Politics is pulling off our masks

A hawk is visiting City Park

When Bella and I are out in the community, walking around, I watch and listen when we stop and talk with people. It goes like this:

Bella: She’s beautiful (referring to a stranger’s dog);

Stranger: Thank you.

Bella: (Petting the dog) What’s her name?

Stranger: Bobby. He’s a boy. 

Bella: She’s so friendly.

Stranger: He likes everybody.

Bella: What’s her name?

Stranger: Bobby.

Bella: Hi Bobby.

And so on.

I’ve never heard a sharp or impatient word spoken when Bella forgets something she has just been told, or a note of incredulity when she tells a story that cannot be true.

Understanding comes quickly that something is wrong with Bella’s brain, and then a natural compassion takes over. People respond to the sound of her words instead of their meaning, and to her face as it glows with pleasure.

Once, recently, as we walked along the sidewalk in Saratoga Springs, Bella spied an open chair at a cafe table where two or three women were sitting and joined them. I hung back as they welcomed her.

Empathy for people with disabilities is a measure of humanity that, like other critical aspects of character — integrity, honesty, manners — has no relation to political affiliation.

Everyone hoping to be their best selves tries to avoid being rude or mean in general, but especially to someone with a physical or mental challenge.

I’ve mentioned before my shock in 2016 when Donald Trump mocked a reporter — Serge Kovaleski — who has arthrogryposis, which weakens and stiffens the joints. Trump imitated Kovaleski in a grotesque way, waving his arms and craning his neck and talking stupidly.

A larger shock followed, as Trump’s fans found ways to excuse him, pretending he hadn’t done what he did or blaming the media or saying even if he did it, so what?

Recently, Trump has been mocking President Biden’s stutter in a similar derisive way. It’s painful to watch his antics, which are not funny.

It has been heartening since caregiving became my occupation to have experienced a near-universal kindness from people Bella and I don’t know well and even more so from people we love. We’re lucky.

Just walking through the public spaces of our community feels good, saying hello and exchanging smiles and waves. The community support we receive feels real, but the political reality stands behind it like a shadow.

In the 2020 race in Warren County, Trump and Biden were almost even, with Trump getting 57 more votes than Biden, and Kanye West getting 8. In Washington County, Trump was way ahead of Biden, while Kanye West got four votes.

Distracted the other day as Bella and I visited the Broad Street Hannaford, I lost track of where I’d parked, and as I looked around for our little red car, I bumped into another car’s side view mirror.

The mirror moved, as they are designed to do, then popped back into place.

“Excuse me!” a man said.

I saw him standing on the other side of the car — a tall, slender young man in a light-colored track outfit.

“Yes?” I said.

“You smashed into my car!” he said.

“Your sideview mirror?” I said.

He opened his door, glaring, and spoke while he sat down.

“It’s all right,” he said, meaning it was not.

“Yes,” I said. “It is all right.”

“Thank you,” he said as he shut the door, meaning something else.

A word occurred to me — a description of his character — that I very much wanted to say, but I settled for shaking my head and walking away. I was sure he was a Trump supporter.

I’m afraid our political divisions are pulling at the masks we wear to make our interactions safe. The pressure of the election is going to tear them off.

Wandering

Bella and I wandered into downtown a little before 6 a.m. on a couple of mornings last week, and both times, we heard a hawk crying from a rooftop — either the library or City Hall or the Queensbury. Its sharp ki-ki-ki-ki-ki echoed across City Park. I held up my phone, and the Merlin bird identification app said it was a sharp-shinned hawk, a small hawk about the size of a robin.

Downtown is quite empty at that hour, and magical, with neon lights glowing and dawn just beginning. 

Bella and Ringo stand on the sidewalk on Washington Street on a recent early morning in downtown Glens Falls.

Lights on the trees on the sidewalk in downtown Glens Falls reflect in the library window on a recent early morning in the city.

We also ventured back down to Saratoga Springs recently and walked around the southern part of Congress Park. Although I have said Congress Park isn’t integrated with the city, because it’s too big and situated not in the middle but on one end of downtown, it is a big, beautiful park, with fountains and statues and long lawns and ponds full of ducks.

Congress Park is big enough to accommodate several fountains and ponds.