Time to clean the shit up

This was the last trail in the Davidson River section of the Pisgah National Forest we hadn’t hike, the Cemetery Loop and Long Branch. There weren’t any big payoffs for this hike, no big views or waterfalls, just a hard three-mile hump in and three miles back out ending in the McCall family cemetery, a graveyard deep in the forest that dates back to the early 1800’s.

We passed all the popular destinations on the way in, Looking Glass on the right and John Rock on the left with cars already lining the road early in the morning. I told my wife there would be no one on the trail where we are going, we were headed deep in woods, hiking a little used trail which made it all the more appealing to me.

Once we left the paved road we continued on a long, very narrow, and windy gravel road straight-up for four miles. Once we passed the Daniel Ridge Trailhead we didn’t see another car until we reached our destination.

Although I wouldn’t be alone I needed a little time to disconnect, a little isolation. I knew this trail didn’t get the attention that some of the more popular trails received. It would be rough, overgrown, littered with branches, fallen trees and maybe we would spot some wildlife other than Rattlesnakes and Copperheads. Bears have been on the prowl in Pisgah lately and though I have no interest in going toe to toe with a bear I wouldn’t mind seeing one from a safe distance.

We parked at the trailhead and as I anticipated there was not a soul around. I have been thinking a lot about our health and safety as we hike, kinda of the same thoughts I have been having riding our bicycles on the road dodging cars the difference being on a bike someone would eventually drive by if we were in trouble. But on a trail like this, deep in the woods, miles away from civilization and out of cell phone range, I am not sure how long it would take to be discovered.

Our children would be the first to miss us but other than telling them we are going for a hike I rarely disclose exactly where we are going. Trying to locate 2 sick or injured people in a 500,000 acre forest would be a daunting task for anyone. I need to work on this I thought two miles into the hike. It was too late today but it was something I would do a better of job next time.

This past Saturday was my wife’s birthday and I decided to give her a weekend in Brevard, NC as a present which included a short hike Saturday morning, dinner at her favorite restaurant, and a concert, Bela Fleck at the Brevard Music Center that evening. I rented a hotel room so we could wake up and get an early jump on this hike, grab lunch at her other favorite restaurant, a beer at Oskar Blues then head back home. My one concession about making this all about her was this particular hike, it is the one I wanted to do.

I got a lot of shit going on in my life right now. Well wait a minute, maybe a better way of describing it would be I don’t have enough shit going on in my life. No, not the right kind of shit. There is no shortage of shit happening starting with the piece of shit occupying the White House and honestly I am beyond tired of his insane shit. Hell, I am tired of all the shit coming out of Washington from the Republicans to the Democrats. And these old ass, white Deplorable pieces of shit, it’s time to turn their oxygen tanks off. They add no value and certainly have no future. My kids will be cleaning up their shit for years to come and the sooner they become worm grub the quicker we can get started.

As my wife walked ten yards in front me because she is skinny and in better shape than my old fat ass this is what I thought about, shit. Trump shit. Deplorable shit. How am I going to fix this shit. I have quit being “civil” in public about all this shit. I refer to Trump as that “piece of shit” in public. My “Trump friends” of which the list is shrinking, avoid me at all cost. I blame them for the shit we are dealing with. I don’t give a damn about their 401(K)’s I tell them, those marvelous returns aren’t filling everyone’s pockets.

We have more people living on the edge of homelessness in my community, hell this country than we have had since the depression. The disparity between the haves and the have-nots has grown dramatically in the course of two short years and Trump and his Deplorable base have not only encouraged that divide but relish in it. Watch one of his redneck, white people rallies if you don’t believe me. Most of these rural hayseeds got one foot in the grave. They are done. They aren’t making any contribution to the future of America. The only thing they are good for is keeping the stock price of Golden Corral up. They don’t give a shit about clean air or water, they will be dead in ten years, hopefully five and honestly it can’t happen soon enough for me.

Let them look brown Jesus in the eye and explain why they were such a dick to the rest of the world. Let them plead their case to Jesus that they were just trying to Make America Great Again. Wasn’t that what Jesus wanted? To take care of His people? White people? White American people? White American Christian people?

I am done. I will afford Trump and the Deplorables the same amount of compassion and respect that they have shown Latin American mothers and fathers. People that have had their children ripped out of their arms and stuck in containment camps. I will show the same amount of compassion and respect that Trump and the Deplorables have shown to American families living on the edge of homelessness. People that exist in a rent eats first environment. Above food, above health care, above education, above savings and above safety. I will show the same amount of compassion and respect that Trump and the Deplorables have shown to the environment removing regulations vital to the future of clean air and water because what is earth after all but just one big garbage dump for our use and abuse.

I went for a walk deep in the woods Sunday and came out empowered to fight for the future of this country and my children because what they deserve is more important than what one old orange piece of shit lies about and 39% mostly dead white people think the rest of us need. Time to clean the shit up.