At the end of West Side Story a woman kneels at the side of her dead lover who has been shot. Two rival gangs stand and approach each other with violence on their minds.
"Stay back!" The woman says. She goes to the boy with the gun and takes it from him.
"How do I use this? By pulling this little trigger? You all killed him... not with guns but with hate. Now I can kill too because I have hate."
I'm finding myself hating.
Hating the occupant of the White House.
Hating the people who thought it would be a good idea to get him elected.
Hating the haters.
I'm finding myself in rages.
Rages at the political climate.
I have to stop shouting and yet I can't keep myself from shouting.
I want to de-personalize people. I want to say if they think THAT, then they aren't deserving of the moniker human being.
I want to.
And then I can't. I can't let my body fill up with hate. I can't let myself give into the fear.
How do you not give into the hate? How do you avoid cocooning in your home because you don't think you can handle somebody discriminating against you? How do you avoid it?
It's getting to me.
I have to have breaks to escape it. I have to get off social media for awhile.
ReplyDeleteYou just soldier through, or at least I do. It's worked (or at least kept me functional) since the early 80s.
ReplyDeleteIt is tough. My general tactic is to go small. Think about only that which I may directly impact; my work, my household chores, the pets.
ReplyDeleteSometimes escape to a good book or light-hearted tv or film fare.