McHugh’s Miscellany: Planet Toxicity Far More Than Climate Change, But Heroes Still Exist

As people woke up in the middle of the week, you’d think they had a lot on their plate – with growing concerns over whether the wallet and purse can drag Christmas 2022 into New Year’s 2023 and beyond. beyond, at the top of most people’s agenda in Donegal and beyond.

We all went to bed with major concerns about whether a deadly explosion in eastern Poland that killed two people was a prelude to more sinister abominations that may materialize in the future and references to Articles 4 and 5 of the NATO charter.

But the icing on the cake, or quite possibly the blood-soaked ‘ice cream’, was the announcement as we slept that the caped crusader of codology and vanity, Donald Trump, was launching another attack on the continent. American and his people.

It’s been an absolute relief to have lived through the past two years, without his caustic rants and bullology that has divided the United States, with a visceral toxicity that has permeated every aspect of society there and, by default, the rest of the world. .

He’s the man who trampled on Covid 19 describing it as little more than a cold or soon flu.

The man who mastered political assassination through a rhetoric of denial and more denial culminating in the ultimate denial that democracy was dead if it didn’t get him what he demanded when he lost in 2020, inciting the unimaginable attack on Capitol Hill in Washington.

The fact that Trump may even consider securing the Republican nomination for the third time says a lot about today’s American society.

There is indeed something even sicker on this planet right now than climate change.

It is the molding of the mind which now sees the lies reconstructed and boasts as the truth.

We have conspiracies around every corner, the shattering of all semblance of normalcy into a deadly game of smoke and mirrors to reflect the illusion of evil as the serum of truth.

It would be nice if a new Netflix comedy but Trump returning to the presidential stage to secure the GOP nomination might well endanger the entire planet and its future far more than the conventional nuke threats of another half- god in Moscow, Vladimir Putin.

As for the real heroes. . .

There are undoubtedly many people who have already paid more fitting tributes this week to the late Vicky Phelan than I ever could.

The outpouring of grief and the words of so many must give his family some decorum of consolation as they embark on a life without their honest and incredibly articulate and intelligent mother and brave human being.

In life, people talked about his bravery, resilience and courage.

But the truth is, she never wanted that tag of toughness or warriorhood or facing overwhelming odds in the fight against a system and culture that defends itself and avoids guilt at every turn.

She just wanted to be a loving mother and wife, something she won’t be able to achieve directly after this week.

The only theme of these conversations in recent years in Irish society is “responsibility”. Or rather its absence.

It’s the biggest brooding elephant in the room.

So no matter what the scandal or scandals, no one ever seems to be brought to heel in this country, for just about anything, when and if it potentially involves a euro or two.

The fear of admitting mistakes and failings too despicable to contemplate without an uprising of disgust from its people is both unsustainable and utterly unacceptable in a country that professes so much but fails to deliver with alarming regularity.

There never seems to be anyone who pays the price, other than those same honest citizens of this country who suffer needlessly.

Your words and actions will be as patriotic, noble and inspiring as any other act that could shape the Irish history textbooks of tomorrow.

Your unimaginable strength is an inspiration to every man, woman and child on this island.

Rest in peace Vicky Phelan.