I’m late to this particular blog but am I glad I read it. It is so explicitly real and candid that it thwarts our inclination to place our heads in the sand. Facing “what is” inspires and activates our intuitive call to civically participate. I responded on another Steady blog that compassionate, empathetic discourse is part of that participation. So is voting, letter writing and making our voices heard. I am motivated by this “despairing” blog today and plan to move forward with any and all methods of civic action.
As a senior Senior Citizen, I have a similar perspective about what has happened in the past. The one huge difference is the stacked Supreme Court. No matter how conservative the justices were in the past, they took their jobs seriously and thought about the impact of a decision on the country not on the party that they supported. Because of that members of both parties could respect their decisions. Now the only conservative jurist who still seems to care about democracy and respects the constitution is Justice Roberts. The others are not conservatives, they are pandering Republicans as in the party, capital R, rather than the republic.
Reason and perspective...these seem like obvious things to expect, but they are painfully absent in much of what I hear and read in current news and opinions. Politicized pandemics don't help with optimism, either. Reading your blog, reading Heather Cox Richardson's thoughts (and others' of similar mind) has made me turn to reading well-researched biographies (Chernow's on Washington and Hamilton, for example). I am realizing that our current struggles really are not a brand-new new crisis for us; from our beginnings as a nation, there have always been division and disagreement, and in many cases, violence, sabotage, and corruption. Somehow the voices of reason and balance do prevail, despite fearful forces of epidemics, war, hatred, and bigotry...and I hope with all my heart that those rational and thoughtful voices sing out loudly over the distressing and disruptive noises we are living with. Coping with what has been part of our life for the past six years or so is exhausting. Your blog has been reassuring and thought-provoking. Thank you for being here with us!
You've almost made me not want to commit suicide. Almost. I'm 66 and remember the rights I took for granted. That's wonderful. But dead. What to live for know? I remember you as a life saving newscaster. Now I'm old. And I feel the same. Thank you for Steady. Charming and well meant but never to come true. I loved your idealism. I wish it could be true. Thank you so much. maybe it reached someone else.
Love,
A shriveled once believer,
Jill
P.s. suicide makes no difference, does it? Except for relief for the selfish committing. Were I stronger, I'd try to live the life you properly demand. Please love the broken at heart.
What do you mean by, "a life-saving newscaster"? Read through all the comments on Dan Rather's essays to see how other people are coping. See Clayton Jennings' video, "Please Don't Kill Yourself."
Judging by the comments I see, I think this link (and the post to which it leads) might help some of y'all. Read this and I hope some of you at least are heartened by it.
I am at the point that no one should reference the November election as an assured Republican victory. Too many issues that Republicans tout as their win and Democrats lose. I don’t believe that to be true, and I believe that the media need to put their neutral hats on, and quit fortelling an upcoming loss for Democrats. The media matters, but they matter when they tell us about reality, not their forgone conclusions.
Positive tells get the attention of voters, and the negatives only reinforces the minority.
You are sadly accurate. I believe our Constitution is flawed, or at least some of the political changes. Everything should be decided by popular vote. As you said, this would make us a different country.
I have nearly lost faith in America. I just don’t know what to do to help us get back on track. I vote. I try to discuss what I see happening with my grandchildren and children. All but one of my 11 grandchildren will be of voting age this fall. However, my grandchildren hate politics and the crooked government that we have. They say that their votes won’t matter. I am beginning to wonder if they are right. I have seen Mitch McConnell telling Republicans not to vote for bills that would be good for America. I have seen Joe Manchin and Kristin Sinema block bills that were the heart of Joe Biden’s mandate as President. Now we have a far right Supreme Court that is doing away with a woman’s right to choose that has been on the books for half a century.
As I see it, America is no longer the greatest country or democracy in the world. If I were young, I would move to a country that believes in freedom and personal right to privacy and self determination.
