I Was So Naive. And Sheltered.

My eyes have been opened. They don't like what they see.

This note is going to be a bit shorter than most and will primarily deal with my feelings today. So, not as many links, and probably not as much snark as usual.

Thing is, I am pretty bummed today. As the events of this week have had a chance to really set in for me, it’s been tough. I like to believe that I can deal with things, that I can detach and let things go, especially if there is nothing that I can do about them. That has been a challenge since November, and I am sure it’s going to remain one for a while. I know myself, and I know how I have a problem letting go. And this week has been a really tough one.

As the week went on, the realization and acceptance of the new world we live in really sunk in. The America that I thought I knew, that I believed in, warts and all, may well and truly be over. If it ever existed in the first place. It’s not just us turning our backs on an ally in their time of greatest need. It’s not just the current administration choosing to align with dictators and despots over the allies that have helped the United States rise to the preeminent global power. It’s not just the Shadow and Vice Presidents lifting up a Neo-Nazi party in Germany. Of course, it is all of those things, but most disheartening is just how many Americans either don’t know what is happening, don’t care, or actually support it.

And that is where I was naive. I truly felt that we, as a country, as Americans, would never stand for this. I felt that such illiberal actions as we have seen over the last month would be greeted with mass protests, general strikes, civil disobedience… something. And yet I don’t see it.

Don’t get me wrong. I know that there are people trying to organize. I realize that this is all hitting all at once and from multiple angles. I guess I am just spent.

I have been more impacted, however, by a realization that yes, there are truly evil people in the world. I guess I always had a detached view of how poorly man can treat his fellow man. It was always an abstract thing for me, even when I would study just how bad people could be to each other. Seeing how some people in this administration, and some of their supporters, talk about other human beings like they are vermin… it’s shattering. Reading first-hand accounts of how Ukrainians who live in Russian-occupied parts of their country are treated somehow finally hit home.

I said as much to my wife, who was born in Soviet Russia, and it opened up a conversation that we somehow have never had in our nearly 15 years together. She told me of neighbors who would just vanish overnight, never to be seen again. She told me of KGB Arrest Quotas. She told me about what it was truly like to not be able to trust anyone, and to live under the constant threat of a knock at your door (or your door being knocked in) because you said the wrong thing in front of the wrong person. When I say I can’t imagine what that must have been like, it’s an admission. I genuinely can’t imagine it. And yet, that may be precisely where we are headed as a nation. I can guarantee you that I am not the only person who can’t, or won’t, imagine it. I think Americans as a whole have no idea just how close we are to the edge of the abyss.

I don’t want to leave this piece without some hope though. Watch this video to see folks in Georgia standing up to their representatives. While the rep is a moron for comparing these folks to the J6 terrorists, just knowing that people are starting to be heard is a good sign. Let’s make the voices louder.

Politics and political power games shouldn't matter, not really. But the games that are being played right now may have dire global consequences. We must pay attention. We are all in this together folks. Hug your people. Try to put the burden down. But be ready.

Take care, and stay strong.