It's Point of View, Stupid

 

 

I hate politics. Before 2016 I avoided reading or talking about it because it was either boring or depressing or infuriating. I thought, Catch 22: anyone who WANTS to be a politician is not qualified to be one because what wanting to be a politician really means is wanting power. I didn’t think all politicians started out that way, just that they inevitably became that way because of how it works. Lobbying, mainly. I’m not even going THERE because, well—I’m just not. I find it ironic that I’ve become a politics junkie because of Donald Trump. But isn't it sort of irresponsible not to be one, given what havoc he's wrought from Day One?

 

I still hate politics—and way, way more than I used to—but I have to admit I have become fascinated by how things have evolved. I keep thinking, you couldn’t make this shit up. And it gets curiouser and curiouser, as Alice in Wonderland said. Of course, I’ve become excessive about this. I’m excessive about everything. I’ve watched every bit of the Democratic Convention, so far. Actually, maybe THIS is what I wanted to write about. So, I’m thinking, wow, they’re doing a great job of presenting a picture of the variety of people and issues. Thinking, they should always do it this way. No more in-crowd conventions with people in idiotic hats, yelling and screaming as if they’re at a basketball game. And think of how much it costs to get all of those people there, pay for accommodations, media stuff. Not to mention the fucking balloons. All of which could be spent on—pretty much anything would be more worthwhile.

 

The in-crowd aspect of politics has always annoyed the hell out of me. Self-important people doing each other favors. Ugh. I know. I’m rambling. Maybe what I really want to write about is how I’m finding it harder to focus, to know what I want to say—even what can be said, because by the time you decide to speak, what you wanted to speak about has already changed. It’s nuts. I don’t step out into a cooling toward fall morning and feel that spark of energy I usually feel at this time of year, happy thoughts of school starting, leaves turning red and gold and orange, I think, Noooooooooo! It’s going to get cold and we’re all going to be stuck inside again.

 

And here’s something else, unrelated because that’s where my head is today. I was thinking of the rich diversity of people involved in the convention and feeling as good as I feel about anything these days and then I read this piece about how young people are pissed off because all the speakers are old and not progressive enough and other people are pissed off for who knows how many different reasons. OMG. The party of diversity is also the party of a gazillion often-conflicting points of view. To come together, each of us not only has to look objectively at what we want/hope, but also get inside a plethora of other people’s heads and do our best to see what they want/hope (and why)—then objectively, compassionately assess what’s possible right now, where to start—trusting that, eventually, we’ll get to everything that matters.

 

Can we do that?