In the wake of the disaster in NC last week, I find myself repeating this, over and over.....
“
Loneliness is the human condition. Cultivate it. The way it tunnels into you allows your soul room to grow. Never expect to outgrow loneliness. Never hope to find people who will understand you, someone to fill that space. An intelligent, sensitive person is the exception, the very great exception. If you expect to find people who will understand you, you will grow murderous with disappointment. The best you'll ever do is to understand yourself, know what it is that you want, and not let the cattle stand in your way.” ― Janet Fitch, White Oleander
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But surely the presence of your beloved tells you that things aren't QUITE that stark--yes, there have been shocks, but you have a core of fellow travelers, enough to keep the wolves at bay....? The few, the proud, those who understand.
I mean, i totally get this.... life isfull of disappointments...but as th incomparable mr sondheim put it, no one is alone!
IT--there are certainly consolations...not least of which were my children's vociferous protests against Amendment One.
But a 60/40 defeat just leaves me feeling hopeless. Knowing that people I like voted FOR the Amendment leaves me feeling angry, isolated, and suspicious. Having people who voted AGAINST tell me "Well, some people just have a different opinion than you do"--as if stripping people of rights is simply "a matter of opinion" and I should just get over it and get on about my business--leaves me feeling wounded and unsupported.
I won't stop advocating--but, for now, I really feel like resigning from the human race....
That's how we felt after Prop8.
Indeed, I remember when the CA Supreme Court heard the case and we were waiting for the decision, including the decision of whether those of us who got married would be annulled (we weren't, as it happens), a colleague said to me brightly, "So, are you still married?" as though asking if I still drove a blue car.
And to this day, Catholic friends of BP still have a YES ON 8 sticker on their fridge, even while greeting us with a hug. Because "it's not personal".
Yes, believe me, I know.
{{{Doxy}}}
Doxy, I live in WNC, although for the past 3 weeks I have been ashamed to admit it. That vote was dead wrong; wrong in the belief that civil rights can be voted out of existence, and wrong in the number of people who claimed to uphold the Gospel by voting away someone else's rights. It was accurate, however, as an index of the general ignorance and nastiness among Christianists in the state.
Never thought I'd live to see the day...had they reinstated slavery I could not be more gobsmacked.
As I commented elsewhere, the thing that angers me most is this: supporters of the amendment didn't care WHO they hurt, just so long as their unearned privilege was secured.
I might feel more hopeless if I were not firmly convinced that injustice like this cannot and will not stand. I expect Amdmt 1 fans will be terribly shocked to find the "arc of history" not bending their way for long.
I'm watching, waiting, and educating whenever possible.
Nurse Philosopher--thanks for stopping by and commenting. Nice to have another North Carolinian with whom to commiserate.....
the thing that angers me most is this: supporters of the amendment didn't care WHO they hurt, just so long as their unearned privilege was secured.
Yes. This.
I simply do not understand how you can deliberately set out to hurt people. And that is EXACTLY what A1 was designed to do. That so many of our fellow citizens collaborated in doing that is just unbelievable to me.
But you are right. It won't stand. Even Thom Tillis--the chief architect of A1--told an audience before the vote that it wouldn't last for 20 years. My question for him would have been: "Then why are you doing it?"
And the only (honest) answer I can imagine him giving me is "Because I can." :-(
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