Tuesday, November 7, 2017

A Year of the Best Words

Today as I made sure to fill in the oval bubble completely with my pen, I was brought back to a year ago, having been so proud to have solidly colored an oval in for her.

And then what happened, happened. UGH.

Some saw it coming, but I was naive and totally shocked. And it hurt. Like, significant other shattering your trust hurt. Which was weird because honestly, I'm not even that into politics. But this wasn't just about legislation or policies. It wasn't even about red or blue. This was something emotional and deeply rooted that had been hidden and stewing and ready to burst. I felt like America was my beloved child who had just gotten a face tattoo and ran off with some scumbag, if only to spite me. 

How did this happen? What did we do? What did I do? I feel so very distant from the citizens who believe in this con man, yet I know that continued divisiveness will only do damage to us all. 
I want to learn. I want to understand. I want to investigate. I want to listen.
I mean, mostly I want to scream and shake my head, but I want to want to do the above.

The best action has been to read. Everything and anything regarding this historical event.

Throughout the year as I read article after article, I found I had to look up or reacquaint myself with a lot of the vocabulary being used. Turns out that when you are describing the man we currently elected to the White House, you need a very particularly themed lexicon.

Here is a sampling:

See what I mean? Not the most positive collection of the English language.

Of course, there are also his own words. Those I wish I could unlearn.
Image from the Making America Misogynistic Again by the artist Saint Hoax

They say actions speak louder than words, but these days I'm doubting that language and intent can't have extreme power, as well. I'm not the only one:

One way to combat the combative words is The Daily Show's brilliant Chrome extension,
Make Trump Tweets Eight Again. I highly recommend it.

If you don't find yourself on Twitter often, here is some other apropos advice:

It really has been an anxiety-ridden and stressful ride with this administration. I suppose I should have taken the hint when I saw what was trending in the NYTimes immediately following November 8th, 2016:

My only hope is that the reality of this joke-of-a-human in such a respected and powerful position pushes each of us to learn, understand, investigate, and listen, so that we can better fight for what we know (from heart and also mind) is right for our country.

Bret Stephens, in his New York Times Op-Ed, The Dying Art of Disagreement, wisely notes that "to disagree well you must first understand well. You have to read deeply, listen carefully, watch closely. You need to grant your adversary moral respect; give him the intellectual benefit of doubt; have sympathy for his motives and participate empathically with his line of reasoning. And you need to allow for the possibility that you might yet be persuaded of what he has to say."

So I'm going to keep up my steady routine of absorbing all there is to learn from all sides (within reason-I refuse to believe that there are very good Nazis, thanks but no thanks).

And when I do speak of what I've learned, I'll try and do it thoughtfully.

Of course, I'll be sneaking some snarky tweets and absurd GIFs into the rotation.

After all, I need some laughter to balance out all of those other emotions for the next (hopefully) 3 years or less. 

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