“Others may hate you, but they don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.” — Richard Nixon
There are moments when you can see it. Yesterday was not necessarily one of those days. If you have read this blog before you undoubtedly know that I write for another blog on occasion. These posts are more or less simulcast there, but I only do that a few times a week. Sometimes, I want to keep the focus here. Here I can indulge myself.
Yesterday’s piece wound up over there and it apparently caused some confusion. See, the site has political commentary, but doubles as a place where people can point and laugh at the enemy. The enemies are those that you know all to well. They are usually statewide Republican politicians because Texas is dominated with Republican statewide politicians.
So, a plea for modesty and charity was likely to fall on deaf ears. People just aren’t in the mood. Whether it be our relationship with Russia (and some who are likely too close for comfort), global warming, the rise in gas prices, or Q related nonsense, people are just not in the mood. I get it. How could you defend them? Well, it isn’t so much a defense as it is grace.
Years ago I found my career circling the drain. It was a period of time I can look back on and call a reset. I had been a counselor, but the school let me go. It was a fish out of water experience where I was asked to not only be a counselor in an elementary school, but was asked to be a part of the fine arts rotation. I was consumed with anger.
I was consumed with anger because I felt that I was being treated unfairly. I didn’t make it as an elementary counselor, but found myself locked out of education for a year. I had to come back as a bus driver and then as an instructional aide. Throw in another year as an intermediate school teacher and it was three years lost.
I learned a great deal in those three years. Most of what I learned was about myself. There is an anger and a shame that is all consuming. It comes when you are thrust into a situation you are unable to handle. It’s hard to gauge how happy you can be until you experience the opposite. Experiencing that helped turn me into a better teacher, a better educator, and generally a better person.
Even in our most inhumane moments it is important to remember our shared humanity. There are people out there that are lost. They locked into situations they cannot control. They are locked into situations where they feel powerless and their only recourse is to lash out. If they can’t lash out at what’s real then they will lash out at what’s imagined.
That’s the tragedy of Q politics and MAGA politics. It takes a group of people that feel lost, underappreciated, and trodden upon and gives them something to grasp onto. It can be difficult to see the humanity behind it all, but it is there. We must strive to find it. We have to share truth in a loving way. The alternative is never getting them back.
halloffameindex 