Guardian: no more snitching

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

36. After 75 years I have no fucks to give.

After spending more than 20 years in the military serving to protect and defend the Constitution, I don't have the energy or resources to devote to a country where half the people -- when given a clear choice between a woman whose life has been dedicated to public service and has been VP in one of the most scandal-free administrations in recent years (Obama is the other) and a person who has demonstrated every character flaw in the book, and announced his intention to be dictator -- have chosen a fascist to lead them.

I have lived through -- and sometimes taken some small part in -- the fights during the past seven decades. Fighting for civil rights, for voting rights, against a war that couldn't be won, for the rights of women, people of color, LGBTQ+ citizens. Now I'm watching the country rush headlong into a future that is anti-science (welcome back, polio and measles), anti-law (who needed that pesky FBI and all those nosey regulators?), anti-intellectual (you think too much), anti-empathetic (if you're old, poor, sick or just plain different, it's your own damn fault. "I've got mine, so fuck you" ), dishonest (30,000 lies is just T***p being T***p ) and isolationist (I vahnt to be alone). I've seen all those fights fought and achingly slow progress being made. Now it turns out I was wrong. Nearly half of the voters have embraced all that is dark and evil in the human personality.

My finances and health prevent me from leaving the country (we were looking at Spain before my last trip to the doctor). I no longer have a family -- every relative voted for Trump, and I am a pariah for not doing the same.

So my focus now is on living my best life until I don't. I'm not giving up, I'm just redirecting my attention and energy toward things I enjoy. A sunset walk on the beach with my wife of 35 years, continuing my art lessons at the local community college, writing non-political letters to my few remaining siblings, volunteering at the food bank. I'm considering adopting an elderly dog at the rescue center, so they don't have to live out their lives sleeping on concrete feeling unloved. Life isn't over, it's just changed direction.