“There is a crime here that goes beyond
denunciation. There is a sorrow here that
weeping cannot symbolize. There is a failure
here that topples all our successes. (John Steinbeck/The Grapes of Wrath)
Living in Chicago is difficult. Lately, everything sucks.
The weather ranges from lung-sucking summer heat and humidity to polar bone-chilling winter freezes with snow and ice thrown in for good measure. If the heat and humidity don’t incapacitate or kill you, shoveling snow or falling on the ice will. Some days the weather can change in a heartbeat. A pleasant warm sunny day turns into a miserable cold gray one when the temperature drops to freezing with wind chill factors.
The hawk is a predatory bird. Old school Chicagoans call the wind in Chicago the hawk. When the late fall and winter winds blow, they chill you to the bone, just like sensing the eerie presence of a predator.
The ice and snow melt when the weather warms for a day or two, creating small lakes on sidewalks. Then, they freeze over again, making things more treacherous. That beautiful snow? After a few days, the beauty fades, and it turns into filthy mounds sprinkled with yellow to give a sense of color.
The politics and politicians suck. If they are not proving their incompetence every day, they are being hauled off to the federal Gray Bar Hotel. There is another predatory bird in Chicago, the eagle, the Feds. The threat of their mere presence should chill people to the bone, like the hawk. However, our politicians have no feelings. They never feel the chill until the talons, cold steel handcuffs, are slapped on their wrists.
The whole city is now officially dangerous to live in. Not one of the 77 neighborhoods is safe. People take their lives and those of their children in their hands just by walking out their door. Public safety is an oxymoron in Chicago. Violent crime is legitimate, business as usual in this city.
The politicians are like the Care Bears™, banding together with the Care Bear Stare™, shooting love out of their tummies towards the criminals.
There is no love or concern for the victims, their families, or citizens who must live with grief, trauma, or fear. If there is criticism, the Care Bears™ morph into predatory growling mauling grizzly bears, ripping proverbial heads off with the paw claws. The politicians are cold, merciless, pitiless, and feral.
The people in this city suck the most. No decent civilized people would not only tolerate but accept the violence we do. We have a right to leave our homes without fear of being victimized by violent predators or being victims of collateral damage. Chicago is not a decent civilized city. The people are not human or humane.
Chicago sucks so bad it should be renamed Hooverville. People in this town are so naïve and gullible that they keep reelecting the same less-ons (Lower than morons) responsible for violent victimization. They believe the lies of the politicians and their PR weasels, the Chicago news media. Apathy is rife in this city of greenhorn ignorant fools.
The apathy, lack of concern for fellow citizens, cold, pitiless, merciless elected officials wallowing in the success of their failures, the naive gullibility of voters who keep reelecting these monsters “…is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation.”
Chicago is no longer the city of “Big Shoulders” or big hearts. It is a city as cold and hard as our skyline’s concrete, glass, and steel. The soul of Chicago is brittle. We are a people who do not care for one another. We are no longer our brother’s keeper. We keep to ourselves.
Be proud Chicago. You suck.