I’m most worried about what sort of horsesh*t our country has gotten itself into with the previous president, SCOTUS, and ineffectual congress. It’s clear one party has completely given up rule of law (for example, Project 2025 which recommends immediately suspending habeas corpus), and the two party state is clearly failing us.
Of course, I look across the pond and am not impressed with what’s happened in the UK or France. When will people learn from the past? Why does totalitarianism and strongman politics keep coming back? Why are we scapegoating and demonizing the other? I am worried about these things so much, and as a mom to young children, I genuinely don’t know what to do. I recognize I have a lot of privilege and protection in this f*’d up society, but I don’t want it to be normalized or expected by my kids as they grow up. I want us to fight and protest and stand up to these unjust powers. But I worry about what the cultural messaging will try to tell my children about their worth and place in society. Disingenuous public ‘influencers’ tout the benefits of patriarchy and evil of feminism (which, they’re actually describing capitalism BUT WHATEVER)(also proceed to that link with caution-there’s little substance and a whole lot of misrepresentation). I worry about my children’s friends being told they’re less than because of their skin color or sexuality or gender identity-hell, I worry that my own children will find themselves othered for their gender identity.
Protest and resistance are clearly moral imperatives. And contemplation can tell us WHAT and HOW to protest and resist. A lot of the moral outrage on the internet is not from a place of contemplation and deep understanding (see, for instance, the Tractor Supply Co DEI debacle). So as much as I am worried, I hope too that I can stay grounded and centered so that the worries do not outpace my ability to remain centered, present, and thoughtful.
Finally, what strikes me in all of this is just how badly our systems have failed us time and time again, but how often we blame people instead. None of us is capable of fixing the entire system, nor breaking it. But all of us can do something. And none of us has to take it personally when someone points out the brokeness of the system! Yet that happens all the time. We white people are constantly getting offended when POC correctly identify problems with whiteness and white supremacy. We don’t have to defend it! Racism wasn’t our idea, and we didn’t institute the first police state in this country, and we should stop supporting the police state currently operating. And we don’t have to be offended when our beliefs are challenged. It’s tough growing and changing, but everyone is capable and we can do better and managing our emotions instead of throwing them at someone else and perpetuating the scapegoating. I really hope we can do better going forward, but honestly I’m not too hopeful today.
Actually an Artist 
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