I wish I believed that things - life on the planet - would be better for everyone on Nov. 4th, or on Jan. 21st... but I don't.
I've read too much news and commentary, of course. I've been following politics and political opinion Way Too Much, and trying to believe that there are good folks out there. But "good folks" and "politicians" are oxymoronic terms...and have been for decades.
But/and I believe that that fact is my fault.
Not mine exclusively, of course. I'm just one of We The People. It is We the People who are ultimately to blame, if blame we must.
We failed at paying attention. We failed at understanding our role in a democratic republic. And we became lazy & complaisant. If you need balance here, then know that we are not the only lazy electorate, and many countries Have no electorate!
And we have failed completely at holding on to a bit of civility in our interactions with each other nationally and globally.
Yes, I'm voting. Yes; Democrat. Yes, I hope the Dems win.
But I am not wrong in knowing that those same politicians will have to schmooz - oh, I mean work within - the same system of political practices and laws and permissions as the current ones some of us oppose so much.
The Earth, our home planet, is tiny. We humans have managed to put ourselves not just at the top of the food chain, but have taken ourselves entirely OUTSIDE of the natural food chain. And when there is nothing that eats Us, we must fight and kill each other.
Politically speaking, I think the Global 1% are the biggest entities that threaten our civilization on Earth.
Will things change? Maybe, if we change the balance of power in the Congress. Will it make the needed Big differences that are needed to stall or prevent the upheavals coming with Climate Change? Seems unlikely to me.
I just watched David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet from Netflix. He thinks it just Might be possible to turn things around.
I am much less optimistic.
A bit of those feelings are probably fed, in part, by some mild Covid depression and the attendant stresses of missing my friends and Karaoke!
I watched just this morning a video about celebrating/protecting the last 39 (+-) Indigenous tribes remaining on the planet. (can't find it now)
I can see value in that. I hope they stay so freaking far back in wherever they are, that we never find them again and they never have to see what their kin have done to the rest of the world.
and in my current life I really embrace the thought of a Human Extinction Event. Earth will reclaim herself if we don't blow it up entirely.
Then time will decide if humans get a second chance on her surface.
And even among our own families! I know of far too many of us who have well-loved family members with whom we set aside certain topics as being taboo subjects.
And I believe that the global stress of the pandemic has magnified all of the worst traits we have, when it could have been otherwise.
And for me...one who believed that I could get it right if someone would just show me the list of rules... i find that there are simply too many lists.
Too many lists, and too many list makers...
ok, now I'm just rambling... full of feelings; suspicious of words now... stuck in a kind of inertia that leaves me loath to leave my house.
In some ways that's fascinating because, at the same time, I've made progress (I think) in my emotional/psychological evolution. Navigating the changes in how I think of myself and my world in the midst of all of the planetary and political upheaval is wearing...
I may ask the doc for more alprazolam... or I may seek another guided experience... I don't feel suicidal, (I am curious about how I will go thru this dying thing, too)... but the thought of being out of this earthly mess is not unattractive.
The doc's office has finally reconnected (admitting their New system had problems!). I have an appointment tomorrow.