Habits of hope ive become hooked into at the moment include checking every morning to see how Volodymyr Zelensky is doing (hope he gets Time's Man of the Year) & watching my sweet goldens for a few moments as they breathe peacefully & often smile in their sleep. "A chaotic world...flooding in from multiple fissures in the foundation of our society....." Visually perfect- describes the sense of going over the Niagara or being caught in a poweful water-fueled implosion taking us into the world's core. The cliche that 95% of your problems will be caused by 5% of the elements-- SO TRUE. Citizens United, global human overpopulation, the rise of the influence of toxic religions, a few narcissists w/way too much power & money......These are the issues pulling us down to hell. All the world's grain damaged by 4-5 main horrible issues. A major correction in any of these forces would deliver an immediate improvement to the world.
The thing is, we seem to be precariously balanced on the fulcrum of going either way- worse or better. There are just enough issues where hope is justified & rewarded on a daily basis to keep us moving forward w/our life plans because we see positive events happening daily. Hovering over the inflection point. Ukraine & Ukrainians have so much strength & fight, im encouraged daily by their triumphs & successes. They're doing an amazing job of holding the line & i silently wish them hopes & the best throughout the day. Their courage gives me a lot of hope. If Putin fails, the trump/mccarthy/bimboe cult 45 will lose tremendous steam. So my paws are crossed in hopes of good luck for Ukraine for that reason as well. At the moment, i dont feel so much hope for our country. Though cult 45 & the far right is not more than 35% of our country, they are vile, violent, mean, cruel, over-armed, & louder than the rest of us. So our own country disheartens me at the moment. I want the side of reason & sanity to be stronger, we need to own the narrative, interrupt, fight back w/the real strength in numbers we do have. If Putin goes down a lot of global problems will dissolve w/him. If not, we could be stuck w/evangeliban-fascism for at least a decade. We're at a crossroads. If we prevail in Ukraine & Putin is stopped, we could soon beat back all that's rotten here in the U.S. at the moment. In a weird way, it's actually a bit comforting to have the determinant factor thousands of miles away. Means we will have some notice if something goes awry. Im usually a centrist- not optimistic or pessimistic yet w/a very slight lean to optimism. Yet i feel optimistic for us, for the long term, now. The strength & courage & successive wins, the observable evidence that a strong coalition of forces is always better than to go it alone if you have the option......Being on the side of decency & all that's noble isn't what gives me hope. It's the strength of our resolve & the echo of our resolve in parts of Europe, Scandinavia, Australia & elsewhere. Oddly enough, despite everything, im hopeful. Putin is almost 70, unwell, fanatical in his pursuit of death to many others. Many weaknesses in the Russian forces of war. We have to help, our own survival depends on it. In more ways than one. We cant afford an emboldened trump/evangeliban-fascism in America. It is OUR country, not just a playground for the very rich here. Plus, another reason for hope- the 4-5 conditions i mentioned earlier- Most Americans want the asap END to Citizens United. Most recognize that a world full of 8 billion people & growing should be doing something more peacefully proactively to lower human population. Most are abhorred by the severe dangers narcissists in power are for the entire world. We're not alone in knowing the causes of our current severe pain. Together we can keep this from being overwhelming. Because most of us are finally on the same page- this gives me the most hope of all.
I see very little patriotism in my city in FL. No one (except for a handful of seniors) seems concerned about losing our democracy! It’s astonishing. These are the worst of times I have lived in and fearful for my adult children.
I like that. It made me laugh and I think laughter is really important right now. Maybe we should stage a laugh-in and make ourselves feel lighter. This isn't personal, it is about others and others need us to be strong together just now. There are so many people out there who need others to help stand with them against these really creepy "leaders." We need to be strategic in our actions and keep a warm heart. There is a ruthlessness in the Republican right-wingers that may win points but doesn't win hearts. Winning points isn't enough in the long run. I'm groping for words here, but I suspect you know what I mean.
Things were also bad in the 1930s: epidemics with no cures, Hitler and the Japanese warlords on the ascent, effects of the Great Depression lingering on. The 'deplorable' gene seems to be part of our inheritance. I suspect we will have made the planet uninhabitable for our species before long. The turtles have survived for 100 million years and will be there long after we are gone. Trump and his cronies and admirers are only one symptom of the genetic disease.
