Immolation in real time
But we will rebuild
If I didn’t believe there was a way out, through and over the Trump years, I would walk into the middle of the street in my nightie and stand there singing at the top of my lungs.
You may yet find me there. I have threatened to do just that — as well as start throwing rocks at my neighbors, just for the hell of it — but for now, for today, I choose hope.
I choose hope because there are more of us than there are of them, and there are more of us who are willing to stop blaming individuals for our current challenges, and start looking at the systems that keep us locked in this whatever-this-is, a country struggling under an authoritarian whose mental capacities begin and end with “What’s in it for me.” (Have you read “It’s On You?” I recommend it.)
I choose hope because we didn’t just get here, nothing just happens, and if a system is rigged, we can build a new system. (Again: See: “More of us than there are of them.”)
There’s always been a reason that the sons and daughters of middle-class and lower-income families go to war. It’s not necessarily that they are more patriotic. They may just be desperate.
There’s a reason a company that sells alcohol will also push advertisements that encourage us to drink responsibly. They don’t mean it. They’re mouthing the party line but anything that seriously cuts into profits is a bad thing, in late-stage capitalism.
There’s a reason we are paying higher gas prices, and it’s not because any of us did anything wrong, other than existing in a system that allows the price of an ill-begotten war to fall squarely on the shoulders of the people who can least afford it. Or maybe we voted for politicians who can’t be bothered. So that, definitely is on us, but look at how much havoc one man has created in just a little over a year. Was the havoc always there, just below the surface? Was it always there and some of us lived such privileged lives that we didn’t notice? (I’m guessing it’s both.)
Still. I choose hope because hopelessness is being peddled by the other side, the political party I don’t recognize any more, and I’m not having any.
Probably best to wait for warmer weather before you do the nightgown thing. We have not yet experienced Iran’s response to Trump’s ill conceived attack, but almost assuredly it will be coming. As a wise Greek once told me, “Don’t poke the donkey if you don’t want to smell the farts.” Sadly, I doubt that the farts will fall directly on the idiot that initiated the poking, but it will stink. I have noticed that anybody with a trace of intelligence is distancing themselves from the decision. Trump’s reign will not end well, but Chicago rebuilt after the fire. We can do this, but we have a lot of work to do to convince our friends that we can be a reliable ally.
I just hope the chief felon ends the madness (his war) soon with no more lives lost. We will rebuild, we will rebuild Ukraine (I hope). But for now -- my efforts continue to be the mid-terms and we must win big! I just paid $5.14 a-gallon for gas. Swords Up!