Springtime’s Blessings by J.E. Dean

Sometimes I forget the sun will rise tomorrow even if the news is bad. Yes, we live in challenging, uncertain times that find Americans deeply divided and worried. And when I say worried, that means everyone these days, even the President’s supporters.

But I also find that reading and writing about what I call “troubling news” doesn’t do much to change that news. I can post the highly offensive image of the President dressed as the Pope on the web and get lots of approval from people of like mind. But I don’t think that image troubled many of the President’s supporters. They apparently think the picture is funny and enjoy seeing “libs” complain about it.

So, maybe it’s time to take a break, at least a short one, from complaining about things and do two things.  First, revisit the beauty of the Eastern Shore that surrounds us. Instead of complaining about Trump or Musk, spend some time looking out for a mallard like the one that waddled up to my front door last week. That duck made me smile more than anything on MSNBC last night. 

On Sunday morning of this week, there was a torrential downpour for over an hour. Water gushed in torrents off my roof, and I watched it from the sanctuary of my screened porch, nice and dry, a cup of coffee in hand. I loved watching the rain, and not just because we needed rain on the Eastern Shore. I knew that with what seemed like a few inches of rain, there would be more flowers coming. And I like green grass better than brown.

After the sky cleared, the world looked clean. I imagine dirt and everything else bad being washed away when we get a hard rain. Sunday was no exception. The TV stayed off long after the storm had passed—and stayed off for the rest of the day. I read the newspaper, but interspersed reading about the tariffs while looking through the screens of our porch at an osprey make a low pass over our house. 

Spring is a season not just of flowers and birds, but also of hope. Spring tells us that the bleakness of winter is not permanent and that, eventually, good triumphs over bad, although calling winter evil is a bit of a stretch given the joy that winter’s first snowstorm brings to most of us.

Life, regrettably, is not about the weather or the four seasons. It includes what our community is doing (or not doing), how we treat one another, and whether, as a community, we remain resilient enough to stand up and do something that we cannot do to the weather—help guide it to the “right destination.”

That brings me to the second thing we should do to replace just complaining about Trump. Do something. I don’t mean anything violent, of course. I will say that watching television or scanning the web for the next stupid thing President Trump has done, is not the answer. 

This morning, I stumbled across the image of Trump with a Star Wars light sword. That image is a distraction from the things that are important.

The thus-far not-too-happy 2025 is now more than a quarter over and, to date, there are few signs that the trouble and uncertainty of 2025’s first quarter won’t last the rest of the year. But there’s hope. In the last few weeks, people are simultaneously starting to ignore the Trump administration’s bizarre activity and starting to do things—things like attending town halls, writing letters, supporting groups that are registering voters, encouraging good people to run for office, and talking to each other to reinforce the truth.

The sun will rise tomorrow, but today’s clouds need help leaving town. 

J.E. Dean writes on politics, government but, too frequently, on President Trump. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.