All of Me, by Martha Thomases – Brilliant Disguise | @MDWorld

February 3, 2017 Victor El-Khouri 1 Comment

I’m exhausted.

Trump has only been president* (someone who lost the popular vote and had help from a foreign government requires an asterisk) for two weeks, and already, there are too many crises for me to know which to act on first.

Do I protest the appointment of a Supreme Court justice who may or may not have been a fascist? Does it reassure me that he thought this was a big old joke?

What about the Republican-led Congress deciding it’s okay for the mentally ill to own guns?

Then there’s the Administration omitting Jews from its official recognition of Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Or the Administration creating new “alternative facts” to justify their unconstitutional immigration ban?

(Note: I will accept that she made a simple mistake when she acknowledges that the Time reporter who thought the bust of Martin Luther King, Jr had been moved made a simple mistake.)

Trump’s poor planning and lack of curiosity about military issues resulted in a disastrous attack on Yemen that not only killed a Navy SEAL, but also killed dozens of civilians, including children. This is the kind of event ISIS lives for, because it helps their recruitment.

And I haven’t even touched on the environmental disasters, such as this, which will, among other things, add all kinds of coal sludge to our water supply.

A friend of mine, on Facebook, lamented these and other events, wondering if she could possibly pick and choose those worthy of her energy. I replied, perhaps too flippantly, that, no, we have to consider each and every one life and death, because they are.

(I haven’t even touched on the threats to women’s health care or LGBTQ rights, because Googling all these links is too depressing.)

Here’s what I think. We have to attack Trump on every move he makes against our rights and liberties. We have to make our planet safe for future generations, even if, in the short-term, it might cost some corporation some profits. We can’t piss off our allies just because our president* can’t be bothered to study.

There is every indication that the surge in progressive activism is actually working. Every day, there are new demonstrations, some large and some not. A friend of mine pointed out that, last weekend, in response to Trump’s executive order banning refugees and immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries, there was a spontaneous demonstration at New York’s airports, “and New Yorkers hate to go to the airport.” Which is true. I don’t even like to go when I have to catch a plane.

Do you, as a concerned citizen, have to go to every protest? It would be lovely if you could. To quote the link above, “There’s another reason for believing that protests could prove effective against Mr. Trump’s policies: The protesters seem to drive him crazy.”

At the same time, this is your only life. You want to enjoy it as much as you can. While active participation in the political process can be enormously satisfying, and you can meet really cool people on the street just by admiring their pussycats, you might also want to, earn a living, enjoy your family, and maybe engage in some recreational activities.

You won’t help anything by burning yourself out in the first month.

Pace yourself. Do what you can. A little bit every day makes more difference than going gung-ho and then having a breakdown in April.

Choose the battles that matter most to you, because those are the ones that will inspire you and focus you. Praise the people who choose other (related!) issues as allies.

And, by all means, look for stories that will make you feel better. Just today, I read this and this about Jews who stood up for their Muslim friends and neighbors. Reading about the courage and compassion on display here filled me with warm feelings.

So, to my friend, I say, Yes, you can choose your battles. There are enough of us that we can cover every front.

Media Goddess Martha Thomases would be way more activist if it didn’t involve so many goddamn meetings.