Tired

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Economic issues, education, Free Press Issues, guns, Law and justice, Personal, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

I’m tired, my friends, and I imagine you are too.

  • I’m tired of being told that more than 3,200 deaths by guns, including 44 mass shootings in less than 28 days is simply the ‘price of freedom’. Freedom to … WHAT?  Get shot to death at the grocery store?  To have our children killed in school?  If that’s the price of freedom, you can keep the damned freedom!
  • I’m tired of the altogether too frequent killing of people by the police … the very people we are supposed to be able to trust to protect life. The relatively few police who take the lives of primarily Black people who have done little or no wrong, have given police officers everywhere a bad name and frankly, if I see a cop in a store, I turn the other way, hoping he doesn’t even notice me.  If I see one behind me at a traffic light, my heart stops and I try so hard to look innocent that I probably look guilty!
  • I’m tired of being called a ‘Marxist’ because I believe in human rights, believe that nobody should amass huge amounts of wealth while others go to bed hungry at night, or live on the streets in cardboard boxes.
  • I’m tired of spending more than half of my monthly Social Security stipend on medications that are essential to keep me from dying, while seeing the profits of the pharma companies that manufacture those drugs skyrocket.
  • I’m tired of listening to Republican politicians threatening to cut that very same Social Security that a) I paid into all my life, and b) is not enough to support me if I lived on my own! This is a threat against the very survival of those of us over a certain age, so apparently those politicians have decided that our lives no longer add value to the world.
  • I’m tired of conspiracy theories, especially those lies told by politicians who know the truth, but find it more expeditious to their own ends to push the lies.  And I’m tired of the ignorance in the general public that allows so many everyday people to believe those lies.
  • I’m tired of companies that raise their prices for one of a variety of excuses – supply chain issues, staffing shortages, increased production costs – and then at the end of the year show a huge increase in their profits.
  • I’m tired of the bigotry that is on the rise in this country. Anti-LGBTQ sentiment, racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, misogyny … all are increasing at significant levels, thanks in part to religious ‘leaders’ who have zero tolerance for any that don’t fit their pat little images, and in part due to politicians like Ron DeSantis and others who promote the idea that ‘other’ is bad, ‘other’ is to be shunned.
  • I’m tired of a free press that keeps shoving the former guy down our throats. By now, he should have faded into obscurity to the point that if we saw a picture of him, we’d say, “Oh yeah … I remember that fat slob … what was his name again?”  But no, we have to see his picture and read every word that comes out of his lying mouth on a daily basis.
  • I’m tired, most of all, of Republican politicians in Congress who are bastards. Sorry, Keith, but that fits them to a ‘T’.  They take our hard-earned tax dollars to the tune of $174,000 and more every year, and then fail miserably to do the job for which we paid them.  They don’t legislate, they retaliate.  They don’t build, they destroy.  They don’t govern, they campaign.  Before the current 118th Congress was even seated, they were already plotting their next election campaigns.  I’m tired of our government being so divided by party that ‘party’ is the only thing that matters, not people.
  • I’m tired of feeling helpless to change any of the things I’m tired of. I’m tired of being ashamed of this country I’ve lived in for almost 72 years now, tired of wishing I were almost anywhere but here.  My vote is my voice, but it is a very small voice, made even smaller with such tactics as gerrymandering that dilute my voice.

I could probably think of more, but … I’m tired of writing for tonight, so I think I’ll go read for a while now.

34 thoughts on “Tired”

    • Thanks, Partner!!! You’re right … it’s beyond pain … it is outrage! Never before have I felt this nation was on such a treacherous path, and people keep wearing their rosy-coloured glasses saying everything is fine. NO, NOTHING IS FINE!!!! Sigh. I wish I saw some progress being made, but I just see it worsening. The only thing of late that has given me any hope was that the mid-term elections weren’t as bad as we expected … a pretty thin sheet of hope, isn’t it?

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Hang in there, Jill. Change is only possible because of people who care and are not satisfied with the madness, corruption and grifting that others are willing to turn a blind eye to. Keeping our thoughts focused on the better world that is possible, is actually more powerful than you might feel that it is. You are making a difference! Keep being you! ❤

    Liked by 2 people

    • Thank you, Anita. The problem today is that too many people aren’t paying attention, say they don’t care, that everything will “work out”. It can only work out if people fight, if people care enough to keep contacting their elected officials, to keep writing to newspapers, and most of all to jump the hurdles and make sure they VOTE! Thank you for your kind words … it’s comments like yours that convince me I might be making a difference, however small, and give me the inspiration to keep on keeping on! ❤

      Liked by 1 person

  4. Jill, I identify with so much of what you’ve written. And I regret that from my personal perspective, most of it is unsolvable because it’s just TOO BIG for the average individual to tackle. Yes, I know all about … “but if we just all work together …” The thought is admirable, but the action is anemic,

    Unfortunately, WE are the “little people” and as such, we have been, are, and will continue to be stomped on by those who have no concept of what it’s like to be in our shoes.

