Trump is hoist on his own petard. How do we change the way the world whirls?

We can start with ourselves. Reflection upon our inner being is the way we can move beyond guilt by learning to love ourselves If we can  begin to love ourselves we can begin to love OTHERS, even those who disagree with us. If anybody read these words , I am sure most of you are better at this than me. For those who know me, I have always had a bit of a problem with authority. In the Seminary, in the Army, at work as a Temporary Emergency Permittee Latin Teacher in the town of Groton, later as a Teacher at Community College of Philadelphia; then as an Administrator for almost twenty years there, I always was inclined to go against the grain.I was blessed with the gift of getting along with others who couldn't stand one another. When I left my first job, the Superintendant ,in his letter of recommendation for me said the envied my ability to get along with others in his work group who were always looking for ways to undercut one another. There were always bumps in the road that I was traveling, but I found ways to circumvent them.
When I became Acting Interim Division Director of Humanities and Applied Arts, many of my colleagues in the English department shunned me They thought I was a sell out. I worked with those who would work with me and we made progress. Some who had been in a power position over me thought they could run me. When they found out they couldn't they bailed. This presented the opportunity for me to gain the trust of those who had considered me the enemy. I think it was the second year of my administrative career that I ended up assuming the leadership of the English department. We hired over a dozen people; more than half were women which doubled the number of women in the department.
Early on, the Provost who replaced the first Dean of Instruction at the college, offered me a job as one of his Assistants." No thanks". I said," I'll go back to the faculty". My appointment was so structured: on leave from the department to do administration. As he searched for my replacement, the situation at the college became more in turmoil as the union began to gain strength and successfully organized I suddenly became an administrative asset because I was able to work cooperatively with the faculty and most of the other directors at the time were not. In fact all of my earlier division colleagues went on to other jobs except the one who died. I jousted with them and the Provost and his assistants at our regular meetings on Monday and Wednesdays. He was trying to bend us to his will which had been formed in the St. Louis Community College system. I was a loud voice of "the loyal opposition". The others who were all older than me and able to exit to other jobs,most at a higher level than theirs at CCP, but all were able to go somewhere where they were allowed to explore ways of making their work place better and happier.
All was not as grim as it sounds. Pietak and I were generally civil with one another. If I had a good idea, he gave me the opportunity to present it to the president. This was how I was able to get Florence Fishman who had been recommended to me by Paul Sherwood, Dean of Students. If Pietak knew  that Sherwood recommended Fishman to me, I believe he would have objected. I also recommended that Connie Johnson handle the writing end of the proposed Learning Lab. Connie came from Swarthmore where the president lived and Danny Goldwater a fellow Director had recommended her to me strongly. And so the Learning Lab became an official part of the college.

This is too much of a me thing. I don't trumpet my accomplishments in public often. I am doing so now because "these are the times which try men's and women's souls". And there is a force emerging in our society that has the courage and conviction and caring necessary to change the lives of others in the country and the world.  I read Facebook several times a week,and I hear what you are saying a what you are doing. The way the world heals itself has to be an and and thing. There is a spirit within all of us,dare I say a soul, that needs nourishment. I like the way the Quakers say it."That of God in every man and woman: For many in the world Jesus pointed the way; for others, Mohammed and Confucius. And there are the others who are beyond my present memory.
For me there was Martin Luther King and James Baldwin, and Malcolm X and Dorothy Day, and Mother Theresa . On a personal level Milo Billman, Sister Mary Girard, Saul Alinsky, Cotton Fyte, Donald Griesman, Mick Doyle, John Adamczyk until he lost his way for a while, Max Eirich, Ruth Krause, Del Greenfield, Many of the men and women who I worked with In Friends of the Black Peoples Unity movement in Camden, The South Jersey Peace Center, The Conference on Community Organization in Philadelphia. In those earlier days in the late sixties and early seventies women were getting themselves together individually and collectively, so more windy men were selected to lead the groups. Yet anyone who ever worked within the political system or with civil rights and  or work of Peace knows how critical to those causes were anonymous women.
We need to point out to others bombarded by white noise from the TV and Internet and Entertainment industry, that there is something far more vital to survival than the desire for Mammon which leads to greed and avarice and contempt for those who are not as midas rich as others.
I cannot consider anyone  who brags that he has not read a book since college as a wise and caring and fit leader. There is no doubt that people who have not had a decent pay raise in years, let alone a job, have been overlooked by those who seek to wield power. But someone who says he cares about such people who are overlooked, but doesn't go beyond saying it by doing something about it is not the kind of leader I want to follow. Our history in this country is checkered. Manifest Destiny, Civil War,  genocide, are acts that have scarred us, acts that encourage hate as do Drones that rein down death on innocents as well as villains, as do unjust Wars built on lies and if you will, fake news. We must seek ways of bridging the gap between the large minority who in their desperation or inner hate become trumpian. It is no easy task and it will not be accomplished immediately. The best we can do is to look into our own selves first as we keep on keeping on.