I’m late to this particular blog but am I glad I read it. It is so explicitly real and candid that it thwarts our inclination to place our heads in the sand. Facing “what is” inspires and activates our intuitive call to civically participate. I responded on another Steady blog that compassionate, empathetic discourse is part of that participation. So is voting, letter writing and making our voices heard. I am motivated by this “despairing” blog today and plan to move forward with any and all methods of civic action.
As a senior Senior Citizen, I have a similar perspective about what has happened in the past. The one huge difference is the stacked Supreme Court. No matter how conservative the justices were in the past, they took their jobs seriously and thought about the impact of a decision on the country not on the party that they supported. Because of that members of both parties could respect their decisions. Now the only conservative jurist who still seems to care about democracy and respects the constitution is Justice Roberts. The others are not conservatives, they are pandering Republicans as in the party, capital R, rather than the republic.
Sue
Reason and perspective...these seem like obvious things to expect, but they are painfully absent in much of what I hear and read in current news and opinions. Politicized pandemics don't help with optimism, either. Reading your blog, reading Heather Cox Richardson's thoughts (and others' of similar mind) has made me turn to reading well-researched biographies (Chernow's on Washington and Hamilton, for example). I am realizing that our current struggles really are not a brand-new new crisis for us; from our beginnings as a nation, there have always been division and disagreement, and in many cases, violence, sabotage, and corruption. Somehow the voices of reason and balance do prevail, despite fearful forces of epidemics, war, hatred, and bigotry...and I hope with all my heart that those rational and thoughtful voices sing out loudly over the distressing and disruptive noises we are living with. Coping with what has been part of our life for the past six years or so is exhausting. Your blog has been reassuring and thought-provoking. Thank you for being here with us!
Thank you for your opinion.
Thanks for your opinion.
You've almost made me not want to commit suicide. Almost. I'm 66 and remember the rights I took for granted. That's wonderful. But dead. What to live for know? I remember you as a life saving newscaster. Now I'm old. And I feel the same. Thank you for Steady. Charming and well meant but never to come true. I loved your idealism. I wish it could be true. Thank you so much. maybe it reached someone else.
Love,
A shriveled once believer,
Jill
P.s. suicide makes no difference, does it? Except for relief for the selfish committing. Were I stronger, I'd try to live the life you properly demand. Please love the broken at heart.
What do you mean by, "a life-saving newscaster"? Read through all the comments on Dan Rather's essays to see how other people are coping. See Clayton Jennings' video, "Please Don't Kill Yourself."
Feels like the end of times.
Judging by the comments I see, I think this link (and the post to which it leads) might help some of y'all. Read this and I hope some of you at least are heartened by it.
http://nopartyline.blogspot.com/2021/07/no-business-despairing.html
I am at the point that no one should reference the November election as an assured Republican victory. Too many issues that Republicans tout as their win and Democrats lose. I don’t believe that to be true, and I believe that the media need to put their neutral hats on, and quit fortelling an upcoming loss for Democrats. The media matters, but they matter when they tell us about reality, not their forgone conclusions.
Positive tells get the attention of voters, and the negatives only reinforces the minority.
You are sadly accurate. I believe our Constitution is flawed, or at least some of the political changes. Everything should be decided by popular vote. As you said, this would make us a different country.
I have nearly lost faith in America. I just don’t know what to do to help us get back on track. I vote. I try to discuss what I see happening with my grandchildren and children. All but one of my 11 grandchildren will be of voting age this fall. However, my grandchildren hate politics and the crooked government that we have. They say that their votes won’t matter. I am beginning to wonder if they are right. I have seen Mitch McConnell telling Republicans not to vote for bills that would be good for America. I have seen Joe Manchin and Kristin Sinema block bills that were the heart of Joe Biden’s mandate as President. Now we have a far right Supreme Court that is doing away with a woman’s right to choose that has been on the books for half a century.
As I see it, America is no longer the greatest country or democracy in the world. If I were young, I would move to a country that believes in freedom and personal right to privacy and self determination.
