I will never ever understand the acceptance of cruelty and violence in the name of making things great again, but so much revolves around hubris. So many people think it won’t affect them so who cares. In discussions about health insurance (mostly revolving around what’s not covered, premiums went up, small gripes), I remind people that they are one banana peel (or e-bike) away from being on the fastest growing minority group ever….Team Disability. And when it’s YOU who has a million doctor’s appointments, you give a shit. I’m so so so relieved your son and his gf are okay. That is everything. But your bigger point, ugh. Even Marjorie Taylor Green gets it now and she’s as dumb as a bag of hair.
Dumb as a bag of hair is my new favorite. I find it so disgusting when people don’t care about a painful thing until it lands on their doorstep. Better late than never I suppose, but it’s such a shame to need to get the lessons that way.
And yes, health insurance. So crazy to have people yelling that Democrats are using SNAP benefits as political leverage “too” — like, don’t you think we should feed everyone AND have affordable healthcare? Did you ever watch schoolhouse rock? Did you skip civics? Do you not understand they are using the only tool they have, not signing a clean CR, to get their colleagues to negotiate…and the president is undermining the process at every turn? But they do not understand or they don’t want to understand. I’ll be taking a lot of naps this weekend. Thank you for making me laugh. Love+hugs ❤️
Thanks Ally. I'm glad your son and his girlfriend are okay.
I saw that video. It's horrifying, and I'm sure there have been many brutalizations that were just not witnessed, and so not shared.
I'm beyond trying to understand how anyone can tolerate, let alone support or encourage this abuse.
And I hold everyone in government who allowed this to happen completely responsible. Including the six SCJs who decided the Constitution means nothing. Including every Democratic senator who voted for Trump's clown ship cabinet member. Including every callous "ordinary citizen" who turns their head instead of screaming about our democracy's destruction, because they have enough money to eat and pay for insurance.
I will never forgive them.
**For anyone contributing nonperishable items to a food bank, don't forget tampons and pads. They're expensive, and no one should have to do without them.
I’m with you. I’m a very forgiving person. In my personal life I think there have been times when I have been too forgiving, it’s a thing I contemplate sometimes. I am not a grudge-holder or list-keeper when it comes to keeping lists of ways a person has let me down. But I have reached the point in this particular horror where I can’t forgive people who look at a video like that and feel anything but devastation. If you’re cool with that I do not want to know you and I hope you get the lessons you need to regret ever feeling that superior. That’s where I’m at.
Tampons and pads, yes! So glad you said that, I meant to mention.
Thank you as always for being here. Sending you hugs, love and continued solidarity ❤️🩹
First and foremost thank goodness your son and his girlfriend are ok. How frightening for you and for him, I'm sure. This entire post is so wonderful and speaks to everything I think of but not articulate enough to write. Thank you for putting my thoughts into words. Truly. But, what you said about your friend who would probably say that poor little girl screaming in the car for her mommy needed to learn a lesson? Oh yes! I understand that very well. As a former yoga teacher I heard that over and over and over again and {I'm so ashamed to say} repeated something like that I'm sure. Perhaps not to someone personally but a general statement ~ "Look at life's challenges as lessons" bullshit. Then in early 2019 the shit hit the fan for my family and kept hitting for months and months without stop. I unfollowed all the influencers, the yoga teachers {except for you!} the wellness nonsense, and the glib meaningless quotes, bc they are meaningless when you're in the thick of tragedy. I couldn't see ANY lessons in what we were going through. When I see interviews {are they even real?} of people who say, "I didn't vote for this" when it hits their own pocketbooks or disrupts their personal lives, I scream back at the screen, YES YOU DID!!! Even Mikey Johnson says that everything trump does is out in the open ~ he told us all what he was going to do. They just stopped listening when they heard the words illegal, or undocumented or whatever 'other' term they used. For the 'other' the cruelty was ok, just not for them. Well, what does it say about my karma that I don't feel any sympathy or empathy for those people? But, when I see humans abusing 'other' humans for bravado, well, THOSE images make me cry also. I cry for the abused and I also cry for the abusers who are so damaged that they think these behaviors are ok. When did we become a nation of cruel people? I'm ashamed. Keep writing, Ally. I know it's hard and oh so tiresome, but your supporters all feel you.
