I keep coming back here....

[nomaco-10]

after taking some much needed time away to relax and reflect on what I should really be focused on in my own life and the distance I should be putting between myself and the current events in Iraq, but I can't, too much history is being made and the activist in me says you just can't ignore the injustices and world changing events that are taking place now and shaping the very future of our once great country. Events are taking place daily in this country and in Iraq that will make it into the history books long after we are all long gone and I can't look away. I feel like I have to witness and record these happenings so that generations to come will have a record of these times and just hopefully history won't be tempted to repeat it's self.

I've picked a couple of fights with a couple of members of this board because I thought they were trying to take this board too far right, but I'm done with sparring with these people, it finally dawned on me that it was a futile effort on my part, and in the larger scheme of things, it seems petty and unimportant in the light of what is happening in the world. As far apart as we seem to be on most issues, we are closer together than I imagined after the events of the last few weeks in Iraq.

It also dawned on me the other day that my sister in law's diagnosis of ALS and my nephew's failing marriage should supersede the bullshit that's going on in this country and in Iraq, but it's become increasingly difficult to separate and juggle these two entities.

I guess the purpose of this post is to ask others, how much do you allow yourself to be preoccupied and disturbed about the direction this country is headed and how do you juggle your personal life when it's so hard not to be consumed by current world events? I don't know about you, but occasionally I feel completely drained.

[Snoggera]

1. People used to be drawn together for a cause

At times, it seems there are so many splinter groups with no desire to join with those who have similar interests that nothing will ever get accomplished.

Let's hope things get accomplished.

[NMDemDist2]

2. I spend way too much time here. I used to have a pretty good balance

Worked, played online bridge, spent time with hubby and the dogs, read 4 or 5 books a month and worked a couple days a month for my local Democratic Party.

But the last few weeks (I joined just as things were heating up April 2, 2004) and I have been glued to this site (1500+ posts in 5 weeks)

It's like witnessing a train wreck, you don't want to watch but you can't look away.

[VolcanoJen]

3. I keep telling myself, "Big picture, Small picture."

The small picture is my own life, my family, my friends, my job, my little joys. The big picture is, well, current events.

Never in my life have current events felt so ripe, so volatile, so vivid... before these days, I looked back at history, fascinated by it, and the images, stories and lessons left behind. Now, history is being made all around us, and it's impossible to turn away. For three solid years now, I've felt this impending weight, kind of like doom, but not quite there... yet. It's harder and harder to feel happy. I envy people who really have no idea what is going on. I envy people who have no curiosity, even.

I have to step away from time to time, but it is growing increasingly difficult. When I compare the wistful days of the Democratic Primary to these days, well, I actually miss our bickering and sillyness. That all just seems silly to me now.

I have to step back and take a closer look at the small picture. It's a time to appreciate all that is around you. Mother's Day Weekend is coming... sounds like a good place to start, really.

That was a touching post, nomaco.

[XanaDUer]

5. That's a great way of putting it. I feel the same way.

"Never in my life have current events felt so ripe, so volatile, so vivid... before these days, I looked back at history, fascinated by it, and the images, stories and lessons left behind."

[calimary]

12. Yeah, me too. I've become a little obsessive, I'm afraid...

But I can't let this go. I wish I could. I could get a little more done. House looks like hell. But I keep feeling compelled not to give up. So, yeah, I keep finding my way back here, too. Wish I could get a life and that none of this bothered me that much. But I look at my kids and grieve over what kind of mess we're leaving them. I guess I'm just trying to take a stand so that even just a teensy bit of MY end of it is not completely lost. I figure at least I'll be able to look them in the face as they get older and more involved themselves, and tell them in all honesty that I tried hard to stop this.

[murielm99]

7. I know exactly what you mean, but I felt this way in the sixties, too.

Something was happening every minute. There was the civil rights movement, the war and protests, all the new music, the assasinations.

