"The dream is the truth."

Terre Haute Tribune Star
Readers' Forum, Jan. 27, 2017




A salute to those who marched




“Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.” — Zora Neale Hurston, “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” Vigo County Public Library Big Read book for 2017.




Choosing Hurston’s classic novel as the Big Read for 2017 had nothing to do with the 2016 election. But the passage above says much about Trump voters and the disappointment they will face. The 45th President of the United States remains at a distance from the American people. His ship of tweets, chants, harangues, and an empty slogan, “Make America Great Again,” somehow carried the wishes of the fearful, the anxious, the gullible, and, yes, the haters into dark waters.




Hurston’s “Watchers,” Trump’s dupes, will eventually turn away from this unprepared, demonstrably morally corrupt, ethically soiled human being. Sadly those conned will be filled with a sour bitterness of resignation, their flawed dreams a fetid cloud of despair.




But not all Americans sent their wishes out to sea, up an elevator shaft in Trump Towers. A majority of American voters refused to have their dreams twisted into ugly shapes or their hopes turned over to an incompetent poser. And millions of these Americans, especially women, testified to their dream for America on inauguration weekend.




I congratulate, thank, and salute those who marched and spoke out.


And Zora Neale Hurston knows these women. She wrote this in praise of women who challenge “dreams mocked by Time.”




 “Now, women forget all those things they don’t want to remember and remember everything they don’t want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.”


--Gary W. Daily


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