I went to bed last night more depressed than I have been in a very long time. I continue to get mired in the worst part of politics…the name calling, the accusations, the sheer emotional rants and raves.
I am sick to death of it all, frankly. And every day I become more enraged at what is happening around me. Enraged in a way that I’ve never felt.
I really can’t help it. When I see injustice I scream. I scream loudly, and forcefully, and with everything in me. Not because I’m trying to offend or alienate, but because I love THAT much. I believe THAT much. I am THAT upset.
That doesn’t always serve me well, but it does garner attention. The attention can changes lives and votes, it can anger and disgust, and it can help and hurt.
Of course, on the otherside there are those screaming back. Or just shaking their heads. Or just writing me off all together. Which is a shame, because once the screaming stops there is usually some very powerful discussion to be had. I would invite you to read through all the comments here to see what I mean.
While I continue to triage the path of the destruction my last outburst has caused, I’m happy (and somewhat relieved) to say that sometimes…sometimes…it all turns out ok.
I just received an email from Mrs. F. in Mississippi:
A GREAT BIG AMERICAN THANK YOU FROM STUDENTS IN ROOM 1!! My first grade students were elated to find out we would have our laptop up and running to complete the presidential election in November and to follow it to the inauguration in January!! We already have our Presidential Corner set up and ready with our ballot box, ballots, voting graphs, tally charts, and tons of books relating to elections and our country. My students plan to assist a RIF book distribution and set up ballot boxes for other students to vote for their favorite story book character: Junie B.Jones or Arthur. We are also participating and assisting in a school wide election on October 28th to cast our votes to see who our school choice would be. This is going to be a wonderful learning experience for my students and we all thank you for being part of it! You never know…one of my students may be a future president!! Thanks Again!
Thank you, everyone, for your help in getting Mrs. F’s class their supplies.
Passion can be powerful.
I recommend finding a happy medium between the fiery anger and the the need for relationship. Your passion will get you far but it will also bury you. Everything in moderation. Ying and Yang. And all that good philosophical stuff.
Instead of finding a medium, how about people just not piss me off? No? That won’t work? hmmmmm
Because the world isn’t about you.
My Queen,
May you never apologize for your passion. I might die. Thanks for always putting it right out there, right in front of our faces.
Pooh
Rock on for the first graders! I donated to this project too, because of the hope and passion. It is draining, but it also means we’re truly engaging in living instead of standing idly by! Right? I hope that’s what it means, otherwise I need to quit screaming at the TV news people…
Your passion and compassion – and the fearlessness you display – are the reasons I love you. Don’t change. The world needs people like you.
Loved that Prop. 8 post. Every word.
I’m can’t help but believe that rage/outrage at certain things is absolutely the way to go.
I completely understand your passion, and how easy it is to be buried or crushed in it. I have been fighting it this entire election season, and the closer we get to the end the more difficulty I have suppressing the anger I’ve buried for 8 years. It’s difficult. I’ve even put my marriage on a teeter-totter over it (one of the dangers of being married to a Republican, sorry to say).
Sometimes it’s worth trying to step back and finding a positive focus for the passion. Go back to what makes you passionately happy, rather than angry. It helps to balance things.
Oh, no. Typo in my comment above. “I’m” should be “I.” 🙂
I’m at the opposite end of the spectrum. I, too, am deeply saddened by the problems going on all around me. But I’m largely unaffected, I think because 1) I make an effort to do what I can, 2) I realize my limitations, and 3) there’s always terrible stuff, so nothing is REALLY new. Perhaps it would be better if I got worked up. But I do know that I’ve achieved some measure of peace.
I think what helps me is holding steadfast to the notion that everyone I’m having a conversation with has a life and a history of their own. I may not agree with them or like where they’ve ended up, but I also have to acknowledge that I don’t have the whole picture, regardless of how much I might dislike what I’m seeing. I know plenty of people in my life who hold some crazy views that don’t match up with the rest of what I know about them — and in getting them to explain the why, I learn a ton about how to reach out to them and persuade them to consider something different.
Sure, it can take more time, and yes… you aren’t always going to like what you find. But those kinds of conversations build lasting change and make people feel heard. And even when they don’t change anything, you can still sleep at night knowing you did your best to be a human in the midst of the mess.
There’s a big difference between tempering your passion and compromising your passion.
Oh hon. You passion is part of what I adore about you.
Do I always agree with your message? No. But that’s irrelevant. I love how passionately you hold to your beliefs and how passionately you express them.
You can yell at me (and have – and I yelled back! even tho it has been awhile) and I will still respect you and care for our friendship.
Real relationships are founded on the understanding that the other person is just as flawed as we are ourselves – that no one is going to do what we want all the time. People are many faceted. For as many times as you are passionate to the point of screaming, you are also calm and rational and analytical.
Just be you. That’s who we love. Screaming and all. (Okay, maybe we don’t love the screaming sometimes? But YOU we always do. :))
Thanks.
I loved the Prop 8 post so much, I think I was gay by the time I finished reading it. Rock on, Queenie.
Let me be clear (again) from my perspective. I am not angry. I am disappointed and hurt. And not because you insulted everything sacred (no pun intended) in my life. You insulted family, friends, colleagues. You painted everyone in very stark black and white fashions that shows more about your own biases than it does about any of theirs.
While I still continue to consider you a friend, you have damaged that seriously. Mess with me, okay. Don’t mess with my family. I know them more than you ever will or more than you assume you do.
I’m disappointed and hurt, which is where that post came from. That post is from a place of being terribly hurt by anyone who would deny rights to other humans. I insulted those who insult MY family and MY friends. And that came from a defensive place. Not an offensive one. It’s a vicious cycle.
Well there it is. The cycle continues.
Hey, girlie. I actually ‘Stumbled’ onto your site by way of the Prop 8 post – and have read just about everything I can get my hands on from your site.
I’m so sorry that the issue has gotten so heated, but it’s not easy for people to read opposition to their beliefs.
I admit it, I don’t like reading stuff promoting Prop. 8. Today, in my comp class, the guy who sits behind me said that he’s voting for McCain (good for you, that’s your right, dude.) but he finished it with, “Anyone who votes otherwise is a f-ing retard who deserves to be sent to Texas and smacked up-side their head with a brick.”
I really wanted to turn around and slap him. I would want to do the same if he felt that way about anyone opposing Obama too…
Anyway, it’s hard not to respond to something that opposes how you feel.
Good for you for continuing to fight the good fight for what you believe in, and proposing a decent argument in the face of adversity.
(oh, and sweetness for the kids!)