Wake up
Every time you think the battle’s won, it starts all over.
Bonus Comic
As a child, I never believed I could grow up to be whatever I wanted. To be president, for instance, I thought you had to be the smartest person in the world. My grades had already dispelled any illusions there.
The first election I voted in was Bush v Gore. I believed that Bush Jr. would take us to war, gut climate action and devastate the economy. It seemed obvious to anyone paying attention. At that age, I didn’t realize how little attention most people had to spare.
Eight years later I thought the nation had course-corrected with Obama. Despite a healthy cynicism, I was still adequately deluded in 2016 to believe Drumph would be arrested or disqualified before the election and, failing this, roundly rejected at the voting booth. Ha.
Deluded though I was, I still thought Biden’s election was a collective denouncement of Drumph-era policy and culture. All the toxic and regressive rhetoric, bully tactics, sexism, racism, homo/trans-phobia, climate denial, gaslighting and scapegoating had to be more than what most folks really wanted or could bear.
Silly me.
The day after the election I told my therapist I felt like the Hero of Time, who keeps getting resurrected to defeat the same evil. Haven’t I already fought this battle? he must think. I’m sure I still have the scars.
My therapist sat across from me, thoughtful a moment, then met my gaze evenly. “Even Link gets a rest,” he said soberly.
I guess it’s the best we can do.
