1.24.2017

Ego Sickness



One of the most refreshing things about dealing with dogs is that they have no ego.  They want affection and their basic needs met.  There is no posturing, no elaborate revenge plot or checking for haters.  There is no embarrassment or grudges.  They always seem to be present, giving full attention to where they are now, instead of replaying old hurts on loop. They love without fear of rejection.  I want to live in that world. 

When I say ego, I mean that part of all of our psyches that unreasonably insists that we’re the bomb dot com.  It’s way beyond confidence.  It’s the part of us that believes because of our talent, looks, money, power, etc. that we truly are more important than other people.  Ego desperately needs constant validation from outside and lashes out when someone has the nerve to disagree or point out you’re wrong.   It’s not healthy. I think it’s a sickness.  An at heightened levels, it makes you act insane.  Watergate scandal, anyone?  

Ego is an equal opportunity destroyer.  A newly minted shift supervisor at Hardees is in just as much danger of succumbing to ego as a CEO of a Fortune 500 company.  What’s key here is perception.  All leadership roles have some kind of title, many of which sound incredibly important and impressive.  That’s fine, that’s what titles are supposed to do.  The problem begins when we internalize them (and the things that go with them) and believe we are more valuable than other people and as such, not subject to them same rules as everyone else. This is where shit goes sideways. 

It’s what truly worries me about the new administration.  President of the United States is an incredible title.  So incredible that only 44 other people in the history of our country have held it.  It’s the pinnacle of leadership.  Unfortunately, our brand new leader has an ego the size of a solar system.  He reacts to tweets.  To fucking tweets.   

I take that back - he reacts to everything.  Nothing rolls off of his back.  He lets nothing go.  Everything is catalogued and stored for later personal and pointed retribution.   Through his campaign, he offered one insult after another, but no concrete plan as to how he was going to really improve the country.  I think he’s missing the fact that although being POTUS is the most powerful position in the world, it’s also the zenith of public service.  He’s now a public servant - and that public includes people that are not white or male or straight or christian.   

His ego can’t even handle the fact that, despite photographic evidence, millions of people did not show up to his inauguration.  He’s taking the media’s reporting of this as a personal attack, instead of using it to acknowledge he’s got a lot of work to do to unite the country.

What’s even scarier are his cabinet nominations and advisor appointments.  A number of these people have leanings that are intolerant at best, outright bigoted at worst.  The Chief White House Strategist, Stephen Bannon, was the chairman of Breitbart News, a site dedicated to the extreme right with not-so-subtle racist leanings. This guy is a trusted advisor to the president.

I respect the office.  I am proud to be an American.  The people I’ve voted for haven’t always made it to the Oval, but with the results of this election, I’ve never felt so unsure about what’s going to happen to our basic civil liberties.  

I’m concerned that Donald Trump has more ego than sense and his time in the White House is going to propel this great nation into a breeding ground for mistrust and divisiveness.  Or worse. 

I hope that I am truly wrong and this man turns out to be the breath of fresh air his supporters believe him to be.  

If not, less than four years from now, we’ll get another chance to make a new choice.