When I was a newer teacher and all starry-eyed in my twenties I know I said or wrote things like “ everything happens for a reason” because I loved the idea of karmic debt and reincarnation and feeling that satisfying sense of quid pro quo. I’d love to get to travel with the same souls again and have that be the explanation for de ja vu, or feeling like you know someone you’ve just met. There are a lot of ways that all lines up so nicely but…I feel some things are unknowable until we get there. And if I don’t know something for sure I can’t offer it as comfort. I can offer a hug and my ear, but I can’t tell someone they’re going to travel with this person they’ve lost again, or this suffering is happening for the evolution of their soul. I don’t know what’s happening here. When my cousin’s little boy died it was the most devastating and heartbreaking experience. I still can’t talk about it. Can’t write about it without crying. I would never tell a grieving parent “everything happens for a reason” because I don’t know what happens after this or how things work and it would be crazy and arrogant to pretend I do. Things that make sense to me or are comforting to me might not be to someone else. So I never say stuff like that. I hope some of those things are true. I’d love to think there’s some rhyme or reason to this or that we get more than one chance to get it right. I’d love to think I’ll get to travel with my children again and my friends, how awesome would that be? But I don’t know. So I offer the comfort I can give, which is “I am here. I love you. I am so sorry. I know this hurts. I am not going anywhere.” And while I’m here I try to be kind. That’s my religion. I don’t understand people who are cruel and then pretend they’re religious. Go away. I have gotten to the point, and I said this to someone else in the comments, that I wish for the people who are is support of this continued cruelty that they get the lessons they need to be better people. I know hurt people hurt people. I realize they must have had terrible things happen along the way and I’m sorry about that, but it has become some kind of social contagion to be without empathy and it’s awful to see. So yes, that’s where I am. And I’m sending you so much love ❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹
Ally, I'm so glad your son is okay, and that his girlfriend's (hopefully) on the mend. What a few days for all of you.
I am very into living by Obvious 1:2-3, as well as the quote Emma has tattooed across her inner forearms, which is "this lovely world / these precious days" from the end of Charlotte's Web.
I like to imagine that most people who seem to have lost touch with their humanity are just lost, scared, and disconnected, rather than evil (most, obviously, not all). Some days I worry I'm overly optimistic. It can be hard to stay hopeful in days like these, but I'm trying.
Your posts always strike such a great balance of justifiable outrage, and constantly seeking the love and compassion underneath it all, which I love. Grateful for your words, as always.
I love Emma’s tattoo. I have “love is more thicker than forget” on my forearm, good old ee cummings. I got it after my divorce, when my kids were four and 18 months old, as a little reminder that whatever else happened, we were going to have love. I always try my best to draw a big heart around everything, life feels better that way. It’s effing hard these days, but I try and I am thankful you can feel that even when I am enraged. I am really looking forward to this weekend, my plan is to curl up with Emma’s book and do little else. Thanks for being here, Rob. Hugs to you all. And yes, my son and his gf are ok 🙏🏼🙏🏼Concussion recovery takes time but she’s doing all the right things ❤️🩹
Ha! I am so glad people were not like 🧐what is she doing? And thank you, I really appreciate it. As long of a week as it was, I feel so thankful. And I thank you for being here ❤️🙏🏼
Hello Ally, first of all, I'm happy your son and his girlfriend are safe. Secondly, I am scared to even read news, because quite frankly it is just surreal.
I totally agree with everything you said here!
I have no idea how it will work out in the end, but I'm grateful for your essays and knowing that not all people support Trump and hate he represents.
Wishing you and your family all the best as always. And thank you for being here. ❤️
Thank you, Peter. Me, too, so grateful. This is probably the most grateful I’ve ever felt at the end of a very long and stressful week lol. And I dunno what’s going to happen, either. We have some special elections this week that should be informative and I am *really* hoping for a good outcome 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 Thanks for your good wishes as always, and sending a whole bunch back to you!! Hugs and love.
