(#5622) A lesson that I was reminded of through my brother John

      Let me begin with how I perceived myself alone in my immediate family when it came to political views. For the most part the familiar family of my youth trended away from democrats by the allure of republicans who planted seeds of impossibility into their minds. They believed like republicans expounded that we were all destined to be millionaires much like the twisted religious doctrine of "name it and claim it" Instead of being satisfied in one's life with curiosity and care they were diverted to the exhausting concept of "keeping up with the Joneses". Lost in the ever enveloping ideas of materialism, they lost sight of their curiosity and care.
     The further they entered the absurd siren calls of republicanism the further they estranged from me. Which left me few relatives left that were in close bond with me since childhood. Enter my brother John, a bit of a black sheep in my family who was very difficult to gauge given his less than social existence in my middle life. As fortune would have it however, John found his way back into my life as he was looking to move and I had a house that needed a housemate. I was welcome to the idea of John moving in with me and reacquainting myself with him after decades of living in different orbits of life. To my pleasant surprise John quickly showed that not only was he a staunch democrat but he was a defender to all who would ask him.
     So as I learned of John's too similar political views to mine I found him very capable of explaining to me why he would never leave the democratic party. He was grounded in the fact of democratic policies that helped the underdog when the overdogs usually got all the advantages. He was particularly keen on helping the poor while at the same time railing against the rich for having too much and always wanting more. He understood that our societies were limited in resources and that when the extreme wealthy controlled too much, we the vast majority suffered because the extreme wealthy by the nature of their wealth lost touch with not only their humanity but the logic into the plights we all struggle to overcome. I miss my brother John but I will not soon miss his passion for helping all of us succeed in life.