You guys I just don’t know. Everything that’s happened this week has surpassed my capacity to build reasoned conceptual frameworks.
We can keep calling our elected officials and donating to those who appear to be pursuing our cause. We can keep volunteering to help people in the worst straits, and donating to organizations that do the same. We surely will take care of ourselves and those we love.
But if one sentence sums up how I feel this morning, on my usual sofa in my usual house, looking out the window at a rainy January garden, at the pale pink daphne blooming over variegated leaves, it’s, “Watch and wait.”
Watch and wait. Will the powers that be–the wealthy non-Trumpists, the institutions, the Congress, the courts, even other countries–unite and take a stand? And if they do, how will it work? Will the many layers of government comply and succeed at enacting whatever this is? Comply but fail to implement? Resist and fail (leading to what?)? Resist and succeed? I don’t know.
This chaos, for I cannot call it a system, approximates the complexity of global weather forecasting. We are looking at the difference between .78 inches of rain with 15 mph winds, and 3.35 inches and hurricane velocities.
I don’t know. I’m watching. But it’s Saturday morning, and you all have lives. Me too, for which I am grateful at this moment, so let’s imagine we speak in quiet indoor voices.
My daughter and her fiancé are in town and we spent yesterday dodging rain and wind at the coast, envisioning their wedding this September. It’s going to be beautiful, and original. Last night my daughter and I sat together on my second sofa (why it matters which sofa I cannot say except that in times like this the question that grounds me at home is which sofa), and looked at Pinterest boards of tablecloths, napkins, runners, flowers, vases, table numbers and various sparkly things. So happy.
And still metaphorical winds rattle the windows. Two opposing things are true.
I wish you all safety, warmth, the company of loved ones, something to look forward to, and, if you can find it, resolve. I plan to be here Sunday night. If nothing else, quite likely I’ll learn something. It’s the weekend. Enjoy every good moment that comes your way.
7 Responses
Thank you; I feel a wee bit calmer after reading your piece. Watching and waiting, and doing what our money and time allow…This seems to be right for today.
Your plans sounds very much like mine. I am sitting back, waiting for them to fight amongst themselves, hoping that we can make it until the next election cycle and that at that point enough people will realize that we need to change. In the meantime, the part of me that I am not proud of thinks that the people who will be hurt the most are those who supported the current regime, and at least at this point my reaction is that it will serve them right. (Although I know that when they are harmed I will actually feel sympathy for them as fellow human beings. Not yet, however.)
I have to question why all the wealthy who voted in this regime get a pass. Nobody expresses that they should suffer consequences. Yesterday the head of the Treasury was placed on leave (then resigned) because he refused to allow access to unauthorized people into the payment system. If you have a portfolio with bonds, or buy them through brokers, this should concern you. If that treasury is looted and ends up in crypto, which is untraceable, there could be disastrous consequences for all.
Found a snowdrop ready to bloom here in eastern CT. Made me happy-briefly……..Thanks for continuing to show up and express what we often find difficult putting into words.
Find strength in family and like minded friends. Not sure I believe we’ll survive it.
Thank you, Lisa from a long time reader
Happy Lunar New Year! The Year of the Snake should bring us joy, prosperity, and endless opportunities. Let’s hope that common decency will prevail, too.
Tell your daughter, who I assume still lives in Seattle, that I just experienced my first brief and beautiful Seattle snow. A half an hour later and it’s sunny and blue, mixed with gray. The Sound is sparkling. Seattle’s propensity for quick, dramatic weather shifts is lovely. Don’t like the gray sky? Wait five minutes, it’ll be foggy, white, sunny and blue, raining, snowing, a windstorm. Thank you for the link to the Sunday evening We Choose to Fight event. I signed up and posted the link on Facebook and on Twitter. Enjoy the wedding planning.
With you — in the wondering, watching, waiting, unknowing.