaginous matter. As they say, "Hindsight is 20/20." Unfortunately, one can't go back and change things once the damage is done; ergo, thinking along the hypothetical lines is probably not healthy. On the other hand, when it comes to politics, perhaps it is necessary to enter the realm of the what-if, if only for preventative reasons. 

Case in point: At present, I am devouring Phillip Roth's 2004 novel The Plot Against America, which was aptly made into an HBO mini-series during the Trump administration for obvious reasons that I won't spell out since this blog is supposed to be apolitical and approved for all audiences regardless of their political persuasions albeit I am stepping aside from that momentarily. Please forgive me, but it is important. Roth's ingenious work of historical fiction digests the what-if scenario whole by modifying history, replacing the Democrat, New Deal hero FDR with another hero, aviator Republican Charles Lindbergh in the White House of the early 1940s–a solid, credible choice since Lindbergh was a known Nazi sympathizer in reality. Roth's first-person narrator is a nine-year-old version of himself, growing up Jewish in Newark, New Jersey, not too far away from where I reside at present. Flawlessly, fellow Bucknell alum author Roth, a Pulitzer prize winner, combines the actual and the hypothetical, the results of which are stunning, if not downright frightening. In the novel, Lindbergh as president consorts with Hitler to contain the American Jewish population. I can't spoil the ending here because I haven't finished the book. But the direction it is about to take is definitely not favorable. If you have the time, please read this book since it might just alter how you perceive present-day politics as it shows what could happen if the wrong person were to be voted into office.

A dear friend's mother who survived the Holocaust once said, "Don't think that it cannot happen here." As woke as we may think we are, there are still anti-Semites among us, not to mention racists, white supremacists, general haters, etc., and they tend to find the right politicians who support their causes. I suppose what we, the ethically and morally upright, have to do is be more alert, keep our minds from transitioning into the mucilaginous by ferreting out the facts from the fiction when it comes to politicians and the media outlets that represent them. This, of course, is not easy, but essential if we don't wish to fall into the world of would've, could've, should've after it is too late to make changes. I don't know about you, but I don't want to view Roth's masterpiece of tension as foreshadowing, a harbinger of something ugly to come. I'd like to consider it just another literary what-if, fiction for fiction's sake. 

#word of the day, #vocabulary, #writers, #writers and poets, #words, #inspiration, #optimism, #inspiring words, #humor, #spilled thoughts, #motivation, #inspirational thoughts, #inspiration, #inspirational words, #words of wisdom, #affirmation, #optimism, #poets and writers, #writers community, #writers, #readers #writing