Coping with 2.0

 Here we go again. Again the thrill of a well-qualified woman running for president is squashed by the victory of a horrible man.

And this time promises to be worse than the time before. We know more about his complete corruption and proud vindictiveness. Our resistance the first time around helped keep him in check, as did the utter incompetence of him and his pals. This time their experience better equips them to bring their nightmarish plans to life. Moreover, there are fewer of the guardrails that constrained them last time.

So it’s time for the resistance to pull together again. Time for us to join the organization of our choice, get back into signing petitions, phoning our Congresspeople, and attending meetings and demonstrations. Our efforts will help us cope with these times, and also help us to pay as little attention as possible to the lies, venom, and outrages he spews every time his mouth opens. Instead, let’s save our energy for finding one or more issues we care about, finding out what hostile actions the administration is taking about them, and fighting against those actions as best we can.

As the old saying goes, this is a marathon, not a sprint. And we start out traumatized by the election. Our hopes were dashed; our fears are growing; and so grows our rage at corrupt people and fools who believe their lies and vote against their own interests. We gaze in horror at responses to his encouragement of bigotry and misogyny, including domestic terrorism.

I am a female, Jewish lesbian, and life under his administration has been awful on all three counts, and is likely to get worse. I was gutted by the demise of Roe v. Wade, and am dreading further legislation curbing the rights of women, queer folks, and Jews. Not to mention people of color and undocumented immigrants, and the parts of our economy that depend on them.

My own trauma and dread I try to address by limiting the amount of political news I consume. I don’t want to waste my outrage and fear responding to some of his crowd-pleasing bon mots that don’t change anything. As Rachel Maddow tells us, ignore what they say, but watch what they do. My goal is to tune into the least amount of news that keeps me aware of major threats concerning my chosen issues.

Marinating in a stew of outrage and dread is not good for anyone. I have noticed that the lingering post-election trauma has made my friends and me more easily triggered by relatively small things. For example, I got outraged last week by a fellow student who kept sharing in class when it wasn’t his turn.

Coping with this fraught time will look different for each of us. For me, I seek to find many things to enjoy each day, in the hope that I’ll be more able to endure whatever comes. Also, I need to be distracted now and then, so I don’t obsess over past outrages or coming horrors. But at the same time, I need to do the work of resistance to the extent of my ability. As Rabbi Tarfon said, more or less, it is not up to us to complete the task, but we can’t just give up either.