I remember being horrified by Waco and saying a government should never use military tactics against it's own people. My brother, a militant atheist, said, "But they were religious loonies!" Which was when I got, on a deeper level, that whether you like someone or not has no bearing on what is acceptable to do to them, but a lot of people think it does. I was more shocked by Waco than by Oklahoma City, even though I was a leftist and generally pro- government. Or maybe it's because I was pro-government. Good guys have to be held to a higher standard.
I was in high school in the waning days of the Vietnam War. My generation did not serve—by the time our boys got close to the draft age Nixon was bringing the troops home—so I was surprised by my reaction to the Vietnam War Memorial in DC. I cried as I walked down the smooth black surface, reading name after name. So much death, and for nothing. We do remember. We do honor. Americans are not depraved, or at least not any more than any other people. We lose sight of what matters. We are swayed by rhetoric and the rhetor delivering it. I hope I can go to the Oklahoma City memorial one day. I’ll have your essay by my side. Thank you, Sarah.
Thank you. My parents are your age, maybe a little older, and they had the same reaction to the Vietnam War Memorial too -- very overwhelmed. And similarly relieved that there was something commemorating the senseless and devastating loss.
I’m trying to construct a sentence that conveys my consuming grief and how your words stir it, in ways both positive and painful. You shine a light on terrible truths I know but can only allow out in small bits. When did we become so profoundly evil? (Don’t answer that) Maybe there’s a road trip in my future. I know I won’t find redemption, but perhaps I’ll find some peace. As always, thank you.
Wishing you peace. Thank you for reading. I won't answer your question except I don't think we're so profoundly evil, I think we're a country run by evil people who stoke a culture of cruelty that demonizes empathy. Whatever mask once hid (partially) this culture is fully off, and that's what's hurting people's souls.
I always remember that photo of the firefighter holding Baylee. And you’re correct. It is such a straight line to where we are now with sovereign states, white militias, and radical orgs. We owe better to our children.
Your writing is so gorgeous. Putting this on my list to read in full. You’re so right about the lack of accountability. What’s worse is that they try to explain it away under the guise of not wanting to create civil unrest. I think this will end in revolution. The civil unrest is coming whether our corrupt politicians want it or not.
Your book arrived, coffee in hand and I couldn’t even get through the foreword before I sat for the next half hour contemplating the intensity of emotions. Purple… like a bruise….thank you from Idaho.
Sarah, I loved the book. I will be rereading it. I had eye surgery so had to wait to get started, but then I couldn't put it down. Reviewed on Goodreads, BookBub and Amz--which is kind of prickly about putting up my reviews if I don't buy the book from them, so I included a photo of the title page where my name and your signature appear.
Everyone reading this, please review the book!! There are some stellar reviews on there now. Add yours to it, even if it only ten words.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that. And yes folks, if you like THE LAST AMERICAN ROAD TRIP, *please* leave a review. I’m up against the government, much of the mainstream media, suppressive algorithms, corporate perfidy, and so much else. My readers are my saviors. Word of mouth is essential. Positive reviews for the new book help protect my other books, which have long been targeted for censorship and elimination. Thank you!
Well, heck, my review on Amz finally went up today 4/15/25, and it starts with a quote from your book. I made a spelling mistake in it. I edited it, and also, Bookbub and Goodreads. Oy!
When Waco and then 9/11 hit I was properly horrified - I won't talk here of personal struggles that had an effect on my emotional state. Bush used 9/11 to start a war on foreign terrorism with fake news about weapons of mass destruction. Waco, not the first but certainly considered the starting point of the domestic terrorism that has followed, with the explosion of actual weapons of mass destruction, thoughts and prayers and huge donations from the NRA and the like. Biden's gun control bill essentially does nothing. A drop in the proverbial bucket as government -especially Republican government though Democrats are almost as culpable - trumpets a bastardized version of 2A not codified until the incompetent SCOTUS in 2008. Trump pardons a seditious, terrorist attack on the Capitol after America votes in its ringleader. Who are we?