Glad your son and his girlfriend are okay. I can’t watch the video right now. Have to put on my game face for a wedding tomorrow where there will definitely be people who support this shit and a family member I haven’t spoken to in over 2 years. I will have a great time because I don’t let others ruin things for me. I stopped doing that a long time ago.
Yes, I think those of us who are likeminded about things have to be mindful about how much of this to take in and when and how. It does no good to be a puddle of despair, unable to help anyone.
It is so hard to deal with family members and other people who might be in the periphery of your life who are in support of all this, and I am glad to hear you are not letting them steal your joy. I am grateful we all seem to be figuring out our boundaries and how to navigate and where the hard no’s are. I don’t have the energy to waste on people who are invested in cruelty and who celebrate callousness. Too much work to do.
I hope you had fun today. I’m sending you so much love.
Thank you for saying that you’re done with agreeing to disagree. I still have friends telling me that I should keep talking to people I used to like who appear to have lost a sense of our shared humanity - because if I don’t then we lose our sense of our shared humanity. Nope. America would lose its collective mind if ICE treated stray dogs and cats the way they are treating humans.
Right? I’ve given it a lot of thought and it brings me no joy, but there is no foundation to stand on with people who can look at what’s happening and support it. If we can’t stand on solid ground together and agree on the most basic things, what kind of friendship is that? We aren’t talking about agreeing to disagree on policy stuff, we’re talking about agreeing to disagree that it’s okay for mothers to be torn away from their children and treated violently. Or that it’s okay for slavery to be taught in school as if it was “not that bad, and needs to be considered in the context of the time in which it happened.” And a million other things that insult my heart. So, no. I’m not going to be friends with people who need me to abandon my morals and ethics so we can have a lighthearted coffee and they can feel okay about supporting things I find abhorrent. Have coffee with someone else 🤷🏻♀️ Bye.
I’m glad everyone in your family is ok. Everyday, I can’t believe the cruelty and self righteousness of these people. Where are their souls? Do they even have hearts? This abuse has got to stop!
Thanks so much, and I know. It’s too much, it really hurts to see this happening and feel powerless to stop it. I have absolutely no clue how anyone can be in support of such cruelty and violence. It’s appalling and awful to see. Thank you for being here. It really does help to gather together with people who are equally devastated ❤️🩹❤️🩹🙏🏼
I’m so glad your son and his girlfriend are both okay. That is so scary and I’m so grateful those two episodes had a happy ending. I am not going to watch the video of the mother being taken away in front of her teenager because I think it would wreck me right now. I hadn’t heard about that and it is enraging. I cannot understand how people can be so cold and hardened to the pain they cause other people. That is the biggest question on my mind right now — like how on earth can someone withhold food from hungry families, including millions of children, just so they can take away affordable healthcare from millions of other families? And how can this continue to happen? I live in a completely different country than I thought I did. I never thought someone with those aims would get very far. Now I realize there are more people without empathy or reason than I ever thought there were that will simply let it happen. I want to help keep hope alive in whatever ways possible. Which I feel means focusing on all the good and caring counter actions to all this. I just feel like I’m still dazed from punches I did not expect to be coming. But I will recover and fight with doing good. I’m glad there are people like you who are full of empathy and reason. ❤️
I think it’s best not to look. Some of us who are already devastated don’t need to see every example of abuse because we already know it’s happening, and honestly it takes a toll. I’ve been crying all week. It’s all mixed in with my own kids, as it should be. I think it’s important to stay focused on the people who are helping. That’s why I started thinking about fleas and ants 🤣 I’m Team Ant every time. Bring on the monarchy if it’s a matriarchy lol.
