Day 34: I can't do it. I cannot continue pretending to myself and to my readership that it's a lovely day for a walk on the trail, or that the metaphorical weather will change for the better if we just wait out the cloudburst. The truth of the matter is that my country just dealt itself a mortal wound, and I am reeling as I try to make sense of "human rights and equality" as something which can be discarded at the whim of an individual's power. Nor can I wrap my head around policies which deny science and turn a blind eye to matters of global importance, fueled by greed. I cannot go on without speaking out against racism and misogyny and the thousand other evils which dominate the palette of the current political sphere. Each morning, I rise in the hopes that something has changed, but the changes I see are for the worst. I fear my neighbours. I am afraid to voice my feelings to all but the closest of friends. At my age, I despair of ever again being proud to acknowledge myself as an American. I have nothing to offer any other country, no skill which would make me desirable as a refugee/immigrant to another nation.
Are there no wiser leaders, familiar with the machinery of politics, who know of legal means and measures by which this descent into despotism can be stemmed? Where are the champions of good and decency? When will they stand up and save us from a detestable administration which would make America hate again?