I felt that way right up until Nixon resigned.

I think we are in for a long haul again, even if shrub does not steal the election in November.

I can sense it. That is why I have become re-involved in activism, politics and news-junkie-ism.

[Cleita]

4. I know what you are saying.

Sometimes time away from the issues, looking after mundane things, puts the agony away for awhile, but you know you can't ignore it completely. I always liked going way into the forest, if possible way up north into Canada or Alaska when I could, away from anything electronic or with a motor in it just to let my mind vegetate in the peacefulness for awhile. But I knew that it didn't solve the problems of making sure that this peace would survive if I didn't try to do something about the encroachment of industry into these places.

Unfortunately, you just can't ignore it.

[seabeyond]

6. lol lol lol lol

lets see it is 11:30 and have been on all day with the news. i drop kids off pick them up, cook here and there, pick up some clean the kitchen

i have been staying up so late, and get up early for school

it is historical. and so much is going on and is just filtered thru out all my life. anything anyone says i can bring it to what is going on in hte world. and it is ok. i am giving myself time, cause there is so much to keep straight and just needs to be done

when i first started reading your post, was going to say good for you for gettiing off, lol lol.

nah........it is all good. i figure school is out for kids soon, and i am going to be out and about more, i really wnat the info. cause i am going to have all summer and fall. it doesnt feel time to be working on the people in this area, i want to work on. summer towards fall feels better.

[drthais]

8. this is a difficult question you pose

I went from avid Clark supporter and campaign worker
to internet freak
to avid Air America listener

but you are right
it is tiresome
there is a life outside of all this

I have family members and friends
who don't want to discuss issues with me anymore
because I am loaded with facts
and up-to-date info
from all of the latest tell-all books
they find it tiresome
it is a message

and what good does it do for us here
to discuss it with one another?
I don't know
I come here because I have to know
that there are others that feel the same way I do
with the same vigor that I feel
the same anger

I was thinking...
is THIS what it felt like
for all of those anti-war protesters
during the late 60's?????
it must feel exactly the same way
I was too young then
but the fervor must be so similar

I suppose the question is
why are we not all in the streets?

[justjones]

9. I have no balance....

Like you, there are things going on in my personal life that I should be spending more time working on, but like you, I find myself totally mesmerized by everything our government is doing around the world, but not in a good way.

On one hand, I feel it's unhealthy, yet on the other, I feel an obligation to pay close attention to the events that are unfolding because so many people I know are NOT PAYING ATTENTION AT ALL. Also, since I am around so many a-political people who either don't know what is going on or just don't care, I find the comradery here comforting.

The problem is I'm pretty much here all the time, even at work. I know I'll eventually get called on it even though my job isn't that demanding and pretty much everyone wastes time because our wages are so low. But then I come back when I get home. I've come to the conclusion that I'm a geek nerd who has no life.

I don't know what the deal is.....it's like I am still trying to figure it out.

Edited to add: Reread this post and realized my disdain for what this chimp is doing to our country may not have translated well. But the problem is there are so many chimps in this country who are all for what the big chimp is doing.....

[Frances]

10. Thought-Provoking Post

I have been consumed by politics ever since March of 2000 when the polls showed Bush leading Gore.

Because I was born and raised in Alabama, I understood how skilled the Bush operatives would be in instituting repression. I had seen how these people could maintain power through intimidation and lying and yet persuade the majority of whites that they were itellectually, morally, and ethically superior people.

None of my Dem friends in Maryland could understand why I was so afraid in 2000. On the other hand, I could not understand why they didn't see that the whole U.S. could become like Alabama in the 1950s under Bush.

[bobbieinok]

11. there's lots of similarity with the 60s - trying to balance own life and

world events

In the late 80s, I was with another woman who was a young adult in the 60s. One of the college students asked what it was like then; I said exciting, she said scary - especially after Kent State.

Living through this garbage again, I have to admit I'd forgotten how scary it was.