Well, since I skipped last week’s post, I figured it I shouldn’t skip a second week in a row (that whole lose the routine and then don’t blog for two years thing).
This week though……. This week is rough. I’ve spent a lot of time crying and hugging my seven year old. I cannot fathom the horror of so many parents this week.
And less than two weeks before that, elderly black folks were gunned down in a supermarket. Chinese folks gunned down during church. Or take your pick. But babies. This week it was babies. And the videos and information coming out about the worse than useless police officers….
I am angry. I am so fucking angry.
And then there’s the fact that nothing else has gotten better – everything else continues to spiral down, limboing on the way to Hell.
COVID is spreading out of control and we’re collectively pretending it’s over – while the under 5 age group still doesn’t have a vaccine.
Climate change continues to get worse and worse and we still pretend like it’s not going to impact us personally. While we expand highways and manufacture more cars and yell about reduced parking standards.
Bird flu has made it not only to our state but our county as well. Hopefully it dies out like it has in previous waves… but so many birds have been euthanized. And it’s devastating wild bird populations as well.
Monkeypox…. Well, we’ll see where that one ends, I suppose. But to quote Your Local Epidemiologist, “The monkeypox outbreak is a good dress rehearsal to see whether we have learned anything.” I’m gonna go with no, we haven’t. Considering we can’t even wear masks during a current COVID surge.
Roe v Wade will be overturned soon. States are talking about looking into banning birth control. While families scramble to feed their babies during a severe formula shortage.
Housing is a complete emergency here – and probably where you live too. We need so much more housing and we need it to be affordable. But we keep spinning in circles and digging the hole even deeper. This is my day job, and I’m angry most days now.
Oh, and Lake Mead’s water level keeps on dropping while we pretend the water shortages will never be that bad and lawns still get watered in Phoenix when it’s triple digits.
Gratitude
We have a Gratitude thread in our WPF Insiders Discord server, and one of our members yesterday kicked off asking folks to list ten things we’re each grateful about right now. While I absolutely get the purpose of the practice – and I know it helps – I simply could not do it. Maybe next week. Right now, my head is just too full of anger and grief.
Need a more hopeful take on the awfulness that’s swirling around us? That would be my partner Regina, who can manage better words than me right now (make sure to read the caption).
So that’s it for now. I’ll try to write again next week. Perhaps I’ll have something more hopeful to say then. But damn. I am so fucking angry right now.
ETA I NOW REALIZE I FORGOT TO MENTION THE WHOLE GODDAMN WAR GOING ON IN UKRAINE THANKS TO ONE AWFUL MAN DRUNK ON POWER.
Alright. Yep. Done for the night.
I hear you and I’m in the same boat with all of my feelings. It is nice to know other people feel the same way I do when no one around me seems to be mortified or angry about all of the things you mentioned. So thanks for posting even though I can imagine how hard it was to muster the motivation.
It really is shocking how many seem to be unbothered. 😔
100% with you and it’s a relief to find others who feel the same so I don’t start to think I’m just a doomsday thinker. As with Kayla, I seem to be the only person feeling the way I do in my immediate circle. I keep wanting to escape, but to where?
I just cannot fathom feeling that way.
I’d argue two people are responsible for the war in Ukraine. One in Russia, one previous POTUS.
But yes. I was talking to my husband and suddenly thought about Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s town, situated on a Hellmouth. And that’s what the U.S. is now: one giant Hellmouth.
😩😩😩
I feel all of this. I think most of us with a moral compass do. It’s hard to live in a country that has so little regard for life. And especially so little regard for the lives of children, which is just unconscionable. So thank you for expressing it because it needs to be said.
Thanks friend. ♥️
Hugs. I hear you. My day job involves climate change and we collectively (my team) have been flirting with burnout the last couple of years because it’s Just So Tiring working on something which a large proportion of the world seems dead set on ignoring.
So yeah, I hear you, and I’m glad I’m not the only one who is angry.
Oh and yes to all the other stuff too. Plus I think it’s a sign of the state we are in that you listed a bunch of bad stuff and the war wasn’t even included in your first list !
Yeah, being immersed in climate change stuff day to day is…. Heavy.