That makes for greater understanding and clarity on the situation and a loss of the once beautiful light your mom held and shared. All we can do is hold that nurturing light for you and the world in her changing cognitive undertandings.
She raised a great son and never forget that far too often the greatest gifts that our parents pass on to us as gifts are not easily seen or understandood for they have much more to seemingly offer that appears to come through emotional loss of connection and even abandonment from all we wish for in this world. Our collective trauma for those of us now will be marker and a trigger for future generations to come.
She is teaching you now though this journey is possibly the hardest yet. Love and blessings to you as you navigate whats best for you and yourself now ???
Ditto. You and I are either long-lost sisters, or we share a brain.
I am not in a forgiving mood. This administration needs to be brought to some hard justice, and I pray it happens.
I don't even want to try and understand people who support Trump, because it's not just about a difference in ideas. I think it used to be, but it's not anymore. These people have overlooked, and, through their ironclad support of this idiot, have condoned the most vile words and actions that have put our country, our democracy and our very lives in danger, from the deliberate mishandling of this virus to their calls for outright violence and murder.
I'm not going to accept the outstretched hand of a Trumper when I know they are balling their fist with the other to punch me with it. When do we tell them too many lines have been crossed and there's no going back? None of these people can tell, see or recognize the truth to save their damned lives.
As much as I love Biden, his calls for unity are a fantasy. You can't have unity when one side is so far removed from decency and reality. Is an attitude like mine contributing to the division? Probably. But then, we are talking about 70 million people who cheered the Divider-In-Chief on for four years.
I'm just done with the ignorance.
I'm trying to have hope in the millions of young people who mobilized to vote for a better future. It's theirs to shape it.
As for MAGAts, if/when they break free of their delusions I would welcome them with open arms, in the meantime I keep my distance.
Twitler? Never.
What Michele B. did was wonderful and I'm glad it worked for her, but I'm just not made up that way. The number of people I wish dead is so few (less than 5), and it doesn't extend beyond the people in this regime. I wish harm on no one except those few. They deserve it and may they burn in the hell that they purport to believe in.
I don't really think there is just one solution. In my heart, I wish kindness, respect and decency would always prevail. However, I've been through enough ups and downs with family, friends and others that I feel like you have to do what is right for you to reach your own peace. I've done the hang in there, keep trying and then been emotionally beaten down to the point that it took me a long time to come back from it. Then after going through some personal losses that really hit me at a heart and soul level, I just came to the conclusion that I just had to accept that you can't change someone else...not their heart, not their convictions, not their beliefs IF they don't want that change. You can only control how you respond to what goes on around you. I try to treat someone else as I want to be treated. I will admit too that it can be hard to forgive sometimes. I have issues I work on all the time of trying to be fair, see all sides and learn from the past but its not easy. Sometimes things are said or done that hurt so deeply that it feels like those wounds never will heal...maybe scab over but it doesn't take much for it to hurt all over again. Looking out for your own needs does not make you less open to helping others. It can actually help more in the end. It just means that its ok to step back if you need to even if its just to help you charge up or take a breath until the next battle. Dealing with all this is kind of like going through a form of grief. Everyone has to handle in their own way and what works best for them-there is no one way or only one right way.
@liln22, Beautifully expressed.
I haven't posted much lately because I'm bone-weary, exhausted. I can't find the words .. or if I try, it takes too much mental and emotional effort to express them. I was elated when Biden won, but now? I can't shake the growing sadness. I believe I'm going through my own period of mourning. I don't know about the rest of you, but the collective trauma we're all feeling has helped me access and face my very own, personal traumas, hidden away or long forgotten until now.
This morning I received the message “Don’t place your attention on those things that you cannot change. Focus only on those things you can.” Shades of the Serenity Prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Hopefully I am growing in that wisdom – the wisdom to know the difference.
I don't believe the MAGAs are evil; I believe they are terrified. And, for the moment, tragically lost. I strongly sensed that as I spent a few moments watching the MAGA protests in DC on Saturday. I felt no anger; just a deep well of sadness.
Having said that … I don't have the interest or energy to understand, challenge or convince the T supporters. And if I did have the energy? I wouldn’t squander it in that way. Perhaps reaching the age of 68 makes it a little easier to say that! All battles are not meant to be fought, or even won. But there are battles still worth fighting for. I’ll reserve my energy for those battles.
I do pray for the T supporters. I pray that the spell they are under is broken, and any efforts to spread falsehoods and hate are thwarted. I also pray that they heal from their individual traumas. The way I see it, only through our own individual healing and self-acceptance, can we collectively heal a nation.
@deetoo hey my friend, i totally get what you are saying- i feel like i've been going thru a lot of the same things. I had to stay off of the internet for a couple of months, and just focus on taking care of the 3 P's- people, pets, and plants. If there was any time or energy left, then it could be for painting. As much as i had invested in the Election- waiting 4 years for that day- when it got here, i couldn't even bring myself to watch the results roll in. It took me several days to even get to the point where i could turn on the TV, and find out why i hadn't heard screaming and shouting and church bells pealing yet.
Much love to you, Deetoo!
People, pets, plants ... and painting. With that, I feel a big exhale ... it sounds lovely, unk-p. And to me, a wonderful way for you to share your amazing gifts. After all, that's why you're here, right? To spread your unique and beautiful light to others. That's why we're all here.
I am happy you're back with us. Much love to you too, unk-p.
Everyone: Last night my wife and I fired up our HBO Max app and watched the last John Oliver of 2020. (Guy deserves a break - I found myself toward the end saying "It's okay John, you can go now..." which was my first giggle of the evening)
At the end of it, he leaves what he's been affectionately referring to as his "colorless void" and the last four minutes of the episode are worth watching. As my wife and I watched this unfold we giggled, then cried, then giggle-cried in the final moments.
I don't know who needs to see this (okay I do, it's all of us) but here you (John Oliver so there's some language) go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tungnc_MPl8&feature=emb_lo go
Best line: Let tomorrow be about solutions. Today is about vengeance.
Right after I posted yesterday, I got on the news, and the first thing I saw was some maggot who attended the million maggot march, and he was interviewed, and said that the cop should have kneeled on George Floyd's neck "longer." That's the kind of a-hole I've got no patience for and won't waste time on.
I read this morning that Biden is leery of pursuing charges of Trump and his minions. I really hope he lets others do it because it's only a matter of time until a smart version of Trump comes along and then we're screwed.
Here's some more food for thought. It is a podcast and transcript of an interview with a Berkeley professor of sociology, Arlie Hochschild, who went to southwest Louisiana and talked to folks on the "right wing" to get a better idea of where they were coming from. Hochschild is considered a specialist in the "sociology of emotion".
Arlie Hochschild
The Deep Stories of Our Time
https://onbeing.org/programs/arlie-hochschild-the-deep-stories-of-our-time/
Excerpt from the beginning of the transcript:
Arlie Hochschild:It doesn’t mean that you’re capitulating — that’s the misunderstanding, I think, especially on the left. “Oh, if you listen to them, that means you’ve been taken over.” Not at all.
Tippett:It just means being emotionally intelligent.
Hochschild:That’s right. We all need to be makers. If you want to make a social contribution and help build a public conversation about the big issues of the day, you have to really be good at emotion management. It’s a contribution to the larger whole, to be really good at that.