Stop Running

My unease continues to grow. I am uneasy and getting restless but I feel as if I'm boxed in.  After a few weeks of stewing over everything I think I have a thought.

Stop Running.

Bear with me here, as it may take a moment to see this through. Let's start at the end. What if Trump sent out a tweet and nothing happened. What if he said something ridiculous and it was not re-tweeted? What if there was no outrage? It doesn't really matter if we respond to every single thing anyone ever says, right? We all let comments go during normal conversation within our normal lives. This isn't normal, you say? Well, let's make it normal then! What is the only thing a narcissist cares about? What feeds that egotistical hunger? Being the center of attention is all they need, right? He doesn't care whether the chatter is good, bad, ugly, clean or morally upstanding, it only matters that it exists. What if we didn't share every crazy article from obscure websites just because the headline causes outrage? What if there was one day on social media that contained no mention of anything Washington related? We are all so caught up in the wave of outrage that I think we are starting to loose sight of the shore. Listen, I'm not saying we should all ignore everything that is happening around us and live in a bubble and say it doesn't matter anyway. But, I am saying that we should take a step back and honestly look at what does matter and what we can actually affect. Does what Trump says on twitter really matter? I think it may not matter as much as it feels like it matters. It is mostly offensive and hair-brained, for sure, but does it matter? Does sharing a crazy headline make a difference to anyone? I think it may help provide fodder for people to back themselves further into their own corners, but that's about all. Is that where we want to be? So far into our own camps we can't make out features on our opponents' faces? It certainly is easier to lump 'them' all together then, isn't it. To make broad, sweeping claims about how ignorant they are and how they're 'only hurting themselves." Feels better too, to have an enemy.

My girls used to hate being chased at the park and on the playground and would scream and yell and carry on while they ran away from their sister or friend or random kid who happened to be chasing them at the time. My advice was simple. If you hate being chased, you must stop running away! Being chased doesn't exist if you don't move, right? Now, don't pull this scenario out and apply it to every situation in life; it's not the same. But in a simple game of chase on the playground, it works beautifully. What if we treat Trump's tweeting like a simple game of childhood chase. He tweets, we run as far away as possible and scream, 'outrage,' cry, 'unfair,' and he does it again and again and again.

Stop running.

Leave him alone to wither on his own and I bet he stops too. What fun is it to chase if no one is running away? Here is where everyone says, "But it's my duty as an American to make sure he doesn't speak for me,' or, 'He is just distracting us with tweets while he dismantles another institution,' or 'He is ruining our position in the world and I need to stop him,' or 'I can't stand by and watch this go down.' Fine! Don't stand by! Get up off the couch, put down your phone or tablet and for pete's sake turn off Facebook! Go talk to a real live human and see what they're up to. See how life is going, take a walk and stop the internal chatter. Then, write a letter to a Senator, call up your state Representative and see what you can actually do. Contrary to current, popular opinion, Trump is actually not capable of ruining the world in a day. That is giving him way too much credit. And neither are you capable of stopping him. That's giving yourself way too much credit (or responsibility, let's be real here!) Be civic minded, for sure! But the last few weeks have shown me that real, honest work has got to come from us but it isn't actually even in DC. We have to start in our communities, with other breathing humans. Ask questions and really listen to the answer. We need to stop giving in to all of the click-bait provided by online social media and listen to Aaron Rogers. R-e-l-a-x! Take a step back from outrage and see where and if you can actually make a difference. If not, then let it go! Keep looking until you find somewhere you can help.

The minute you think you are going to fix this, you're as deluded as the 'other' side ... they think exactly the same thing.