~ you unpack pain like a cerebral angel

somewhat poetic prose; i write merely to exercise my right to write

monsieur scalpel,

if you were here right now

i would tell you 

how excruciating it is

to watch the isolation of donald j. trump

he is unable to receive an education 

in the concept of "checks and balances"

i just saw a video of his latest rally

for the second time

he stood before a massive audience

and read out a statute 

which essentially says

that if the President of the United States

perceives a threat from any alien

or class of aliens

he can forbid them from entering

for any period of time that he deems fit

and then he criticized three judges

for not comprehending the statute

and letting a stay on his ban prevail

he spoke about how even a bad high school student

would understand it

no one in his vicinity

has explained to him that he presented no rational evidence

in court to prove that there's a credible threat from "the class of aliens"

he banned from entering

and he has to

if the ban has been challenged in a court of law

he doesn't know the concept of judicial scrutiny

he thinks he has been denied the right to do what he deems necessary

so the most powerful man

in the free world

is all alone

with no friends

who could empower him

with an understanding of what it means

to be accountable in a democracy

a lot of people might say 

he won't listen even if they tell him

but i have heard discussions about his latest rally

and the speech before it

where he brought up the same statute

in exactly the same way

and no journalist

slowed down their rate of speech

dropped their language proficiency level

to his level

and slowly explained 

the meaning of "checks and balances"

and the purpose of the judiciary

he spoke about the court hearing

in a way that maybe a second grader

would describe an event

in which they heard grown-ups

talk about something absolutely incomprehensible

and he doesn't say it in so many words

but he seems to be saying

that the only way to protect his country

from radical islamic terrorism

is by obviously banning people from countries

where islam is practiced

and because he didn't make a list of such countries on his own

and relied instead 

on the list made by the previous government

he thinks he has immunity

from being perceived as being islamophobic

or just plain paranoid

any criticism -- mild or harsh

turns him into a victim

and no psychologist

on any show

has done a detailed analysis for him

to help him understand

he is not a victim

using words that he can handle

and repeating everything they say

at least four times

the way he does

when he is speaking about any subject

and the strangest part

is that he watches as much TV as i do

so journalists and psychologists literally have millions of opportunities

to get through to him

and he speaks so much that they can accurately assess

his learning needs

and make a customized learning module for him

but they are failing to diagnose 

and treat his ailment

as they are severely injured

they are in such intense pain

that they cannot see the cognitive overload

he is suffering from

and hence

inflicting emotional violence

at every opportunity

he subjects them to excessive verbal abuse

whenever he can

and so they are unable to step back,

zoom out and discuss the anatomy of verbal abuse

with the objective of educating the abuser in him

their response is more emotional than rational

because when we humans are suffering

we think that being objective

is somehow akin to demeaning the intensity

of our own pain

i know because i used to wail

like a nine year old

when i was repeatedly physically assaulted

while in an abusive relationship

and i wouldn't stop wailing

in order to think clearly

and find a way out

of the mess i was in

until you found hours and hours of time

night after night after night

to show me the blueprint of my own experiences

and helped me see every detail

of what i had been through

your sense of precision

and devotion to details

don't just make you a spectacular surgeon

they also makes you

a spectacular human being

if american journalists

had someone like you in their universe

they would be able to comprehend

what they are going through

and they would become coherent

and confident again

because you would demystify

their trauma for them

drop by drop

strand by strand

so diligently and so meticulously

that they would heal

from just talking to you

you unpack pain

like a cerebral angel

who wields therapy in such detail

that your patients

feel sorted out, healed 

and unbelievably brave

i just had to let you know

Author's Note