The art of living in interesting times

Sometimes I can’t keep up. The treadmill feels like it is moving too fast.

At heart I am a bleeding-heart namby-pamby liberal pussy. Consequently, I find it virtually impossible to not overly worry about matters that are occurring in a whole lot of very distant places which are quite obviously entirely beyond my control. This provides me with endless opportunities to have a really lousy day due to being entirely freaked out about a lot of other people’s problems. So it goes.

Moreover, when I do try and keep up it can be heart-rending. I am not a monster. When I see a plane flip over in Canada, or collide with another over a river, it shakes me up. The news of thousands of lay-offs in the heartland of the USA, or anywhere, makes me sad. The removal of aid, the continuation of war, and evil acts by totalitarian bastards, infuriate and bewilder me. Which takes up an awful lot of time and emotional capital.

I am not heartless. It can be a big problem. This is because when I try and take too much aboard I find it difficult to stay afloat. But as with most other human beings, being stressed out is simply unavoidable when I encounter the suffering of others, and right at the moment there is an awful lot of suffering on offer. On all channels, 24/7.

I have responded by skipping over lots of things I would normally pay attention to. I read fewer papers, listen to less radio news and have stopped regularly watching the nightly news, which all serves to add a gilding of guilt to my air of despair.

But it is evident I am not Robinson Crusoe. All around me people seem to also be negotiating a new relationship with our suddenly uncertain political reality. There has been a hint of suppressed panic in the eyes of some, while others who are usually reliably outraged have become sullen and withdrawn. Plus, the line between what is insignificant and what is outrageous has become indistinct so the small talk has become noticeably smaller and vaguer. It looks like every one of us is being forced to learn the art of living in interesting times.

However, oddly enough, I also find it comforting to see confusion and indecision everywhere. These are perfectly rational ways to respond. It seems to indicate that despite many reports to the contrary, most people are rational. Moreover, it serves to reassure me that the whole world has not gone mad and that even in the US there are far more people who are fretting than cheering. I have therefore begun to hope that there may be a silver lining to the madness of Trump.

While America appears to be steadily marching towards a breakdown in civil governance, their lunacy seems to have prompted exactly the opposite response elsewhere. The ill-disciplined and undemocratic actions of the new American regime has prompted the majority of other world leaders to clearly define the nature of their personal and public support for both democracy and the democratic process. So, while the deviance of the Teevee Host and his merry band of billionaire penis rocketeers is inflicting lasting harm, it has also instantly prompted most people who possess both a brain and a heart to suddenly review the many reasons why they are quite fond of niceness and not hitting people. It has caused whole populations to suddenly realise that being horrible is really horrible, and so horrible people should not be in charge of stuff.

Thus, while we jointly watch and fret as the greatest republic falls into chaos, we also need to be simultaneously comforted by the knowledge that America contains less than 5% of the world’s population. Additionally, even though they do make mighty fine television shows and undoubtedly have a really good PR machine, they nevertheless actually produce very little in the way of material goods that is of any consequence to the rest of us. The US needs us, not the other way around.

Just because the press and the politicians in the USA seem to have forgotten that the mythology of America being an indispensable nation is just a mythology, that does not mean that the rest of us have to share the same delusion. Plus, who knows? Perhaps California will eventually form an independent country and the rest of us will get our teevee production house back?

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