Sorry, everyone. I continually want to write about what’s happening. It’s in my head all the time, but I can never seem to get it down. I feel like if I could just write it, just release it, then it wouldn’t be consuming all my emotional energy. But it’s too heavy to deal with before work, and I’m too drained to do it after work. And of course, at work I’m working. And so it rolls around in my brain like a penny at the Science Center until I spiral into depression.

I hate it. If it wasn’t engineered, it’s been taken full advantage of. So many outraging things are flung at us that we can’t reasonably move beyond shock and outrage and through to critical thinking. No time to investigate, no time to question, no time to seek change; only time for fear, which makes us so easy to manipulate, And those of us who care about accepting facts over dogma feel helpless. And so again I have to stop paying attention to the news, which is really difficult because many of my friends like to stay informed and pass on information, and because so much of the entertainment I consume contains national news.

And on the other side are the people who are Right™. Those for whom research means forming a conclusion and seeking information (factual or not) to support that conclusion. Who claim to love and support the US Constitution, but don’t know what it contains. Who believe that opinions are always valid, and that fact is a matter of opinion. How does one hold a reasonable debate with someone like that? Who, when faced with facts that refute their premise, maintain the premise and call the facts fake?

I don’t know, guys. I don’t have a happy ending for this one. I don’t believe in happy endings anymore.

How am I gonna be an optimist about this?