Habits of hope ive become hooked into at the moment include checking every morning to see how Volodymyr Zelensky is doing (hope he gets Time's Man of the Year) & watching my sweet goldens for a few moments as they breathe peacefully & often smile in their sleep. "A chaotic world...flooding in from multiple fissures in the foundation of our society....." Visually perfect- describes the sense of going over the Niagara or being caught in a poweful water-fueled implosion taking us into the world's core. The cliche that 95% of your problems will be caused by 5% of the elements-- SO TRUE. Citizens United, global human overpopulation, the rise of the influence of toxic religions, a few narcissists w/way too much power & money......These are the issues pulling us down to hell. All the world's grain damaged by 4-5 main horrible issues. A major correction in any of these forces would deliver an immediate improvement to the world.
The thing is, we seem to be precariously balanced on the fulcrum of going either way- worse or better. There are just enough issues where hope is justified & rewarded on a daily basis to keep us moving forward w/our life plans because we see positive events happening daily. Hovering over the inflection point. Ukraine & Ukrainians have so much strength & fight, im encouraged daily by their triumphs & successes. They're doing an amazing job of holding the line & i silently wish them hopes & the best throughout the day. Their courage gives me a lot of hope. If Putin fails, the trump/mccarthy/bimboe cult 45 will lose tremendous steam. So my paws are crossed in hopes of good luck for Ukraine for that reason as well. At the moment, i dont feel so much hope for our country. Though cult 45 & the far right is not more than 35% of our country, they are vile, violent, mean, cruel, over-armed, & louder than the rest of us. So our own country disheartens me at the moment. I want the side of reason & sanity to be stronger, we need to own the narrative, interrupt, fight back w/the real strength in numbers we do have. If Putin goes down a lot of global problems will dissolve w/him. If not, we could be stuck w/evangeliban-fascism for at least a decade. We're at a crossroads. If we prevail in Ukraine & Putin is stopped, we could soon beat back all that's rotten here in the U.S. at the moment. In a weird way, it's actually a bit comforting to have the determinant factor thousands of miles away. Means we will have some notice if something goes awry. Im usually a centrist- not optimistic or pessimistic yet w/a very slight lean to optimism. Yet i feel optimistic for us, for the long term, now. The strength & courage & successive wins, the observable evidence that a strong coalition of forces is always better than to go it alone if you have the option......Being on the side of decency & all that's noble isn't what gives me hope. It's the strength of our resolve & the echo of our resolve in parts of Europe, Scandinavia, Australia & elsewhere. Oddly enough, despite everything, im hopeful. Putin is almost 70, unwell, fanatical in his pursuit of death to many others. Many weaknesses in the Russian forces of war. We have to help, our own survival depends on it. In more ways than one. We cant afford an emboldened trump/evangeliban-fascism in America. It is OUR country, not just a playground for the very rich here. Plus, another reason for hope- the 4-5 conditions i mentioned earlier- Most Americans want the asap END to Citizens United. Most recognize that a world full of 8 billion people & growing should be doing something more peacefully proactively to lower human population. Most are abhorred by the severe dangers narcissists in power are for the entire world. We're not alone in knowing the causes of our current severe pain. Together we can keep this from being overwhelming. Because most of us are finally on the same page- this gives me the most hope of all.
Thank you SO MUCH! I have often felt discouraged and depressed at the current situations. Your words help!
I see very little patriotism in my city in FL. No one (except for a handful of seniors) seems concerned about losing our democracy! It’s astonishing. These are the worst of times I have lived in and fearful for my adult children.
I like that. It made me laugh and I think laughter is really important right now. Maybe we should stage a laugh-in and make ourselves feel lighter. This isn't personal, it is about others and others need us to be strong together just now. There are so many people out there who need others to help stand with them against these really creepy "leaders." We need to be strategic in our actions and keep a warm heart. There is a ruthlessness in the Republican right-wingers that may win points but doesn't win hearts. Winning points isn't enough in the long run. I'm groping for words here, but I suspect you know what I mean.
Things were also bad in the 1930s: epidemics with no cures, Hitler and the Japanese warlords on the ascent, effects of the Great Depression lingering on. The 'deplorable' gene seems to be part of our inheritance. I suspect we will have made the planet uninhabitable for our species before long. The turtles have survived for 100 million years and will be there long after we are gone. Trump and his cronies and admirers are only one symptom of the genetic disease.