Why I've stopped saying "Sorry", and why I've stopped reading the news.
To begin with, I'm sending out love to The Custodian this morning, and realising how ineffecive the English language is at expressing sorrow for someone else's loss. "Sorry to hear that" sounds hollow. Instead I shall switch to the German es tut meir leid, which to me, more accurately expresses the real depth of my feelings. We really lack an English word or expression that says "Oh, that's hurt me", or "I share your pain". Words do sometimes fail us, but I'm certain that now you at least have an idea of my genuine sorrow for your loss.
Moving on.. "Do a writeup on Donald Trump", they said. HAHAHA. In a month when he's up to his ears in a criminal trial and there's a Lie Quest going on!? I'm trying very hard not to, but it does have to be said that he's great material, though possibly not quite up to the fabulist standards of George Santos. I almost feel sorry for him just now, I may hold off.
I tire of the antics of a certain political party lately, as well as the cult of personality that's sprung up around DJT. The final straw for me was the report of a man who set himself on fire outside the Manhattan court where Trump's criminal trial was going on. He subsequently died, and I feel such sadness for those he's left behind, and salute the six first responders who were injured trying to help him. There's something so wrong with this, that someone is driven to such lengths because of the conspiracy theories running riot on social media and certain news channels. Sadly, he's from Florida, so I expect all the Florida Man jokes to start flooding in.
Then there's the story of an Ohio man who is now charged with the murder of his neighbour. Apparently he shot him because he "thought [the neighbour] was a Democrat". Political discourse seem to be dead in the water right now, and the ability to disagree without shooting someone is gone. I wonder what his defence will look like. I'm taking bets that somewhere there'll be a reference to "enemies both domestic and foreign" and inevitably the Second Amendment. Still, I'm filing this under "Whatever happened to just disagreeing with someone and leaving it at that?" There are plenty of people in my world with whom I disagree politically or religiously, and so far we've agreed to disagree without bloodshed.
Just in case you think I'm being one-sided about this, I'm equally angered by the name-calling of Trump. A story surfaced in the past couple of days that some White House staff have taken to referring to Trump as "Hitler Pig". This, alongside the spamming of reports of Trump breaking stinky wind at his trial and smelling bad, have demonstrated to me that we as a society have gone too far. This isn't political discourse, it's a descent† into shaming ad hominen attacks. Whilst I've no love for Trump (and smile at the irony of my recent trump writeup), for goodness' sake leave the man alone. He is not a young man any more, and has to be under enormous stress, facing criminal charges as well as worry about having to renegotiate a bond in his fraud trial (though I just learned that a judge has ruled that the bond will stand.
Speaking of ironic name-calling though, I want to finally reflect on the fact that Trump has for a long time referred to Joe Biden as "Sleepy Joe". Joe Biden, howver, has never fallen asleep during his own criminal trial, and Trump was widely reported as nodding off during jury selection in his Manhattan criminal trial. Still, give him a break, he's 77, under a lot of pressure and probably not sleeping too well at home; as I said earlier, he has a lot on his plate just now, even if it's of his own making. I'm not about to comment on his guilt or innocence, I'll leave that to the justice system, flawed though it may be. I've moved from schadenfreude to fremdscham on this one. Thanks again, German language!
And finally, some good news (maybe)! After many months of negotiating with myself I have decided to adopt a cat, after recently being bombarded by cute orphan kitten photos. I have long felt the need to have something to care for, even if it's likely to be a tiny and demanding monster of a kitten. What can I say? I always loved kitties and Lord knows I could get some benefit from a fuzzy critter to fuss over in the dark watches of the night. Besides, it will give me some photos to post to Tess for some "Awwww" value.
Meanwhile, I'm gearing up to celebrate Saint George's Day tomorrow, also full moon as I'm a filthy pagan and will pour one out for The Custodian and to the memory of his dad. Keep going, brother!
† Pun not intended.
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