Terri Bischoff
I almost always have difficulty finding a blog subject but today the reason why is a little different. Today I'm feeling the weight of the terrible things happening in our country. Blogging feels a little silly, you know? In the big picture does it really matter when a writer of literature disses genre fiction? That has been going on forever, so it's not that huge of a deal. Does it really matter that I'm a little bit behind on work? Not really. I somehow manage to fit it all in by the time various deadlines come. These things seem to trivial when our country is unraveling. It just a scary time, plain and simple. So, what to do?
I'm serious in that question. How do we cope with all hate and negative rhetoric that is out there? We can log off of facebook, and all other social media, for a while. We can turn on itunes and read a book. We can color, meditate, and do yoga. Those are all good things. I think they are things we should all do on a regular basis. But at some point we have to join society again. How do we do that? How do we work for peace and equality without becoming overwhelmed with the enormity of the task. I don't know. I feel like I am being a bad citizen yet I'm also feeling sad, and battered, and scared. I can put my head in the sand. I can pretend that all is fine and normal. I'm only a woman and a lesbian after all, I have a certain amount of privilege. That makes me a little sick to my stomach. That I could just float along like a ghost ignoring all the turmoil around me. But I don't have the answer. I don't know what I can do when I am struggling so hard just to get through my own personal battles.
What to do? I mutter this to myself more often than I would like to admit, somehow hoping that somewhere in my brain I have the answers. I know how to set things right in my life and in my world. What to do, what to do? I don't have the answers. But I have always leaned on my family, both biological and chosen, to help me navigate life's twists and turns. What are you doing? I don't ask that as a challenge - I ask it as a sincere question - how are you coping with our current political climate and affairs? What do you do with your worries and concerns? How do you make through the day without feeling weighed down?
What to do, what to do?
I find relief in comedy, particularly when it goes right to the topic. John Oliver, Samantha Bee and Jim Jefferies are doing excellent work. If I can laugh at the idiots, I can get by.
Posted by: Jeff Cohen | August 17, 2017 at 07:32 AM