I could feel the lies after 911. And knew it was no accident they were showing the towers again and again everywhere we went. What I wish I had known was how complicit both dems and repulicans were in bringing down our countty
Thank you, Sarah. And yet, today, millions and millions of people celebrate the man and his cult who are the very antithesis of this kindness, decency, empathy and caring concern and loving of our fellow man that this memorial embodies. A very, very good friend of mine lost her 60 something year old parents in the OKC bombing. Just randomly going to the social security office to check on something…….no one knew they were there. The banality of evil indeed. And yet, we are just fine with similar evil by the most powerful leaders in our country. We are suffering a mass delusion here and we are truly insane. I will never understand this age, never.
The US deserves to be the global pariah that it's becoming. The majority chose what we have today. Hatred and division have moved from a few radio voices into a full-blown 24/7 chorus that will not be silenced in my remaining years. If sounds had scents, theirs would be sulfur.
I have already apologized to my children and grandchildren for failing to do more to affect the direction of our history. I am a child of the Greatest Generation, a title those people will hold forever.
The US government deserves punishment and to be made a parish, but the American people don’t deserve our terrible government. We are not responsible for a mafia state. We are responsible for other failures, but not this one — not at this scope. And since it is the vulnerable that will suffer most — children, the elderly, impoverished people, disabled people, immigrants, anyone from a marginalized racial or religious or ethnic group — this fate is cruel and unwarranted and must be fought.
I am ordering one of your books. I grew up in Crystal City, MO and immediately felt a solidarity with anyone writing about flyover country. It is a theme in my own writing on Substack. My handle is Randy's Rants. The last college friend I am in contact who was at Mizzou with me now lives in the Bay Area, and she is big fan of yours as well. Keep doing what you are doing.
I already responded to this post, but it keeps bringing up things for me that have occupied space in my head for years. It’s incredible how you always have your finger on the pulse of what is happening, based on what has already happened.
Dogs, students, and children often misbehave because they are trying to find the boundaries within which they will be safe. If they don’t find boundaries (safety), they just keep pushing and pushing trying to find them. Donald Trump clearly had no boundaries whatsoever and the judicial system, that should’ve given him boundaries decades ago in New York City, simply enforced appalling behavior. I didn’t understand it then and I don’t understand it now, but what I know to be true is that when there is no accountability things will always, ALWAYS get worse.
I recall Waco. The whole ordeal shook me to my core, as it did many others. The fog of war seemed to shroud the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It became a Rorschach test for the nation. Then OKC occurred and a 7.8 earthquake shook the nation, like nothing seen since the San Andreas shook San Francisco or the New Madrid shook the middle. And now, difficult to grasp we are coming upon the 30th anniversary of OKC. The day before Easter Sunday, in a weird twist of fate.
Seen first responders from Phoenix and other areas of the nation helping to extricate the victims of the bombing, and then go about the task of recovery. One heart warming scene was the reuniting of 2 brothers who survived. And the sadness of two that did not. Seeing men marching with signs proclaiming genocide in Waco. And the FBI saying they did not cause the fire.
Need The Doors Jim Morrison to sing Strange Days as only he can sing a tune.
Maybe this fits, maybe not, but Tara Shannon of Bear and Rabbit renderings, recently had Bear saying to Rabbit: "The only path forward is through empathy. But lets be clear, empathy should never be mistaken for tolerating the intolerable."
I remember being horrified by Waco and saying a government should never use military tactics against it's own people. My brother, a militant atheist, said, "But they were religious loonies!" Which was when I got, on a deeper level, that whether you like someone or not has no bearing on what is acceptable to do to them, but a lot of people think it does. I was more shocked by Waco than by Oklahoma City, even though I was a leftist and generally pro- government. Or maybe it's because I was pro-government. Good guys have to be held to a higher standard.
"Whether you like someone or not has no bearing on what is acceptable to do to them" <-- this, exactly. I wish more people grasped this point now.
