Overwhelmed

I wake up.

Michelle is in the kitchen trying to get the dog to come back in from her morning constitutional.

I don’t think Keeley cares.

I’m exhausted. The assholes down the street were firing howitzers until almost midnight. Hoo-Rah America.

What the fuck is there to be patriotic about? Maybe it’s the expansion of gun rights, after all, we’re close to 200 mass shootings this year and the year is only half over – we need to improve the odds of reaching 500 by year’s end. Could be the disenfranchisement of millions of women, after all, they’ve needed to be reminded this is a “man’s world” for a long time now.

I don’t know, I guess I’m not patriotic enough. I don’t carry a gun. I believe women, minorities, LGBTQ and trans people all should have the same rights as anyone else.

The truth, my truth, is that I’m overwhelmed with the stupidity running amok in our country.

Global Climate Change is affected by burning of fossil fuels? Let’s burn more and tear down any regulations or protections limiting the impact on the climate.

We’re averaging 1.5 mass shootings every day? Let’s expand gun rights and give everyone more guns because, you know, a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun…except in Uvalde, Parkside, Virginia Tech, Las Vegas, Aurora, and the endless list of other mass shooting sites going back to the prohibition era.

We pile stupidity on top of stupidity to make a perfect trifle of fear and ignorance.

Most days I just can’t and today is no exception. I can’t deal with reality because the reality we now find ourselves in seems like it should be a novel written by George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, or Anthony Burgess.

Godzilla movies are more rooted in reality than the America we live in today. At least in Godzilla movies mankind, America, can unite in one common goal – help Godzilla or kill Godzilla. There is no doubt which side of the coin our society shakes out – either Godzilla is a threat or he’s our savior – help him or destroy him.

We have multitude of problems we need to address – Global Climate Change, Mental Health, Equality, Gun Violence, Food Security, Unsecured Debt, and Poverty. Instead of coming together to address these issues, we say the problems are “too complex, too intertwined to solve.” We are told to vote and make our voices heard but what is the point if the people we vote for constantly lie, break promises, and enrich themselves once they are elected? What do we do then? What option is left for us?

We are on our own, and today, like every other day, I just can’t. I’m sorry, I’m just so overwhelmed.