    Sorry for the pessimism, but my rather lengthy life on this sphere has shown all this to be true. Of course, we can’t give up hope, but the future looks awfully dim.

    As you can probably tell … I’m tired, too.

    Liked by 3 people

    • I definitely understand your pessimism, my friend. I fight daily to keep from giving in to it. I do still believe that the situation, at least for now, is reversible, but … BUT … it means the people of this country must be forced to open their eyes, to see what is being done and what the certain results are. All one has to do is look back at the 1930s in Germany to see that we are treading on the same path, but we still have the chance to change the course of our destiny. Ignorance is the thing that will defeat this nation and then people will sit around wringing their hands and asking “How could we have let this happen?” Sigh. We cannot stop fighting. Yes, we’re tired and we’re depressed, but the stakes are too high to give up.

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Jill, I feel ya… BIG TIME! 😞 And I am not just tired of being my Mom’s 18/7 Caretaker. She has more good days than the United States does as a whole, ESPECIALLY in 28-29 days!!! 🤦‍♂️

    One of my biggest pet-peeves about eternal American optimists, hyper-patriotic ones in particular (and you know where most of those reside politically, right?), is their incessant, deluded lip-service—i.e. pretending as if life and this nation is hunky-dory. It makes me want to SLAP THEM and ask, “What rock do you live under, seriously!?” SMH

    Utterly mind-boggling and very telling about the definition of asleep at the wheel.

    Liked by 2 people

    • I share your desire to slap those idiotic dolts who claim that this is such a great nation and everything is ‘hunky-dory’ and that they are the true ‘patriots’ … in fact, I probably would punch one in the face if somebody said that to me and was close enough! They wear their rosy-coloured glasses and don’t see, largely because they don’t want to see or are too stupid to see, what is happening under their very noses. At the current rate, the U.S. will soon be “ripe for the picking”, and I know you know what I mean. Sigh.

      Liked by 1 person

  7. Jill, I think your tiredness speaks for many more than just yourself. Get some rest. Keep looking for and writing about the good people. They are the ones who can countervent the ones you are tired of. Keith

    Liked by 3 people

    • Thanks, Keith. Yes, I think anybody who sees and understands what is happening in this country today must be tired … and angry. And depressed. I am all of the above. You’re right about the ‘good people’ and they are uplifting, but they are not the ones who are making the decisions that will destroy this nation. Sigh.

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  8. Powerfully put Jill.
    A post from the heart of the true patriots of America, one which no honest true Republican (and I believe they are out there) can deny.
    A post which if anyone who reads, shrugs then says ‘it’ll be ok’ will find one day all you have listed will come to their door.
    The lies, the delusions, the hatreds are sickening and beg for someone of impeccable strength and character to come with an allegorical scythe cutting it all down, and into the fire with it all. ‘No more Mr Nice Guy ‘ as it were.
    You can discern from the mid-terms, that a larger number of folk have discerned the crew on the Right are a danger.
    You can discern from the farce that was getting a Speaker elected the Republicans do not have a party, more a rabble of howling malcontents with little concern for the USA as a nation.
    It may turn around yet. The Long View is clouded. One thing is certain ‘they’ cannot hold the USA as one nation because ‘they’ have no sense of unity, not this rabble.
    I too will use language Keith would avoid, because Keith is more grounded and astute for public debate. But I will say this.
    It is time for the Democratic Party to let its Bastards loose, the hard-nose, ruthless, dirty fighters with guts. You could not say that Robert Kennedy was a Nice Guy but it is that ruthlessness that is needed now. Biden has shown signs of it, but let’s be honest the toll is starting to tell. A younger, harder, ruthless breed should be brought forth. You will not like them, they will cause you to raise an eyebrow or two. But this is war, and you don’t get Nice Guys and Girls to win your wars.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Thank you, Roger. All your points are absolutely correct. Biden’s heart and mind are in the right place, and I think he’s done a hell of a job against tough odds, but we do need someone younger, someone with a strong voice who won’t back down, who will fight to the death. The Republican Party shows that its members know good and well that they cannot win in a fair and open election, which is why they are working so hard to disenfranchise certain groups of people, to narrow the vote to mainly white people of means. The very real danger is that where they govern, they weaken the entire nation and there are others outside our borders poised to pounce on any they perceive as weak. Unfortunately, about half the nation hasn’t the education nor intelligence to see and understand what is happening … this is where the study of history comes in. But alas, we now have a growing movement to stop teaching that to our children.

      Liked by 1 person

      • What these fools do not have is any sense of history or of American politics. They are locked in a time when The White Anglo Saxon Protestant ruled the land.
        This time has passed, the USA is a polyglot. It is a construct of many races, cultures and outlooks. Their outlook is targeting one group of whites along with a few fringes.
        They may try and control education and the voting system but this is not the whole dynamic, particularly in a nation with lax gun laws, multi-media outlets and above all no culture of empathy to authoritarian rule.
        In terms of the long road of history, their political tombstones are already being carved.

        Liked by 1 person

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