What’s In My Head Today

I’m don’t want to look at the news anymore. It doesn’t get any better and the stories are the same. Our country cannot hold a lawbreaker that held the highest office accountable. Climate change threatens the earth and humanity and the responsibility for this impending doom is a circle of “not me” heard from each part of the circle. Scientists are ignored because we might have to learn something if we listen. Learning is under attack from the culture warriors who are afraid someone might really learn what happened in our past and what is going on today. And organized religion is up to all of the bad it has been guilty of for most of its history – there is a good lesson to teach our kids – some religious history.

And then there is the constant hyper partisan politics, just one salvo after another fired over the bows of the ships of political parties. Sometimes one party tries to help people, the other party has no interest in helping, just in maintaining power and money for themselves. What is the point in all of this?

We are very divided as a nation. The starting point to unity might be some common recognition of problems. Forget that as recognizing problems is viewed as a weakness and caving in by one party so this is not going to happen. The only solutions acceptable to one side are a constant diet of culture war wins.

So, I am more and more convinced to stay out of all of this, and away from many of those responsible for the “…condition my condition is in…” (borrowed from some song lyrics – just don’t remember what song, sorry). We no longer argue and debate how much to tax us or what policies are needed to help. No, the big wars are over what history we should hide from our kids, what books to ban from our libraries, what science is bad for us to understand, and what control the government needs over some of our bodies.

To tell you the truth, much of this disgusts me and the people doing this as well. Avoidance is my strategy going forward. I am somewhat fortunate that being in Vermont is a kind of insulation from the rest of the world, and especially what is nasty and disgusting. Vermont is my firewall – hope it holds. I do not need a steady flow of the “National Enquirer” front page passing as news and the people that make the news. The power brokers on the right look like a casting call for a malignant remake of “Springtime in Hitler’s Germany, ” (sorry, Mel Brooks, but it is what it is).

One of the greatest challenges in life is those that will not help themselves. That’s where we are now.

Take care and I am going to try to take care of my mental health.