I was recently speaking with a friend about my long-ago healed anxieties, insecurities, and trauma reactions that have returned since DJT announced his candidacy and his subsequent win of the presidential election.
Have you been feeling strangely unlike yourself? Are the unhealed parts of you looming large? Is despair creeping up on even the strongest among you? Are you having days where you feel like you’re losing life force and dragging through the days?
You are not alone. I’ve been fighting off those demons since too many cheered and voted for their own demise and that of Democracy. Many bribed and threatened — in need of a savior, knelt at the altar of their fears and offered praise to the most unworthy of men.
I knew he would win — as the USA mirrored a seething political, and anemic economic climate just as Germany experienced, paving the way for Hitler’s rise to power. This nightmare is not the work of just one man, but an inherent evil of the hatred of difference, the belief of white supremacism and “American exceptionalism” that has underscored our country since its inception.
U.S. voters were bamboozled by the deceptive narrative mounted on a false premise of making “America Great Again”. First of all, we are not America, we are only part of the Americas — and we are certainly not the United States. Extractive Capitalism has always been with us, with the love of money usurping the love of any God, Truth or Nature. No one can convince me that “America” was ever great, only that there were times when it was better, but NEVER for ALL.
This country has always been run by the in-bred filthy rich who have long desired to be rid of those of us they have long dehumanized. Poverty has always been, and continues to be, criminalized by the same people who have used our labor, bodies, and intellect to fill their already flooded coffers.
Of course, Christianity, the excavation and exploiting of archaic laws, prosperity preaching economics, a forcibly rote and unimaginative educational system designed to keep us docile, all forge to foment every form of fear and hate to keep us living in mutual suspicion. The machine gun rapidity of inhumane and treasonous violations of our Constitution by way of maniacal Executive Orders, is meant to frighten us into a paralytic submission.
DON’T FALL FOR IT. Feel like running? Run towards those you trust. Run towards those you love. Tell them how you feel — and create space for them to tell you. If you have loving feelings for others, admire and respect them — go tell them — go look into their eyes — let them know. Why keep secret the good we feel about others? We need all the good we can get. Thank those who are fighting on our behalf. Support the ACLU and a free press. Put your local media access centers to work. Do whatever it takes to keep newspapers like this one alive. The Hurst family can’t do it alone. Who will stand up? Where are the new journalists of our region?
Are you having self-doubts? Most people of conscience are — we’re asking ourselves, “have I done enough?” “will I leave the world better than I found it?” “what are my intentions in everything I do?” “what motivates me?” “what is my purpose?” So many questions — we can ask each other about them, speak them. Sometimes speaking the question is enough. Not every question has an answer, but those questions are all in need of light and air.
There are days when my insecurities will try to smother me — I might even question my ability to have a simple conversation in the fear of being misunderstood — and that is when I most need to speak. I might question my self-worth, my abilities as an artist, feel helpless in stopping tyranny — feel like giving up, And then I THINK AGAIN. The one thing that is unshakable is that I can love — I can listen, and I live with deep empathy for others. We must put love before achievements; activism before shopping and binge watching; stop expending the precious moments of life on gossip instead of ideas. Let go of who and what we no longer need in life, and dare to take a deep breath everywhere and anywhere. Give and do what is within your means to support others. Look at the sky. Look into another’s eyes. Dare to love. It’s your treasure. We must become worthy and true to our name — The UNITED States, or we will become the puppets and victims of a few; shameful since we are, and have always been, the many. Let no one call us a minority. We have never been one. ■