Here's what I've learned from having a [mysterious, undiagnosed] debilitating chronic illness: When you have a system that's in failure, and you don't know what's wrong with it, you have to keep going. You have to keep trying to fix it, even though you lose hope, each time, that a new remedy will have any effect. You have to keep making plans for next week even though you might be too sick to show up. You have to pretend, to everyone else and to yourself, that there is a possibility that things will get better. You have to pretend to believe that someday soon somebody is going to identify the source of the problem and they will know how to fix it and your insurance will pay for the fixing and everything will go back to normal. You have to keep behaving like you believe this, even when you're sure it's just going to get worse and worse. You have to say to yourself "if there WERE a possibility that things would get better, what would I need to be doing with my time?" And then you keep going to see more doctors, and you keep trying new cures, and you keep alleviating the symptoms as much as you can, and you keep behaving as though you believe there is a chance that it will get better soon. You have to, because no matter how doomed and hopeless you think the situation is, what if you're wrong?It is about American politics (to make that explicit). The bad that things were then seems relatively innocuous beside the bad that things are now. (My health is about the same.)
My unconventional religious beliefs about the Constitution Gods* aside, this place** is on a slippery slope to hell in a handbasket without a paddle. I personally believe we're past the point of no return, which is scary and sad. On the other hand, we*** live in unimaginable luxury compared to nearly everyone in the world, in all of history. So I say bask in the Amazon delivery and air conditioning while it lasts. Also gather roses.
And using both hands, I hope everyone keeps fighting as hard as they can until the fat lady on the ship stops singing.
* I don't actually believe in them.****
** The US? The First World? Earth? D. All of the above?
*** The kind of people who read my blog and their associates
**** Or do I?