And I’m so with you. I think that’s the hardest part. I feel gutted. I never imagined so many people could support this kind of callousness. It continues to shock me and I kind of wish I could get past the shock, but every time I see something that is so undeniably horrible I have this hope that they’re going to be like, okay. That’s too far for me. And it just doesn’t happen and then I feel despair again. I don’t want to give up on hope but I need to be more disciplined about where I pin it. Thank you for being here. Sending you love and hugs
Ant matriarchy for the win! 😄 I loved the ant and flea analogy - it’s accurate! It’s healing to hear someone else (thank you!) express the shock and despair that they feel about all this horrendous behavior too. I like that you said you need to be more careful about where you pin your hope. Me too!!! ME TOO!!! I truly believe that every human being has a potential innocent and beautiful soul at their core and I think that inherently makes me hopeful they’ll do reasonable and good things, but I know more than ever now that for many people that beautiful soul may stay hidden deep down and never manifest itself in this lifetime. And when people show me that, the only appropriate response is to send that soul deep down within them some love and still enforce all the appropriate boundaries and consequences. And act for good and protect others myself. I wish people couldn’t do so much harm to other people. It’s sad and scary. But I love what you said about cruelty coming from ignorance and weakness. That is profoundly true. And it helps me to remember that. Sending love and hugs right back to you! So glad you’re here, Ally. ❤️💓💓💓
I'm so sorry and I'm so glad your son and his girlfriend are ok and can you please run for president? (I know you don't want that, but wow...I'd be your biggest fan.)
ps “Obvious 1:2-3”….PREACH
I wasn’t sure anyone was going to understand what the hell I was going for there, but of course my people get it because they are fucking smart.
Obvious 1:2-3 was pure perfection
Makes my day that this was not too “out there” 🤣🙏🏼 You all are the best.
I will never ever understand the acceptance of cruelty and violence in the name of making things great again, but so much revolves around hubris. So many people think it won’t affect them so who cares. In discussions about health insurance (mostly revolving around what’s not covered, premiums went up, small gripes), I remind people that they are one banana peel (or e-bike) away from being on the fastest growing minority group ever….Team Disability. And when it’s YOU who has a million doctor’s appointments, you give a shit. I’m so so so relieved your son and his gf are okay. That is everything. But your bigger point, ugh. Even Marjorie Taylor Green gets it now and she’s as dumb as a bag of hair.
Dumb as a bag of hair is my new favorite. I find it so disgusting when people don’t care about a painful thing until it lands on their doorstep. Better late than never I suppose, but it’s such a shame to need to get the lessons that way.
And yes, health insurance. So crazy to have people yelling that Democrats are using SNAP benefits as political leverage “too” — like, don’t you think we should feed everyone AND have affordable healthcare? Did you ever watch schoolhouse rock? Did you skip civics? Do you not understand they are using the only tool they have, not signing a clean CR, to get their colleagues to negotiate…and the president is undermining the process at every turn? But they do not understand or they don’t want to understand. I’ll be taking a lot of naps this weekend. Thank you for making me laugh. Love+hugs ❤️
ps Schoolhouse Rock should be mandatory viewing for all.
Hard agree
Naps are life. 😴 sending love ❤️
Thanks Ally. I'm glad your son and his girlfriend are okay.
I saw that video. It's horrifying, and I'm sure there have been many brutalizations that were just not witnessed, and so not shared.
I'm beyond trying to understand how anyone can tolerate, let alone support or encourage this abuse.
And I hold everyone in government who allowed this to happen completely responsible. Including the six SCJs who decided the Constitution means nothing. Including every Democratic senator who voted for Trump's clown ship cabinet member. Including every callous "ordinary citizen" who turns their head instead of screaming about our democracy's destruction, because they have enough money to eat and pay for insurance.
I will never forgive them.
**For anyone contributing nonperishable items to a food bank, don't forget tampons and pads. They're expensive, and no one should have to do without them.
I’m with you. I’m a very forgiving person. In my personal life I think there have been times when I have been too forgiving, it’s a thing I contemplate sometimes. I am not a grudge-holder or list-keeper when it comes to keeping lists of ways a person has let me down. But I have reached the point in this particular horror where I can’t forgive people who look at a video like that and feel anything but devastation. If you’re cool with that I do not want to know you and I hope you get the lessons you need to regret ever feeling that superior. That’s where I’m at.
Tampons and pads, yes! So glad you said that, I meant to mention.
