So, I woke up, early today, bright and early, decided that THIS would be the one day I did not first, turn on the television. I usually do so, watching snippets of the news, hoping to find a lengthy Breaking News story that Trump has been carted off to prison, or flown to Moscow on Aeroflot Airlines, and that Princess Ivanka and Prince Jerod have been thrown in jail or that Mitch McConnell finally is under subpoena by Mueller. Last night Joe and I had a long conversation (Karen Pence, Joe is my same-sex husband, and we do have same-sex SEX), regarding this dark cloud of doubt, dubious depression, and despair which has taken over my mental health ever since Trump was hacked into office. I must admit I am Gerry Buncher, and I am a News Addict…I have been overwhelmed not only that Putin was able to declare war on the United States, has been enabled and supported by the Republican Party and a band of Evangelical Christian Crusaders, but even more so that EVIL, sheer unmitigated EVIL has indeed taken hold on our nation, and its roots are now so deep that I wonder IF it will ever be removed. (Mold and Mildew, are health hazards, so much so, that when there is an attempt to remove them, most people must leave their homes and the workmen and women removing the disgusting poisonous piles of rot must wear hazmat suits…Trump and his Crime Family and ALL of his MAGA minions are just as hazardous to America’s health)
So, back to my original rant, I tried very hard to NOT even give MSNBC a second of my time. But I cheated, I fell off the wagon, and for three minutes…I swear only three minutes, my hand held the remote, I slid my fingers to MSNBC, found Andrea Mitchell, talking to three reporters, all of them discussing the fact that in FACT, another Government shutdown may happen on Friday…and THEN, honest to God, I hit the off button, threw the remote, scared our dog Chance, apologized to Joe, and went to the gym!
But here is the thing that happened next…It is about 1.3 miles from my home to the gym…as I trudged along Melrose then La Cienega, I passed a man lying on his side in the parking lot of a 5-star restaurant…a woman with three plastic bags filled so tightly that it almost looked like tiny hands was trying to break through, she was covered in a layer of soot…a few feet away another woman was bending over a large metal waste container, picking up half-filled plastic cups and drinking the contents…one man held a sign that said he was a Viet Nam Veteran and needs food, there was a long thin wet line traveling from his crotch to the sidewalk…Right before I got to the gym, a very thin man, I know this, as all he had on was a pair of shorts and a scarf, this man was having an argument with an invisible friend (I know it was his friend, because as this man was swearing, he would stop and tell his friend, how much he loved him, but then pick up on the same argument about stealing his drugs)…I got to the gym, and stopped, stood, took a deep breath, wondered what is living a life about, and whose life is the life worth living…
I worked out, grateful I could, glad I had Silver Sneakers to pay for my gym fees. I played the best of the Mama’s and Papa’s threw in a few Elton John songs, and let the stress flow from my body. As I left the gym, I thought, do any of the people I witnessed living their life along the way, even know that we have a fucked up mentally ill man and a cadre of Communist comrades running our government…and do the people whose lives seemed so desperate and full of despair to me, even know that perhaps their reality is just the same as those governing the United States of America…I walked home, it was near noon, saw no one sleeping on the sidewalks, urinating, or digging in the garbage…but I felt sad, VERY sad, and honestly could only look up into the sky and ask my God, WHY!
