"Small Mercies"

Too few

Nov 07, 2023

The events of October 7th and since have washed over me like a tidal wave. I have written some substack articles in the last few weeks. But I haven’t published them. I have felt too helpless, appalled and completely overwhelmed to comment on the atrocities unfolding in the Middle East and in our nations Capitol.

I have not buried my head in the sand. I remain informed. I start with Heather Cox Richardson, then Robert Hubbell. Joyce Vance for the legal angles. Diane Frances and Tom Friedman for the international focus. Thom Hartmann and Robert Reich for the latest in the dismantling of the American Dream. I am aware.

As the farming/gardening season has wrapped up, I have had more time for reading. Heather’s latest book, “Democracy Awakening” is excellent. Especially if you want to be reminded that the forces of greed, lust for power and political chicanery have always been with us - since well before our founding as a nation. She reminds us of two things.

First, there were no “good old days”. We ARE making progress. The references to making America great again are a sick joke. Things were great in the 50’s and 60’s if you were a white male. For the rest of America, forgetaboutit!

Second, we are on a precipice. America is straddling the positive long term trend towards equality and less crime - and the potential collapse of democracy itself. The United States is a much better place than it was 100 years ago. But we could slide back to something akin to Germany in the 30’s and 40’s overnight. Or America in the 1860’s or 1890’s.

For a terrific recap of where we are, please watch Judy Woodruff’s interview with Professor Richardson on the PBS News Hour.

But I have also been reading some fiction. I have discovered an author that I am astonished I hadn’t followed earlier. He is part of the writing team that gave us two of the finest TV shows in my life time. “The Wire” and “Boardwalk Empire”. Recently, he gave us a very well written show called “Blackbird”. An uncomfortable but riveting project.

Michael K. Williams as Omar in “The Wire”

Dennis Lehane has written more than a few highly popular and critically acclaimed novels. His latest is called “Small Mercies”. Not a long book. You will fly through it. Perhaps what I enjoy the most about his writing is the elaborate portrayal of a time we could learn from. In Small Mercies we revisit the era of school busing in Boston. A judge determines that public schools must be integrated. He orders that children from poor Black neighborhoods be shipped to poor White neighborhoods - and vice versa. No rich suburbs involved!

That’s the vivid backdrop for a story about a mother, her daughter and an Irish mob that is loosely based on a real gangster from Boston. For me, what makes a story good is the growth of the main characters. What are they learning? How does their life view become affected by their experiences and do they find an ounce of empathy for someone else. Dennis Lehane is an artist at blending historical background with personal challenges. And he builds a story alternating between parallel journeys that ultimately collide.

Small Mercies was SO good, I went back into his archives and just completed “The Given Day”. The first of three in the Coughlin series. Wow. Boston again. Lehane is from Dorchester. For those familiar with the area, that explains a lot. This book gives us Babe Ruth, the birth of the NAACP, the first police union in America, issues of immigration, and the Great Molasses Flood of 1919! All with fascinating character development and descriptive genius. I could almost smell the smoke in the “Boston Social Club”. I could feel my legs buckling under the dense warm molasses rushing down the street - smashing in store fronts, kneecapping horses, overturning delivery trucks and leveling buildings.
A volatile love story is a continuing thread. Isn’t it exciting to find an author who just grabs you by the shirt and drags you back to the pages?

The molasses company overfilled the storage containers. But they blamed “Bolsheviks”.

Wouldn’t it be nice if today’s leaders who have brought us the murder of innocent civilians would pause and offer their victims some small mercies? Wouldn’t it be nice if some politicians would put the welfare of the nation ahead of their personal religious zealotry? On November 17th, millions of Americans may begin to suffer enormous financial loss because one man would put his outrageous and extreme agenda ahead of the American people. I don’t believe in devils, but I might be changing my mind :)

A White Nationalist (fascist) is two heart beats from the Presidency

Michael Johnson is a fake Christian. A monster who twists a religion to use as his personal bludgeon of bigotry. Someday, an author as good as Dennis Lehane will use his story as a backdrop for a great novel. The man from Louisiana will be the obvious villain. The gangster.

"Small Mercies"

Too few

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