The general theme of this year has been that it's sucked. We have a sub-literate boob as president, perhaps the most corrupt and venal individual to hold the job since the country's inception. Even this late in the year, he is putting in place horrible policies, such as getting rid of an Obama era AIDS/HIV council's members, and this is a guy whose vice president had a horrifying rural AIDS epidemic happen on his watch. Things are bad, with bad tax policies, bad or nonexistent foreign policies, and racist domestic policies.
That being said, I'm a straight white male with a college education and a full-time job. I'm housed and well-fed, and don't personally face oppressive policies. Personally, things have been okay, but I know that I am insulated from a lot of the bad shit... that being said, I've heard Hispanic and LGBTQ friends talk about their concerns- fear of losing family members, fear of violence from a hateful political base. Much of the really bad stuff I am only feeling by proxy. There is an existential dread hanging over the country, but I am not feeling it directly.
On a personal level, by far the worst thing I have had to deal with was the death of my beloved feline co-worker Fred, who succumbed to cancer at the age of seven. I still miss the cat terribly- opening up catfood cans for his sister Ginger, I miss having a large, strong cat headbutting my arm in order to get at the chow. I also miss having two cats curled up on the desk, rather than one. It was a loss, but so many people are feeling more acute pains.
It's interesting, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI'm in a similar situation - straight white male, living in northern california - I'm insulated from the worst of the economic and social policies of our idiot authoritarian.
But at the same time, I've worked only a few months out of the last 30, I have no income, no life, and very little joy. It's beyond me how it's even possible that out of the hundreds of jobs I've applied or interviewed for, exactly NONE of them ended up deciding to hire me.
And for all the large-scale horrors visited on us by our fellow citizens in 2017, all I can say is strap in and hold on, keep hands and feet inside the boat at all times. Because 2018 is where it all comes to a head - all the twisted skeins and threads are set on a collision course. I think we can expect wars, economic recession, a hotly contested election in which claims and counter-claims of 'fake news' and 'collusion' will erode the validity of the democratic process. Along with some things we can generally expect - mass shootings, terror attacks, hate crimes and a continued Republican war on the American population - some of the most fearful aspects of the new year now upon us are the things we KNOW will happen but have no idea what they are.
Nope. We may well look back on 2017, if not exactly fondly, perhaps with some wistfulness for our lost dream...