I’m firmly in the “meek” category along with most of the attributes you would assume go with it: introverted, passive-aggressive, quiet, content, peace-loving, hard to anger, patient, etc. I can put up with a lot, get along with anybody. I have strong opinions but I know that nobody wants to hear them. My daily intake of news consists of scanning the mostly-local headlines of one of the city television stations, reading a couple stories of interest to get a deeper picture, and relying mostly on headlines for the gist of the national happenings. I’m not completely head-in-the-sand but I know myself well enough to either limit my knowledge of what is going on or face the same depression and frustration I see in other people. I go to work and talk to the same handful of people each day, talk to some neighbors, family and friends, never get a wide range of opinions outside of my local bubble. I’m not on social media, I have a hard enough time with the real thing. I “lurk” on some sites but never comment.
Begin rant:
What I’m having trouble with is keeping up with the flurry of groups/people/businesses/brand names/entertainment choices/candidates/influences that I should not be associating with, supporting, following, listening to, voting for, or even reading upon. This business has this flag in their window… can’t go there anymore. This business is owned by a guy that is a you-know-what… can’t shop there. These people kneeled, these didn’t. I saw her wearing one of those hats, not talking to her anymore. I heard he went downtown for that event the other day. Hmmm, didn’t know he was like that.
The more trusted and supposedly like-minded people I talk to, the more I find I can’t add to my mental list fast enough who I’m supposed to be taking a stand against. And this is on top of all the ones I was already supposed to be against before March of this year. From what I do gather from the news, there are certain groups of people that are supposed to hate me because of something I can’t change. At the same time, I’m lumped in with the group of people who are supposed to be dead-set against the people who are against me. This is all very confusing to me and I wish there were a way I could sort this out. Should I spend more time reading the news each day? Which news? If I had my choice it would for sure be this national news outlet and that one only. Actually what would be better is to surround myself with right-thinking people and we can feed off each other, maybe join a local protest or counter-protest. Forget it, the safest thing for a person of my particular personality nuances is to just go full isolation and stay in my own little world. Being anti-everything is just easier.
There, rant over.
Okay, show of hands- as you were reading this were you desperately trying to figure out what category to put me in? Race? Religion? Political party? Gender? Geographic location? Urban/rural? Liberal/conservative? Leader/follower? Trump supporter? BLM supporter? Mask, no mask? Were you getting frustrated as you were already forming your comment to the article in your head without knowing exactly who you were either about to support or rebuke?Continue reading“Our Daily Passive Battle, by H.G.”