Thank you as always for being here. Sending you hugs, love and continued solidarity ❤️🩹
First and foremost thank goodness your son and his girlfriend are ok. How frightening for you and for him, I'm sure. This entire post is so wonderful and speaks to everything I think of but not articulate enough to write. Thank you for putting my thoughts into words. Truly. But, what you said about your friend who would probably say that poor little girl screaming in the car for her mommy needed to learn a lesson? Oh yes! I understand that very well. As a former yoga teacher I heard that over and over and over again and {I'm so ashamed to say} repeated something like that I'm sure. Perhaps not to someone personally but a general statement ~ "Look at life's challenges as lessons" bullshit. Then in early 2019 the shit hit the fan for my family and kept hitting for months and months without stop. I unfollowed all the influencers, the yoga teachers {except for you!} the wellness nonsense, and the glib meaningless quotes, bc they are meaningless when you're in the thick of tragedy. I couldn't see ANY lessons in what we were going through. When I see interviews {are they even real?} of people who say, "I didn't vote for this" when it hits their own pocketbooks or disrupts their personal lives, I scream back at the screen, YES YOU DID!!! Even Mikey Johnson says that everything trump does is out in the open ~ he told us all what he was going to do. They just stopped listening when they heard the words illegal, or undocumented or whatever 'other' term they used. For the 'other' the cruelty was ok, just not for them. Well, what does it say about my karma that I don't feel any sympathy or empathy for those people? But, when I see humans abusing 'other' humans for bravado, well, THOSE images make me cry also. I cry for the abused and I also cry for the abusers who are so damaged that they think these behaviors are ok. When did we become a nation of cruel people? I'm ashamed. Keep writing, Ally. I know it's hard and oh so tiresome, but your supporters all feel you.
When I was a newer teacher and all starry-eyed in my twenties I know I said or wrote things like “ everything happens for a reason” because I loved the idea of karmic debt and reincarnation and feeling that satisfying sense of quid pro quo. I’d love to get to travel with the same souls again and have that be the explanation for de ja vu, or feeling like you know someone you’ve just met. There are a lot of ways that all lines up so nicely but…I feel some things are unknowable until we get there. And if I don’t know something for sure I can’t offer it as comfort. I can offer a hug and my ear, but I can’t tell someone they’re going to travel with this person they’ve lost again, or this suffering is happening for the evolution of their soul. I don’t know what’s happening here. When my cousin’s little boy died it was the most devastating and heartbreaking experience. I still can’t talk about it. Can’t write about it without crying. I would never tell a grieving parent “everything happens for a reason” because I don’t know what happens after this or how things work and it would be crazy and arrogant to pretend I do. Things that make sense to me or are comforting to me might not be to someone else. So I never say stuff like that. I hope some of those things are true. I’d love to think there’s some rhyme or reason to this or that we get more than one chance to get it right. I’d love to think I’ll get to travel with my children again and my friends, how awesome would that be? But I don’t know. So I offer the comfort I can give, which is “I am here. I love you. I am so sorry. I know this hurts. I am not going anywhere.” And while I’m here I try to be kind. That’s my religion. I don’t understand people who are cruel and then pretend they’re religious. Go away. I have gotten to the point, and I said this to someone else in the comments, that I wish for the people who are is support of this continued cruelty that they get the lessons they need to be better people. I know hurt people hurt people. I realize they must have had terrible things happen along the way and I’m sorry about that, but it has become some kind of social contagion to be without empathy and it’s awful to see. So yes, that’s where I am. And I’m sending you so much love ❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹
Ally, I'm so glad your son is okay, and that his girlfriend's (hopefully) on the mend. What a few days for all of you.
I am very into living by Obvious 1:2-3, as well as the quote Emma has tattooed across her inner forearms, which is "this lovely world / these precious days" from the end of Charlotte's Web.
I like to imagine that most people who seem to have lost touch with their humanity are just lost, scared, and disconnected, rather than evil (most, obviously, not all). Some days I worry I'm overly optimistic. It can be hard to stay hopeful in days like these, but I'm trying.
