What will you do with your anger at the hosts of truly despicable people who will be been given immense power by 74 million Americans, the MAGA faithful among them who flew Fuck Biden flags and bought t shits that read “‘Biden sucks, Kamala swallows’ while the back read, ‘F**k Joe and the Hoe.’”
What will you do with all those swirling emotions in reaction to this moral catastrophe of an election?
If I push my anger down and say to myself, anger isn’t right, I know I will only grow bitter and cynical and enraged.
Anger can be righteous – anger at injustice, anger at the exploitation of the weak by the strong, anger at cruelty, anger at greed, anger at the wanton destruction of the natural world, anger at soulless ambition, anger at the incomprehensible worship of Trump by millions.
But bitterness and rage are poisons, and cynicism is cowardly and arrogant. I do not want to end my days endlessly muttering “Motherfucker” at images of Trump and his lickspittles on TV, or become one of those guys who knows that nothing matters now and nothing will matter and that Americans are dummies and evil and it’s all gone to shit and will always be shit and that the only thing to do is perfect a fashionable, sardonic laugh and all-knowing smirk.
However, I know if I do not find ways to channel that anger, I will become one of those guys. So, what to do?
For me, maybe begin with these: Take care of your body. Take care of your mind. Take care of your heart. Take care of others. Live your life. Pray.
I have to find ways to get outside of my own head and my narrow life. Those 6 precepts give me a fighting chance to do so.
There’s also lots of rejection that I find helpful – maybe a better phrase would be turning away from. Again, these work for me. I cannot speak for what might work for you.
First, I turn away from arguing with MAGA evangelists, the true believers, the cult members. There is no point in doing so. You know why.
Second, I reject fanaticism, always and forever, both of the left and the right. Fanaticism is the mind killer and the soul killer. Become a fanatic and you will, by definition, think of certain groups of people as being less than human. Once more, you know what lies down that road.
Third, I put away my own certainty about policy or solutions. Arrogance annihilates one’s open, curious thought. It makes an intellectual and emotional armor that is only a trap, never a shield.
However, some certainties do have a role to play. I am certain that decency of heart and in action are right. I am certain that justice matters, now more than ever. I am certain that human beings deserve to be treated in ways that acknowledge their dignity. I am certain that skepticism toward power is essential. I am certain that cruelty must be resisted. I am certain that tyranny is abhorrent. I am certain that integrity and humility, along with courage and kindness are the 4 most necessary virtues. I am certain that despair is a luxury none of us can afford.