I was in high school in the waning days of the Vietnam War. My generation did not serve—by the time our boys got close to the draft age Nixon was bringing the troops home—so I was surprised by my reaction to the Vietnam War Memorial in DC. I cried as I walked down the smooth black surface, reading name after name. So much death, and for nothing. We do remember. We do honor. Americans are not depraved, or at least not any more than any other people. We lose sight of what matters. We are swayed by rhetoric and the rhetor delivering it. I hope I can go to the Oklahoma City memorial one day. I’ll have your essay by my side. Thank you, Sarah.
Thank you. My parents are your age, maybe a little older, and they had the same reaction to the Vietnam War Memorial too -- very overwhelmed. And similarly relieved that there was something commemorating the senseless and devastating loss.
I’m trying to construct a sentence that conveys my consuming grief and how your words stir it, in ways both positive and painful. You shine a light on terrible truths I know but can only allow out in small bits. When did we become so profoundly evil? (Don’t answer that) Maybe there’s a road trip in my future. I know I won’t find redemption, but perhaps I’ll find some peace. As always, thank you.
Wishing you peace. Thank you for reading. I won't answer your question except I don't think we're so profoundly evil, I think we're a country run by evil people who stoke a culture of cruelty that demonizes empathy. Whatever mask once hid (partially) this culture is fully off, and that's what's hurting people's souls.
Thank you for this. 🩷
Yes: (f)Elon Muskrat outright said that empathy is the greatest weakness of western civilization.
I always remember that photo of the firefighter holding Baylee. And you’re correct. It is such a straight line to where we are now with sovereign states, white militias, and radical orgs. We owe better to our children.
Your writing is so gorgeous. Putting this on my list to read in full. You’re so right about the lack of accountability. What’s worse is that they try to explain it away under the guise of not wanting to create civil unrest. I think this will end in revolution. The civil unrest is coming whether our corrupt politicians want it or not.
Your book arrived, coffee in hand and I couldn’t even get through the foreword before I sat for the next half hour contemplating the intensity of emotions. Purple… like a bruise….thank you from Idaho.
Thank you!
Thank you for sharing this. So powerful. I am looking forward to reading the whole book!!!
Thank you!
Sarah, I loved the book. I will be rereading it. I had eye surgery so had to wait to get started, but then I couldn't put it down. Reviewed on Goodreads, BookBub and Amz--which is kind of prickly about putting up my reviews if I don't buy the book from them, so I included a photo of the title page where my name and your signature appear.
Everyone reading this, please review the book!! There are some stellar reviews on there now. Add yours to it, even if it only ten words.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that. And yes folks, if you like THE LAST AMERICAN ROAD TRIP, *please* leave a review. I’m up against the government, much of the mainstream media, suppressive algorithms, corporate perfidy, and so much else. My readers are my saviors. Word of mouth is essential. Positive reviews for the new book help protect my other books, which have long been targeted for censorship and elimination. Thank you!
We got yer back
Coffee and chapter 4 this morning. Yesterday, chapter 3 left me feeling melancholy. So far, like your previous work, it is profound.
Thanks!
Two chapters in. Mark Twain and the Milky Way. Have been brought to tears three times. Loving this book. Will absolutely review it!
Thank you!
I have it on order for the UK release. Sounds and looks so good, and loved your chat with Jared Yates Sexton recently.
Thanks!
Well, heck, my review on Amz finally went up today 4/15/25, and it starts with a quote from your book. I made a spelling mistake in it. I edited it, and also, Bookbub and Goodreads. Oy!
That's cool — I appreciate it! Don't worry about typos! ❤️
Where are a few places to leave a review?
Goodreads or any place you bought it from that allows reviews. Thanks!
When Waco and then 9/11 hit I was properly horrified - I won't talk here of personal struggles that had an effect on my emotional state. Bush used 9/11 to start a war on foreign terrorism with fake news about weapons of mass destruction. Waco, not the first but certainly considered the starting point of the domestic terrorism that has followed, with the explosion of actual weapons of mass destruction, thoughts and prayers and huge donations from the NRA and the like. Biden's gun control bill essentially does nothing. A drop in the proverbial bucket as government -especially Republican government though Democrats are almost as culpable - trumpets a bastardized version of 2A not codified until the incompetent SCOTUS in 2008. Trump pardons a seditious, terrorist attack on the Capitol after America votes in its ringleader. Who are we?
