Worries

It turns out that I am among the people who are afraid because of the election results. I’d already been informed that our health insurance premium would be going up by $600 per month. Now I’m wondering if I’ll have health insurance at all a year from now. I worry that financial uncertainty will impact sales in our store over the holiday months. Which then affects my budget for next year. There are lots of large question marks. We’ll figure it out and find a way through, but the ambient anxiety in our house has gone up. I have a child who seriously and earnestly advocated for moving to a different country, even though it meant leaving her friends. She’s that scared. I don’t know what the increased uncertainty, and possible unpleasant interactions at school, will do to destabilize my kids’ mental health. We’d barely managed to get to a place where no one was in crisis.

And those are just the top of my head worries. I have larger worries for friends and family whose situations are far more vulnerable than mine. I worry for friends who are more likely to become targets for anger and hatred.

Yet, I believe in the power of people to band together and help each other through. So I’m going to spend today being kind. I’m also going to try to listen to the thin thread of reassurance which is coming to me and saying “It may be rough for a while, but you’ll be okay.” I’m also going to remember that anxiety means I’m focused on the future instead of being focused on today. I don’t have to do all the days ahead of me yet. I just have to do today, one hour at a time.

4 thoughts on “Worries”

  1. Up by $600 a month !!!!!!
    We don’t pay that much for the entire family down here in NZ.

    Hell, after last night I commented I should move back to my home town because at least I know where the bomb shelter is, and I was only half joking.

    Come move down here, we need more people like you guys.

  2. Sandra,

    While it is not unreasonable to have fears, you need to hold fast that your God, your friends, your and Howard’s fans, and the good people of the United States have not forsaken you.

    The President-Elect spoke to the heart of many lower class Americans who feel that they have been bypassed the last several decades; that open trade however good for the world, wasn’t good for THEM. That Health Insurance reform, however well intentioned, didn’t work out the way everyone hoped, that despite good intentions at the top, racial tensions continued to increase in suburban areas increasingly black.

    Their expression of frustration and anger resonated with that candidate, a candidate who spent more on hats than on polls, and who most watching the election didn’t understand that he was campaigning to //people who would wear hats//.

    But now, he has to govern, and no more than Carter could come into Washington with his white horse and have a democratically controlled House and Senate pass whatever he wanted, no more can Trump expect the House and Senate to roll over and say WOOF.

    This is a republic, not an empire. No man exercises imperial power (as Nixon proved.)

    Remain calm. We survived Carter. We survived Roosevelt’s last term when Elenor and Company were running the nation. We survived Hoover, and for God’s sake we survived Calvin Coolidge. We will survive this. Trust the America that allowed a software guy to become a celebrity artist. Trust the America that let a poetic housewife become master of a (small) publishing empire.

    The republic endures. The wonder of the republic is that these 50 states can be different. You live in a place, surrounded by co-religionists and others who largely share your values. That is no different on January 21 than it is today.

    Be strong, and encourage your strong, powerfully voiced children to be resolute in their beliefs, their support of the unfortunate, and intransigence in the face of ignorance and bigotry.

    You and yours will be in our thoughts and prayers, as will the republic.

    Rick Boatright

  3. My daughter is scared and upset, too. It’s hard to explain to someone who is just new to understanding politics and voting that you don’t always win, you don’t always get what you want. Thank goodness mine had a therapy session today, because last night was hours of tears, upset, and the inability to sleep. 🙁

    Here’s hoping President Obama is right:

    “Now, everybody is sad when their side loses an election. But the day after, we have to remember that we’re actually all on one team. This is an intramural scrimmage. We’re not Democrats first. We’re not Republicans first. We are Americans first. We’re patriots first. We all want what’s best for this country. That’s what I heard in Mr. Trump’s remarks last night. That’s what I heard when I spoke to him directly. And I was heartened by that. That’s what the country needs — a sense of unity; a sense of inclusion,; a respect for our institutions, our way of life, rule of law; and a respect for each other. I hope that he maintains that spirit throughout this transition, and I certainly hope that’s how his presidency has a chance to begin.”

    *hugs* Have hope! And I hope your child is able to resolve her fears.

    For our part, we’ll continue to use the Schlock Mercenary amazon.com link! 🙂

  4. @Peggy
    Too “short” a list
    Life first
    Terrestrial second
    Human third
    Nation? meh fourth I guess
    Family
    Group
    Self

    I’ll operate at the lowest level that doesn’t compromise a higher level.
    I have doubts that Trump operates outside the lowest two or three.

    @Rick – unfortunately the religious/political environment in the US today is far different than in Carter’s time.
    I don’t remember reading about any party then going “Don’t care what you’re trying to do, we’ll oppose it because you proposed it”

    There’s a series of books about “American Empire” I can’t find, near future setting.

    The author survived the Sierra Leone civil war and moved to the US.
    In the afterword he explicitly talks about how he has written the series because both he, and friends of his who lived through the Irish “troubles” are seeing the same cultural changes going on in the US that preceded those events.

    I’ve read an analysis by a Nobel Prize winner in ecological statistics who applied it to the life cycles of empire who concluded an 80% likelihood of civil war in the US by 2030.

    I’ve read the same conclusion from an ex US major.

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