In my last post, I actually said that I wrote in a way to avoid being flagged. EVEN WITH THAT, I got a spam comment about the pandemic. Now You have a friend who...deals with spam comments on their social media.
It has been flagged and deleted. My apologies to anyone who had to read that complete utter nonsense.
We live in the dumbest timeline.
In one way, I can't believe it's March and in another, I can't believe it's only March. I've said this multiple times in the last two months: we are just living in the dumbest timeline.
I am never going to be able to understand how we, as a country, got here. I can't conceive how Hate has won the day and seems to continue to win without abatement.
So, while the past two years have made it particularly difficult to get up and participate in life here in my world, it just keeps getting harder. This is not a Raising Parents story. This is a I Don't Know How to Exist in This World story.
My world is filled with people who have such opposite beliefs - or support such opposite beliefs - that it feels pretty isolating. It feels crazy-making. We have to reconcile "Well, they're good people and they've been your friend/family/coworker forever" with "But they support Hate and Greed."
People are fine - or happy even - with people losing their jobs. Losing their benefits. Losing their autonomy. Losing their right to everything they've worked hard for.
I have no solutions but here's what I'm going to offer to you: you can say "I have a friend..." In conversation, when the state of our world is the topic, you can say:
"I have a friend who works for a federal funded program that helps at-risk families and children. It's existed for 60 years. Every day she checks her email and the news to see if she still has a job. The funding has been cut twice and restored, sort of. But there's another attempt on shutting the program down happening right now and they are determined to cut it."
"I have a friend whose father-in-law is on Medicare and Medicaid. He's in a facility because the family couldn't care for him anymore and now he has dementia. Funding to care for him is being threatened because "waste and fraud". Meanwhile, we've been trying to get him a doctor's appointment for over a month. Because the facility is understaffed and the medical community is overloaded, it will take another month for an appointment. Not to mention that his television has been broken and that there's been staff turnover in the six months he's been there. Tell her about the waste and fraud."
"I have a friend whose husband has been planning to retire in two years. Now the funding is being threatened and the economy is failing so he is putting that on hold. He's been working since he's sixteen but people in our government feel like he should work until he dies instead."
"I have a friend who has LGBTQ+ family and friends. They're terrified that the marriage will be annulled, that they're going to lose their child to suicide because of bullying and the lack of medical care. They live in a world full of hate after fighting so hard for equality."
"I have a friend who has nieces that are of child-bearing age. Their lives are at risk if they become pregnant and there are complications. Or universe forbid: something awful happens to them and they need medical intervention to undo the damage" (apologies for the coding, we live in a world where certain words create issues for creators) This brings me to...
"I have a friend who is a creator. She's usually direct and funny and kind and creative. But the world she lives in now wants to limit her words and her creations. Because people are fragile because their antiquated ways are being demolished from society and they're frightened that they will have to live in a world where boys kiss and people of color can do anything they put their minds to." And she's exhausted by every day there is a new assault on being a basic decent human being.
I am one friend that is being affected by all of the above. Now extrapolate that out to every citizen. There is not a soul that isn't being affected by this and some of them are fine with it.
Now you can say "I have a friend..." I'll be that friend for you. Not everyone lives in a place of diversity and can say these things honestly. Yet they still believe in equality and human rights and dignity. Now you can say "I have a friend who..." and it will be true.
We used to say "Stay Safe" because of the pandemic. Now I say it because this is the world we live in now. Stay safe, friends.
