The overwhelming influx of horrid news lately is getting me down.
There’s the insanity taking place in politics and government…and the most frightening aspect of it, the fact that so many people are supporting it.
There’s the cruel, ugly work going on in my state legislature. There’s a very good chance the public schools in our state will not be able to open in the 2016-2017 school year, due to the grandstanding of our governor and legislators, who will do anything to kowtow to their filthy rich backers (and who clearly despise the idea of free, public education). And their sickening acts which have removed services and benefits to so many poor, disabled, and disenfranchised Kansans.
There’s the institutional racism and classism that’s rampant in our nation. I’m getting a real feel for the issues involved here, as our Middle completes her student teaching semester in an inner city school, where her students are woefully under-educated.
Today’s front-page news really brought it all home. A two-state shooting spree ended up with five people dead. Tragic enough just to read it in the paper and hear about it on the radio.
But then came the text from our daughter, during her hour of plan time: The shooter (who has been apprehended) is the father of one of her students. One she talks about at home frequently, trying to process how she can make a difference in his life. It’s a kid she can’t get through to, whose self-defeating behaviors break her heart.
I know there’s a great deal of good in this world. Tonight I’ll get to experience some of that good, as two of my favorite co-workers and I spend an evening teaching parents and children about God’s absolute love and mercy. I need that time of peace and joy tonight.
Because it’s a cruel, heartbreaking world.
Mom Goes On 
Heartbreaking story and I am sorry that it had to hit so close to home.
I am with you on the news and the toll it takes. I can’t even look at the headlines these days. I don’t know how we got here sometimes or how the divide could become what it is. I don’t know how to teach my daughter about a world that I can’t even understand sometimes.
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So true. If I weren’t so addicted to current events, I’m sure it would be good for me to take an extended break. This morning’s paper was full of articles and commentary about the horrors of this shooting spree, which are certainly all true, but all I could think was “What about the children of this man who is now considered a monster?” They’re victims, too, but no one thinks about them. I just want to scream to the world “There is no black and white! Why can’t we take care of people so these things don’t have to happen?” Sigh.
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So sad for those kids, the forgotten victims in all of this.
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Hang in there. There is definitely good in the world as well, you just have to try and focus on it while not letting the bad stuff get you down.. Some days are just worse then others 😦
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Too true. Trying really hard to keep that in mind today. Thanks. 🙂
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I think my problems are big when the world is so much larger. Politics. Well, that’s about all I have to say and give one big eye roll and hope of winning the lottery to buy my own island with my own rules.
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Can I join you? PLEASE??? I promise to be a hermit almost all the time…
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Yes, we can make our own rules 😉
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There are days that just seem like they exist to beat you down, aren’t there? But hang on to the good. Right now it seems like there’s a whole lot of mucking you need to do to get to the good, but sometimes that’s when it’s the most worth it. Hang in there. And hugs to your daughter. How utterly heartbreaking.
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