Sorry, guys, but I’m tapped out today. I’ve been struggling to land on something, writing and deleting sentence after sentence, but nothing stuck.
It took me all week to crawl out from under those godawful shootings last weekend. I vacillated between fury and exhaustion, determination and despondence. Reactions from certain public officials aggravated it. A collective effort to pivot the blame to video games and mental health nearly made my head explode. By the time Trump floated the idea of improved background checks as long as the bill was tied to immigration reform – well, I was kinda in my feels.
I wasn’t a fan of the day he visited El Paso and Dayton either. I mean, I get it’s an impossible situation. He doesn’t go and we say he doesn’t care, he does and we say he’s doing more harm than good. But I still say he had no business inserting himself in those spaces when he’s incapable of even a modicum of compassion. This promo video he released backs me up on that:
Who visits the sites of two mass shootings then releases a video that makes it all about himself?? Wait, hold on, I know the answer to this one…
So I was already kinda hanging on by a thread when they questioned a Trump/Cruz supporter armed with a gun and knife parked outside an immigration center in El Paso. Because that city’s not on edge at all this week.
Sobbing children in Mississippi who came home from school to find their parents had been snatched up by ICE. Kids who didn’t know where they’d sleep that night or how they’d have what they needed for school. Children crying too hard to eat. It’s heartbreaking.
And then another news alert popped on my phone last night and I snapped.
WHAT ON EARTH IS HAPPENING??
Riddle from the Middle 
I keep thinking of that fairy tale where the emperor has no clothes on, but the people lining the streets just keep smiling.
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That’s a remarkably apt description of life in America right now.
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Unfortunately. But I hope people will see the truth.
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It seems a million years since Obama. It seems a million years since we were a part of Europe. A million years since the days when bigots had to hide in the shadows. I really not sure what my country is turning in to. But it’s definitely a million miles from the country I loved.
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It’s painful to see what’s been hidden for so long slink out into the light. I don’t think these problems started with trump and, sadly, won’t be solved when he leaves office. I need him gone, though, so we at least have decent leadership as we work for change.
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As another blogger I follow posted about today – guns aren’t the only weapons being used in such a manner. Some creature in California apparently stabbed a number of strangers to death and wounded several others. No logical involved, these attacks were (apparently) random. Now a knife doesn’t wield the power of the gun for numbers, but still. To be minding your own business and have some mad man (or woman) come running up intent on killing you? Just because you happen to be standing there? Or knowing they’re doing it because you don’t look the same as they do? The world has gone insane. It’s not YOU dear, it’s just the time. Horrifying.
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The time is indeed terrifying. I suspect it always has been but some modern twists (social media, 24 hr news cycle, automatic weapons) are making it more graphic & increasingly hard to ignore.
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I recently touched on the shootings on my blog too. Trump’s tendency to lack compassion and make everything about himself is sadly not surprising to me. I remember when the Camp fire occurred (that devastated friends and family) he made a tweet essentially blaming others and threatening to cut off funding as if it were OUR fault these fires decimated an entire town and the lack of empathy and tact floored and angered everyone.
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I spent two years being shocked time & again — I can be a slow learner sometimes, & my brain just kept insisting the president “should” act a certain way. This one does not. It upsets me that some folks want to vote this mess in for a second term.
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I’m right there with you. I spent much of yesterday in my big chair, napping, combatting blood pressure that sky rocketed. I’m blaming it on the politician(s) who stir up the hatred, the anger. Trump visited El Paso, but I read that none of the victims being treated there would see him. So contradictory of that offensive (in my view) photo of him with smiling staff.
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I found it offensive as well. Such a somber occasion for that sort of thing. You gotta keep that blood pressure in check!
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we can do better, we must do better.
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I absolutely agree.
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Madness!
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It truly is.
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😱😢
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I have been feeling the same way. I have an organization I support financially that is doing wonders on the immigration front. What happened to those families in Mississippi is unconscionable. There is a tornado of hate spinning and the only way to combat it is to create a larger storm of love. Sounds corny, I know. I do this by giving my support to organizations making a difference where I cannot. I try really hard not to let myself get caught up in the wave of manipulation overtaking the news and social media. It is so hard to watch our country fall apart at the seams that once held us together. We are better than this. We will be better than this again. Working local where you can make a difference is a good big step.
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Thanks, Maggie, these are good reminders. I need to reconnect with the organizations I follow/support who do work in these areas. In all honesty I’m dreading the campaign period — I’ve always been a boots on the ground person but I’m stuck deep in a red zone and feel like nothing I do here matters. But I try to remind myself that people before me have done harder things than this. 💛
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I am in a red zone, too, but there are pockets of hope. I, too, dread the campaign period. I am crafting a plan to keep myself healthy during this time. The Democratic field is too big, too far reaching and there is not a common goal which will do nothing but confuse voters. It is going to be a tough time. I took all FB, News and Email notifications off my phone. I can check those when it suits me rather than expose myself to a constant bombardment of negativity. I have local emergency alerts turned on for my phone and that is it. People need to show up to the polls. If Obama could win two terms, we have the power to make changes. Hang in there.
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Thank you, Maggie. My heart needed this pep talk today. 💛🙏🏼
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I agree with what you’ve written here. The thing that made me sick about The Donald visiting Dayton was to see photos of the medical staff in the hospital surrounding him and smiling into the camera. Like it was a great thing to meet him. I. can’t. even. The hypocrisy of that is beyond me.
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I’m so confused by that and have SO many questions I want to ask them. Is it the excitement of meeting (any) sitting president? Do they agree with his policies? Do they think he has nothing to do with the healthcare industry that’s falling apart around them? I can’t even imagine a photo of me smiling anywhere near that man being out in the public eye. And do you suppose they get to consent before being used in presidential propaganda?
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I cannot begin to answer any of your questions, but I’m disturbed by those group photos. Everything about them is wrong– and I fear we’re going to be seeing them over and over again in the next year or so. 😠
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it is all so frustrating and overwhelmingly sad
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It really is.
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I feel like you do. My emotions range from rage to frustration to resignation. About the only relief I have is distracting myself by writing and posting flash fiction on my blog and reading what other bloggers have posted. Otherwise, the real world is too depressing and too upsetting to me.
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I most definitely hear that. I probably should have taken a social media break this week, I knew it was triggering me all over the place.
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Horrible!
Why don’t they arrest the Koch Brothers, who own the food processing plants that hire the undocumented workers? It’s their fault!
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Not a word about consequences for the business owners. I wonder if it will be like this for all the raids – swoop in, destroy families, turn the other way when it comes to who made the profit. But we can’t really be surprised. America’s always been this way.
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