Your posts always strike such a great balance of justifiable outrage, and constantly seeking the love and compassion underneath it all, which I love. Grateful for your words, as always.
I love Emma’s tattoo. I have “love is more thicker than forget” on my forearm, good old ee cummings. I got it after my divorce, when my kids were four and 18 months old, as a little reminder that whatever else happened, we were going to have love. I always try my best to draw a big heart around everything, life feels better that way. It’s effing hard these days, but I try and I am thankful you can feel that even when I am enraged. I am really looking forward to this weekend, my plan is to curl up with Emma’s book and do little else. Thanks for being here, Rob. Hugs to you all. And yes, my son and his gf are ok 🙏🏼🙏🏼Concussion recovery takes time but she’s doing all the right things ❤️🩹
It does take a while. Glad she's being well looked after.
So glad you're reading the book this weekend. I'm super biased, so what do I know... but I really think you'll like it.
I have zero doubt
I’m pretty sure Jesus, as he roamed Galilee helping people, asked for papers first, Ally. (snark, people)
The ‘you should change your bio until you get your shit together’ line was perfection. Your responses are always always top tier.
What Bible are these people reading? The one where Jesus is white and blonde, no doubt.
"Obvious 1: 2-3." A whole word! Glad to read your son and his girlfriend are fine.
Ha! I am so glad people were not like 🧐what is she doing? And thank you, I really appreciate it. As long of a week as it was, I feel so thankful. And I thank you for being here ❤️🙏🏼
Nope! We got it. 🤗
Hello Ally, first of all, I'm happy your son and his girlfriend are safe. Secondly, I am scared to even read news, because quite frankly it is just surreal.
I totally agree with everything you said here!
I have no idea how it will work out in the end, but I'm grateful for your essays and knowing that not all people support Trump and hate he represents.
Wishing you and your family all the best as always. And thank you for being here. ❤️
Thank you, Peter. Me, too, so grateful. This is probably the most grateful I’ve ever felt at the end of a very long and stressful week lol. And I dunno what’s going to happen, either. We have some special elections this week that should be informative and I am *really* hoping for a good outcome 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 Thanks for your good wishes as always, and sending a whole bunch back to you!! Hugs and love.
Ally, 100% spot on as usual. And I am so glad your boy and his girl are ok. That is a lot for a mama's heart for one week. 💜
Thank you, Mary Beth. It was a lot. I passed out at 8:30 last night which is unheard of. Feeling a lot better today 🥹💗 Hugs and love to you xx
Not sending a message is also a message….
And sometimes the best answer is to just not answer.
Glad your kiddo is okay.
Thanks so much. Me too ❤️💗
Glad your son and his girlfriend are okay. I can’t watch the video right now. Have to put on my game face for a wedding tomorrow where there will definitely be people who support this shit and a family member I haven’t spoken to in over 2 years. I will have a great time because I don’t let others ruin things for me. I stopped doing that a long time ago.
Yes, I think those of us who are likeminded about things have to be mindful about how much of this to take in and when and how. It does no good to be a puddle of despair, unable to help anyone.
It is so hard to deal with family members and other people who might be in the periphery of your life who are in support of all this, and I am glad to hear you are not letting them steal your joy. I am grateful we all seem to be figuring out our boundaries and how to navigate and where the hard no’s are. I don’t have the energy to waste on people who are invested in cruelty and who celebrate callousness. Too much work to do.
I hope you had fun today. I’m sending you so much love.
Thank you for saying that you’re done with agreeing to disagree. I still have friends telling me that I should keep talking to people I used to like who appear to have lost a sense of our shared humanity - because if I don’t then we lose our sense of our shared humanity. Nope. America would lose its collective mind if ICE treated stray dogs and cats the way they are treating humans.
Right? I’ve given it a lot of thought and it brings me no joy, but there is no foundation to stand on with people who can look at what’s happening and support it. If we can’t stand on solid ground together and agree on the most basic things, what kind of friendship is that? We aren’t talking about agreeing to disagree on policy stuff, we’re talking about agreeing to disagree that it’s okay for mothers to be torn away from their children and treated violently. Or that it’s okay for slavery to be taught in school as if it was “not that bad, and needs to be considered in the context of the time in which it happened.” And a million other things that insult my heart. So, no. I’m not going to be friends with people who need me to abandon my morals and ethics so we can have a lighthearted coffee and they can feel okay about supporting things I find abhorrent. Have coffee with someone else 🤷🏻♀️ Bye.
