I’m Done Marching

I’m done marching.

A congressman declared Wednesday, January 6th, 2021, an infamous day. There’s a high probability that you’re reading this well after this date and may have forgotten about the details. I’ll share with you the intricacies later, but I’ll give you the main takeaway now: yt ppl are crazy.

Now before you get your britches all in a bunch, allow me to explain. The 6th of January, 2021 was well over a month ago, and by this time Scranton, PA’s beloved son Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. has been sworn in as the 46th president of the United States. The man he will be replacing will go down as one of the most infamous and eccentric characters in American political history. “45”, as I like to refer to him, is a tragic figure. The son of a prominent New York real estate developer, his life pretty much began on third base, though I’m not faulting him for that. What’s important is one should take what is given to them and grow from there. Many don’t. Many fall well short of the lofty expectations they and others set for themselves and end up in the end highly disappointed. 45 has fallen well short of the incredibly low expectations many people had for him before taking office. And the insurrection was the boldface proof that he was unable to be a democratic president.

But I guarantee you if you asked the average “person of color” what their expectations of 45 were for president, I promise you that we could’ve predicted this outcome. When you start your campaign by labeling Mexicans as terrorists, rapists, and murderers, what do you expect? What do you expect from a “man” who wants to ban Muslims from the United States? What do you expect from a “man” who makes fun of the disabled? What do you expect from a “man” who… well you get the point.

“People of color” have been marching against injustice for decades, going on centuries. Public discrimination, housing discrimination, Jim Crow, grandfather clauses: you make it, we’ve got the pavement. It’s time we take a rest. The fight is no longer ours.

The statistics are in: he’s a vile human being. He knows this and he doesn’t care. But we’ve been here before as a people. We’ve dealt with powerful white supremacists since we were dragged here from the motherland. We know their devilish ways. We know the psychological damage they’ve inflicted on generations. So what are we going to do about it?

I propose three solutions:

1. Self-care. I don’t know how you get to your happy place, whether it’s through therapy, prayer, meditation, exercise, etc. Regardless, take some time to be happy within your soul. Taking care of your spirit is the most important thing you could do for your well being.
2. Minimize idol time. This might seem counterintuitive to the first solution, but hear me out. How many hours do you clock in on your phone rummaging through social media? How much time do you spend reading through news articles reading about how 45 is downgrading the United States’ standing in the world? How many tabs do you have open? Are all of these things improving your self-worth? Your self-esteem? You know the answer, so let all of these frivolous things go.
3. Do something out of the norm. It’s easy to fall into a monotonous routine. Break the cycle by dedicating one day a week to do something you normally don’t do. Read a book, write a story, travel to a distant land, come up with a business plan.

You only have one life to live on this planet, so do all that you can. The powers that be will continue their rampant corruption. Wade the storm and find your purpose.