Some may say these are among our darkest days. Charlottesville to us is like Kristallnacht to German Jews in 1938, albeit to the optimistic among us, can never go so far downhill from here on(we think). A specter is haunting America, an orange countenance beneath a confederate flag, flanked by an aw-shucks white-haired Hoosier and a jug-eared Alabama country lawyer, with a stubble-faced, greasy-haired endomorphic internet maestro cackling behind the throne. Tough times. But we will get through them! However, we must take a moment to tend ourselves, and our brothers and sisters.
I’ve seen a version of our stresses in this movement in soldiers returning from our military adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan. Images are hard-burned on their souls of comrades decimated, corpses of children and animals, ever-wary of strangers. Always checking the perimeters with their peripheral vision at Wal-Mart. Granted, we don’t face those battle stresses — yet. But after Charlottesville, nothing is certain.
Take a moment to take care of yourselves. Breathe. Enjoy your downtime. Eat. Exercise. Avoid intoxication to excess. Love. Gather your loved ones. Hug. Make love. Cherish your significant others. Read. Not just Daily Kos and all the political stuff out there. Read the classics. Read fun contemporary fiction like the works of Carl Hiaasen, Christopher Moore, Linwood Barclay, and Sherman Alexsie. Go back a little further and take in Alice Walker, Richard Wright, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Margaret Atwood, Marge Piercey.
Film, however, has a more all-encompasses catharsis for us. Check out The Grapes of Wrath, The Way We Were, Norma Rae, El Norte, and so much more.
There’s a movie out now called Beatriz at Dinner featuring Salma Hayek as a healer drawn into a confrontation with a Trumpish blowhard played by the wonderful John Lithgow in a super-rich enclave. The novel it was based on was actually written before anyone including the author ever conceived of Trump as President. There’s already talk it's Oscar material. You’ll be glad you did.
Be well, Brothers and Sisters!