When I was a little girl, my mother would take me to her hair appointments at Anderson Beauty Shop on 16th Street in NW DC. Since my mother chose not to drive, we walked there together. She was certainly eco-minded before its time. The hairdresser’s name was Ruth as was my mother’s. My time was spent watching the scissors cut and the big hair dryers roar. The smell from the permanent waves is forever etched in my memory. But more importantly was the sense of caring and kindness that engulfed that Washington, DC salon.
Many times, I was sent to the upstairs apartment to play with Ruth Anderson’s daughter and eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It was fun and, in my little world at the time, it was considered a big adventure. I remember clearly at the time that if anyone came away from a beauty salon with purple hair, something had gone wrong in the process. As kids, we would laugh when we saw any older ladies with occasional purple hair. It was a big oops and a perm gone bad!
Well, how times have changed. Now the young and old pay for such color in their hair, purple and beyond. I keep thinking that back in the day when the “purple hair ladies” existed, it was a simpler time. Those times, in retrospect, seemed more civil. People displayed more manners and kindness as did Ruth Anderson.
So, I must ask the question, where did all this current meanness come from?
Was our ground so weakened that we could not hold back the devil? This meanness became even more evident when the recent death of respected Representative Elijah Cummings became grounds for Republican “Christians” to proclaim that God killed Representative Cummings to remove him from the earth. One must ask, where does this deep hatred come from? Why would others denigrate someone who gave their life to civil service, social justice and who was a true patriot? When a group applauded the death of human rights workers, one must ask where does this meanness come from? Has it been lingering underground for years, waiting for the crust of the earth to weaken so that the hatred and the haters can emerge?
This behavior and way of thinking and acting is not kind and it is not Christian. Instead, it is more like the periodic cicadas that spend most of their lives underground, emerging after 13 or 17 years, eventually in huge numbers that overwhelm the environment. Or, like locusts which, when their population density is low, they behave as individuals, much like grasshoppers. However, when locust population density is high, individuals undergo physiological and behavioral changes, and they form unreservedly dense and highly mobile swarms. To compare our current state of affairs to that of a natural disaster like those created by swarms of locust or the Dust Bowl is not so odd.
We are in times of disaster similar to the Dirty Thirties Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl of the 1930’s was created by a combination of misguided Federal policies, economic, cultural, and weather conditions. Close to 7000 men, women, and young children lost their lives and the event sent occupants of the Great Plains fleeing to California for their lives and livelihoods.
Today, we have our own Dirty Thirties.
These dirty times include lies from the top, cruel and unchristian like behavior, coupled with intense greed. There is little kindness in their actions. But rest assured, much like the locust, the current Administration and his co-horts who have emerged from the underground, will return there. As leaders for social justice, we will prevail, and we will live again in more peaceful times.
As with the first New England snowstorm that I experienced, each snowflake made a difference – 2 feet later I realized how much it did. We can weather this storm by continuing to support each other and stay the course for democracy and peace. Our job continues to be to read and understand our Constitution, extinguish hate, vote, and encourage others to do the same.
Better times, they are a coming.
At times I think, where are people like Ruth Anderson when we need them?
