Sin

Every week is a shocking week in America. Our so-called president is demented and cruel, and he idolizes every strongman he meets. His ignorance about Civil War history may be embarrassing, but it is the least of our problems. We are in the grip of a prime-time terrorist who believes that the Constitution needs to be rewritten in his favor, that shutting down our government is a viable leadership strategy, that lying is a normal pattern of communication, that dropping big bombs is so fun . . . and the list goes on and on.

And then there are the other stories. A Dallas cop shoots an unarmed black child and lies about it. Boston baseball fans shout racist epithets at a Baltimore outfielder. Bill O'Reilly is forced out at Fox News . . . not because he is a serial sexual harasser but because the network was losing advertising revenue. Yet he received truckloads of money on his way out, refuses to admit to his crimes, and no doubt will continue to make truckloads of money in some other venue. Hell, maybe he'll run for president.

I am not a person who throws the word sin around lightly. But it seems to me that we are under its spell right now. Our so-called president is an evil man, and he has perverted his high office. He has no morals, no compassion. His prime motivations are greed and malice, and his wickedness is staining the fabric of our common humanity. I wonder what John Milton would have to say about all of this.

Meanwhile, I putter along, shellshocked. The sun shines on the water, and babies play in the green grass. It's difficult to know what to write.