This is part of a series called Succinct Shots. It’s based on a practice of stream-of-consciousness writing. But it’s my own variation to use a focal point, instead of rambling aimlessly without intent. It’s meant to trigger clarity for the writer and reader.
[FYI: I wrote these short essays before the advent of Covid-19.]
The world can be a downer. If you start to let all the bad news sink in, then the downward spiral makes you sick.
It doesn’t stop. It only gets worse. It can affect your psyche to be stuck in the doldrums, in a malaise of inaction.
Is it important to be aware of the atrocities? Is it depleting your reserve of faith in humankind? Is it possible to let the world go and move on?
I don’t think so. But self-absorption may be a good escape. If you focus on a job or hobby, it may help you avoid the hot mess. But how do you block out humanity?
After traveling the globe and living on three continents, I can’t ignore it. I try to make sense of it all. I try to put it in context. I try to find a path that lets me use it for good purpose.
But each day is difficult. Each day the bullshit stirs and smells. Each day the hope fades.
This is the way negativity pounds you into submission, to freeze up and feel useless. Only a fighting attitude or a small success can thaw you out. You have to find the little victories that keep the struggle from defeat.
In the short-term, and even in the immediate-term, it all sucks.
That’s why a long-term view is the only solution. It fights off the daily beat down. It instills a sliver of hope to remain in your core being. It is the only practical tool left in the fairness toolbox.
Maybe it is Pinkeresque, but it is better than the other options of ignorance, avoidance and self-absorption.
Isn’t it better to deal with the struggles to prove your own moxy, your self-respect, your desire to fight and your belief in a more equitable world.
How disgusting would it be to stop resistance and let the elites win even easier. I can’t imagine being satisfied to let the bastards believe in superiority and rightful ownership of their place.
There is nothing in my DNA that drives me to be part of the elite class. There is nothing in my soul that wants to be in that group. There is nothing but contempt for a smug class that is artificially elevated.
Equality is not the end goal, that is a fantasy. Respect is worth fighting for, it is worth the daily pain. Fight for the long-term.
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