I could feel the lies after 911. And knew it was no accident they were showing the towers again and again everywhere we went. What I wish I had known was how complicit both dems and repulicans were in bringing down our countty
Thank you, Sarah. And yet, today, millions and millions of people celebrate the man and his cult who are the very antithesis of this kindness, decency, empathy and caring concern and loving of our fellow man that this memorial embodies. A very, very good friend of mine lost her 60 something year old parents in the OKC bombing. Just randomly going to the social security office to check on something…….no one knew they were there. The banality of evil indeed. And yet, we are just fine with similar evil by the most powerful leaders in our country. We are suffering a mass delusion here and we are truly insane. I will never understand this age, never.
Thank you for the pictures. I knew a woman who lost a son there and she went back every year for the service until she was no longer able.
The US deserves to be the global pariah that it's becoming. The majority chose what we have today. Hatred and division have moved from a few radio voices into a full-blown 24/7 chorus that will not be silenced in my remaining years. If sounds had scents, theirs would be sulfur.
I have already apologized to my children and grandchildren for failing to do more to affect the direction of our history. I am a child of the Greatest Generation, a title those people will hold forever.
The US government deserves punishment and to be made a parish, but the American people don’t deserve our terrible government. We are not responsible for a mafia state. We are responsible for other failures, but not this one — not at this scope. And since it is the vulnerable that will suffer most — children, the elderly, impoverished people, disabled people, immigrants, anyone from a marginalized racial or religious or ethnic group — this fate is cruel and unwarranted and must be fought.
I am ordering one of your books. I grew up in Crystal City, MO and immediately felt a solidarity with anyone writing about flyover country. It is a theme in my own writing on Substack. My handle is Randy's Rants. The last college friend I am in contact who was at Mizzou with me now lives in the Bay Area, and she is big fan of yours as well. Keep doing what you are doing.
Thank you! And Crystal City is mentioned in the book -- gets a whole section, in fact!
I already responded to this post, but it keeps bringing up things for me that have occupied space in my head for years. It’s incredible how you always have your finger on the pulse of what is happening, based on what has already happened.
Dogs, students, and children often misbehave because they are trying to find the boundaries within which they will be safe. If they don’t find boundaries (safety), they just keep pushing and pushing trying to find them. Donald Trump clearly had no boundaries whatsoever and the judicial system, that should’ve given him boundaries decades ago in New York City, simply enforced appalling behavior. I didn’t understand it then and I don’t understand it now, but what I know to be true is that when there is no accountability things will always, ALWAYS get worse.
I recall Waco. The whole ordeal shook me to my core, as it did many others. The fog of war seemed to shroud the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It became a Rorschach test for the nation. Then OKC occurred and a 7.8 earthquake shook the nation, like nothing seen since the San Andreas shook San Francisco or the New Madrid shook the middle. And now, difficult to grasp we are coming upon the 30th anniversary of OKC. The day before Easter Sunday, in a weird twist of fate.
A little over a week ago, National Geographic had a 3 hour mini documentary of the events both at Waco and OKC. Oklahoma City Bombing: One Day in America. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/tv/show/f3af38e1-f504-4f07-a5ae-b84c7fb939eb
Seen first responders from Phoenix and other areas of the nation helping to extricate the victims of the bombing, and then go about the task of recovery. One heart warming scene was the reuniting of 2 brothers who survived. And the sadness of two that did not. Seeing men marching with signs proclaiming genocide in Waco. And the FBI saying they did not cause the fire.
Need The Doors Jim Morrison to sing Strange Days as only he can sing a tune.
Maybe this fits, maybe not, but Tara Shannon of Bear and Rabbit renderings, recently had Bear saying to Rabbit: "The only path forward is through empathy. But lets be clear, empathy should never be mistaken for tolerating the intolerable."
Safe travels, Sarah.
Thank you for your work.