It seems that this is the week of ostrich confessions! My approach to the news is generally very simple: I ignore it. If there’s something I need to know, Mark will fill me in (he reads BBC News on his phone all day and night, it seems). But I try to stay out of it as much as I can. This week, that’s been impossible.
My reasons for ignoring the news are simple: there’s nothing I can do to change what idiot politicians are doing (except vote, which I always do). Or rather, there’s nothing I can do to change what idiot politicians are doing overseas – I believe in the power of the people to influence government in your own country, but I know Trump doesn’t care what Capetonians at the bottom of Africa think of him. (I’m not even going to mention what he thinks of Africa in general.)
But oh! This week. Children separated from their parents and put in cages. The howls and screams and crying that are embedding trauma and psychological damage in little ones like my little ones… It hurts. Separation anxiety is hard enough, can you imagine the absolute fear and agony these children and their parents are feeling? I can, and it fills me with dread. There are thousands of people who will never be okay again after this – and every day it gets worse.
The order has been passed now, Thank God, so at least no more families will be separated, but it’s the ones who are in the middle of it that I feel for. And then this morning, I saw that Melania Trump went to visit the immigrant children wearing a statement jacket (with writing on the back). The statement? ‘I really don’t care, do u?’
Worse yet, it’s from a few years back, so she chose it on purpose – it’s not just fashion. I don’t care how disconnected you are from reality, I don’t care how difficult your life is (I think her life is probably horribly difficult), that’s just unnecessary. Even if – even if! – you don’t care, why shout about it? Why not draw deep to the kindest part of yourself and try not to use the situation for some political ploy. Try to focus on the children and their needs. Apparently she changed by the time she saw the children, and I’m sure she felt on some level like she was doing the right thing (did she? Could she?) but oh, to add outrage to the outrage seems so unnecessary.
So yes, I try to avoid the news as much as possible because it brings me actual heartache. I am hoping and praying that this horrible situation will be resolved and the families reunited as quickly as humanly possible, and that this kind of thing is never allowed to happen again. Please God.
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