I looked out at my backyard feeding stations today and they were a mess.  I walked out to sweep up the birdseed that has been trampled upon, big paw prints were stomped into the piles, and I smelled the unmistakable odor of a certain nighttime visitor.  You know what I’m talking about.  Urban or rural, big city or small town, we’ve all got ‘em: skunks.

As I cleaned up the debris, I noticed the birdfeeder on the tree stump had its lid knocked off.  This is the lid that is held down by four different bungee cords because this was not the first time the lid has been knocked off.  Now why would any critter choose to stomp through piles of food just to climb up a rather tall tree stump to knock off a lid is an aggravating question to be sure but the answer is simple: because they are skunks.  They don’t have to have a reason.  They are big, destructive, pointless animals that smell really bad especially when they get riled.

Not unlike the protestors at a recent town hall meeting I attended.

Now THAT‘S a segue.

Yes, I attended one of THOSE meetings with Beloved Spouse in tow in a very hot, stuffy, kind of smelly gym the other night.  It was well-attended but not overcrowded and a range of my neighbors was there to talk about various issues that were very important to them. 

And then there were THOSE people.

You know; the skunks.

They had no intention of coming to the meeting with an open mind.  In fact, just the opposite.  Senator Jeff Merkley started with a few opening remarks including how our health insurance costs are going up at alarming rates.  If we do nothing, our rates will continue on their present path and consume more and more of each dollar we work so hard for.  He related a story one of our local businessmen told him that his rates had gone up 60% in the last year.

Sixty percent.  Can you afford that?  I, personally, cannot.

I am one of the lucky ones who have health insurance but my premiums go up each year and my coverage goes down.  I have two pressing health issues requiring surgery and neither one is covered.  Both could be potentially fatal but it is cheaper for me to die.

Now that’s a death panel.

Numerous attendees at the meeting had heartbreaking stories of various family members losing their homes and declaring bankruptcies after very common medical conditions: strokes, heart attacks, cancer, car accidents.   About half of those at the town meeting shook their heads in sympathy and many were openly grief-stricken to hear of such horrible things befalling their fellow citizens.

Then there were those who ignored them refusing to make eye contact.  Or held up crudely-made signs. Or made rude comments.  Or yelled hurtful things like, “Get a job.”  Or laughed.

It made me very angry.  I wanted to yell at these cretins to evolve.   I turned to look at them and realized I couldn’t describe them without being verbally insulting.

I had my question prepared.  “Senator Merkley,” I was going to ask, “Isn’t this one of those times when you have to do what is right?  As long as people are turning over thirty-five cents out of every dollar to health costs, how can our economy recover?  How can anyone in good conscience say it is better for the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries to post billions of dollars in reported profits while ordinary Americans declare bankruptcy and become homeless?  Our country has had to make difficult decisions in the past that weren’t politically popular but they were the right choice to make.  The majority of people did not want civil rights.  The majority did not want women to have the vote.  The majority did not want emancipation and maybe even, the majority did not want to declare independence against the British (there weren’t a lot of polls being taken back then) but regardless, these were all the right decisions to make our country a more perfect union.  Isn’t it time, Senator, to choose the needs of the people over the profits of the few?  And by the way, y’all over there have the collective manners of a goat on crack.”

But I stayed quiet.  I waited for my turn which I never got.  I sat there while those soulless wonders interrupted and booed.

In the end, no one was educated, facts were ignored, feelings were hurt and everyone walked out into the night sweaty and frustrated and not just a little out of sorts. 

And in the end, the rest of us still had to clean up after the skunks.