I’m glad everyone in your family is ok. Everyday, I can’t believe the cruelty and self righteousness of these people. Where are their souls? Do they even have hearts? This abuse has got to stop!
Thanks so much, and I know. It’s too much, it really hurts to see this happening and feel powerless to stop it. I have absolutely no clue how anyone can be in support of such cruelty and violence. It’s appalling and awful to see. Thank you for being here. It really does help to gather together with people who are equally devastated ❤️🩹❤️🩹🙏🏼
I’m so glad your son and his girlfriend are both okay. That is so scary and I’m so grateful those two episodes had a happy ending. I am not going to watch the video of the mother being taken away in front of her teenager because I think it would wreck me right now. I hadn’t heard about that and it is enraging. I cannot understand how people can be so cold and hardened to the pain they cause other people. That is the biggest question on my mind right now — like how on earth can someone withhold food from hungry families, including millions of children, just so they can take away affordable healthcare from millions of other families? And how can this continue to happen? I live in a completely different country than I thought I did. I never thought someone with those aims would get very far. Now I realize there are more people without empathy or reason than I ever thought there were that will simply let it happen. I want to help keep hope alive in whatever ways possible. Which I feel means focusing on all the good and caring counter actions to all this. I just feel like I’m still dazed from punches I did not expect to be coming. But I will recover and fight with doing good. I’m glad there are people like you who are full of empathy and reason. ❤️
I think it’s best not to look. Some of us who are already devastated don’t need to see every example of abuse because we already know it’s happening, and honestly it takes a toll. I’ve been crying all week. It’s all mixed in with my own kids, as it should be. I think it’s important to stay focused on the people who are helping. That’s why I started thinking about fleas and ants 🤣 I’m Team Ant every time. Bring on the monarchy if it’s a matriarchy lol.
And I’m so with you. I think that’s the hardest part. I feel gutted. I never imagined so many people could support this kind of callousness. It continues to shock me and I kind of wish I could get past the shock, but every time I see something that is so undeniably horrible I have this hope that they’re going to be like, okay. That’s too far for me. And it just doesn’t happen and then I feel despair again. I don’t want to give up on hope but I need to be more disciplined about where I pin it. Thank you for being here. Sending you love and hugs
Ant matriarchy for the win! 😄 I loved the ant and flea analogy - it’s accurate! It’s healing to hear someone else (thank you!) express the shock and despair that they feel about all this horrendous behavior too. I like that you said you need to be more careful about where you pin your hope. Me too!!! ME TOO!!! I truly believe that every human being has a potential innocent and beautiful soul at their core and I think that inherently makes me hopeful they’ll do reasonable and good things, but I know more than ever now that for many people that beautiful soul may stay hidden deep down and never manifest itself in this lifetime. And when people show me that, the only appropriate response is to send that soul deep down within them some love and still enforce all the appropriate boundaries and consequences. And act for good and protect others myself. I wish people couldn’t do so much harm to other people. It’s sad and scary. But I love what you said about cruelty coming from ignorance and weakness. That is profoundly true. And it helps me to remember that. Sending love and hugs right back to you! So glad you’re here, Ally. ❤️💓💓💓
I’m so glad you’re here, too, Jennifer🙏🏼❤️❤️
What a horrid chain of events, Ally. Sending love. x
Thank you, Wendy. Could have been a lot worse. It’s nothing a few naps and winning the lottery won’t solve🫠
I'm so sorry and I'm so glad your son and his girlfriend are ok and can you please run for president? (I know you don't want that, but wow...I'd be your biggest fan.)
Thank you, me too. And I love you so much. If I could be president without all the really awful parts about being president I’d totally do it lol.
I think of Jacinda Ardern and look at you and think: YUP. Same goodness and strength.