I call the survivors the Purples and the Yellows.
The Purples are the reasonable folk,
intelligent, informed,
responsible, tolerant.
The Yellows, the complete opposite.
Ignorant, often insane, their leaders pure evil.
The Purples prevail in our big city
but we are hemmed in
by
towns and villages teeming with Yellows.
I’ve quit doing small town day trips
to my once favorite destinations.
Lebanon, Waynesville, Burlington, Metamora.
The crazies have over-run these places.
I’m more and more wary of rural people,
people with less than a college education,
evangelical Christians,
white people,
(which, sad to say, is what I am),
people from the Heartland
(which, sadly, is where I am from),
Ohioans (even worse).
I size up strangers on the street.
Are they Purples or Yellows?
To be safe, I avoid eye contact.
The strange thing is that
my best friend neighbor
thinks exactly the same way I do.
Except that he says
the Purples are evil
and the Yellows are good.
Is it possible that we are both right?
