So far, 2020 has been pretty depressing. I find following the election cycle and the impeachment hearings and the uptick in hate crimes and the effects of climate change to be mentally exhausting. And then, just as I am about to give up and stop paying attention in favor of my mental health and sleeping soundly at night, I think— THIS IS WHAT THEY WANT!!!!
Anyway. When I was trying to figure out what to post today to represent these feelings, I came across a pic I took of Mazzy and her friends posing in a street installation outside a restaurant at the beginning of this year. I’m calling it the Angry Tree and I feel like I understand the Angry Tree even more now than when I took this photo.
I invite everyone to tell the Angry Tree what they are currently angry about in the comments below. The Iowa Caucus debacle. Infighting amongst the Democrats. Trump being acquitted. Trump not really being acquitted because it wasn’t a fair trial if witnesses weren’t allowed to be called. Earthquakes in Puerto Rico. Pre-existing conditions. People giving shit to J.Lo….
Take your pick. Let’s vent as a group.
I know it’s incredibly privileged, but one of the worst things about politics for me at the moment is how it’s forcing me to confront the awful beliefs held by people that I love and used to respect. I’ve been careful not to talk about politics with my family, so they haven’t been directly confronted with my views, but they’re very open about theirs and frankly, it’s a reason that we don’t have as strong of a relationship as we used to. It just really sucks and it helps to put it out in the universe.
I totally understand. I’m lucky that I’m surrounded mainly by people with similar views, but I have one family member who doesn’t like Trump/didn’t vote for Trump but almost finds the situation kind of comical/entertaining. I can’t get into discussions with this person because it makes my blood boil. It seems like a very privileged attitude to have.
High Five! I am currently living in the south where the morals, values, ethics, etc don’t align with mine. It’s a hard position to be in because you almost have to be inauthentic to keep the peace while everyone else expresses their ideals.
There are so many things and many of them are the ones you mentioned. But, my number 1 angry thing right now is that we applied for my husband’s green card and work permission in August. He was approved for his work permission at the beginning of January. Then the POST OFFICE LOST HIS WORK PERMISSION, and he can’t work in a job other than his current one (which he is losing in a few months) without it. Now we are fighting to get him a new copy of the work permission without starting the entire process over because we really don’t have time and don’t want to spend the money.
I’m so sorry. That just sucks. I really hope that you get the new copy you need.
It’s been a tough start to the year for sure. I can’t even bear to read the news roundups I subscribe to because each day seems to bring something else dreadful. And February is always my hardest month of the year because my husband is gone for 5-6 weeks for work so I’m on my own and inevitably, this is the time of year where crap breaks in our house (last year it was the shower, the year before I got to spend our tax return replacing the HVAC system) or we have a bunch of snow days and I have to burn up PTO. I work from home, but I can’t really get much done with two elementary-aged boys there with me demanding snacks every 10 minutes and fighting over the 86 electronic devices we own.
I’m calling my condition depressed exhaustion. Although I am mostly a smiling person. I worked/volunteered in SF in the 80’s when Pelosi was beginning her rise; Reagan in the Oval. She worked with us at SaneFreeze, Greenpeace, Women’s Intl. League for Peace and Freedom, Womens’ Action for Nuclear Disarmament, etc. Pelosi was part of a women in congress group “200 by 2000”. You get the idea. I was 20 something and direly afraid the “leaders” were going to blow up the world and sooner than later. And I knew women needed to be running the world.
So, here we sit with the same white, ugly, mean spirited, selfish OLD men and women (sadly). I’m afraid I wish ill of them. But at least, Please, kindly go away.
I feel just like the tree at the end of Silverstein’s ‘The Giving Tree’. And then, on better days (not today) I think of the Peter Pan film where Wendy tells Hook, ‘you very very very badly need a Mother’.
Seeing our country (Australia) literally burn while our government approves a new coal fired power plant. Watching the government move through a predictable cycle of “climate change isn’t real/climate change is real but it is not our fault someone else should do something/climate change is real and we can’t stop it now so we should do is protect ourselves by getting as much money as possible through screwing over the vulnerable”. The shock and devastation is everywhere.
Yes! I feel the same frustration with the “same white, ugly, mean spirited, selfish old men” running the world. I fear a dystopian future for our children. It makes me ill to think about the state our world will be in when all the greedy, misogynistic, racist gluttons have exploited everything and everyone. I am frightened about what this world will look like in 50 to 100 years. I feel that people are so short sighted they can’t see what’s really infront of them. Voting for an individual such as Tump is as useful as punching yourself in the face.