I spent a while staring at a blank page, so frustrated, angry and unable to process what to say. I haven’t been able to write lately because I’ve been so overwhelmed with anger.
We currently live in a “free” country yet people are being forced to call their senators daily, begging for them to vote no on something that will take away affordable health care for millions of people. Our war hero, John McCain, recently diagnosed with a very aggressive brain cancer, left the hospital and jumped on a plane funded by taxpayers to vote to continue the debate on repealing ACA. A repeal that would take away insurance from others with the same cancer. Or insurance for our other war heroes. He showed up with that scar above his eye, welcomed with applause, and voted to continue the debate instead of killing it.
I watched in horror as our President turned the Boy Scout Jamboree into a Hitler-like campaign platform and allowed them to boo our former President. I’m humiliated. I come from a heavy scouting background. Some of my favorite memories were going to Boy Scout camp with my grandpa, a man that was a Scoutmaster for over 30 years. Several family members are Eagle Scouts. I can’t believe this is how he wants our boys to think. This is again reversing every step we as a country take towards diversity and equality.
So I sit here again, wondering if I’m doing enough.
Earlier the President decided to ban transgender Americans from serving in our military. Because they are so distracting and will get people killed? On Twitter. He made this announcement on Twitter. Good thing we just spent all that money training military doctors on treating our brave transgender soldiers that strive to protect our country. If only our draft dodging President could be even half as brave.
Am I doing enough? What can I do for my LGBTQ friends? My heart breaks for all of them, knowing people I love aren’t free and the President and VP wish they would all just go away.
Am I doing enough for people of color? I watch horrible stories of men being shot in front of their families by police. But what can I do about it? How can I use this white privilege to stand up for everyone? No one deserves to go through that and black lives absolutely matter. Yes, I get that every life should matter, but I’m probably not going to get stopped because of my skin color.
What am I doing for immigrants? What am I doing to stop the travel ban? What am I doing for every single woman in the country? Planned Parenthood? I’m not doing enough and I’m so overwhelmed. I shouldn’t have to have Senators on speed dial to fight for my rights. We shouldn’t have to have a march every weekend for things such as basic human rights and climate control.
Why did we allow this to happen to our country? Was it really her damn emails? Because you know what we’re getting? We’re getting Putin’s America. Everyone connected with Trump seems to have committed some treason anyway.
We let some thin-skinned egotistical maniac win the most powerful seat in the country and now we’re all being punished. We can’t stay sleeping through the next three and a half years. We have to stand up and fight no matter how tired we are. Start by pushing some of the monsters out in 2018. The resistance is just getting started and we all need to stay vigilant. That’s how we make it out alive and united.
Now if only we can fight the fatigue and overcome to the PTSD-like symptoms we suffer from when our push notifications and “modern Presidential” tweets show up on our devices.