100% correct. I'm doing all I can, and I am under no illusions that it will be enough. Everyone can only do what they can do. There will be a mighty steep learning curve coming in the not-to-distant future, I'm afraid. And I'm afraid.
That's why I can't talk with hubby about any of this stuff anymore. He works 10 hour days, and just wants to come home and build his Minecraft thing - right now it's a mountaintop castle. He doesn't want to figure out decentralized communications, off-grid water systems, food preservation and storage, gardening, or how to fight Flock cameras and AI data centers.
A wise individual made the comment that American capitalism does not need to solve misery, it just needs to stop misery from becoming solidarity. That has relevance to people whose daily lives consist of remaining human and trying to get by. Also though, the intent has been to overwhelm us and it is working.
Thank you Jessica. You just described my life. I use the spare time I do have to advocate here on Substack with the occasional cross post to Facebook. I have to do something! But it’s not and never will be enough. I have a little more spare time right now because I’ve messed up both my knees from a lifetime of work and so I’m missing between 10-12 hours a week. It’s devastating my finances. I either go to work and make my physical pain worse, or stay home due to the pain and worry myself sick over how the hell my wife and I are going to make it. And knowing that things are going to get a lot worse before it gets better scares me to death. Somehow we have to all pull together
I’m an almost militant socialist democrat. My 3 adult sons grew up listening to me rant and rave and write and call and scream. My oldest son has asked me, repeatedly, to not discuss politics around him. It’s not that he doesn’t agree, it’s that he says that nothing he can do could possibly matter. He has to get up, go to work and try to pay his bills no matter who is in office. My husband is a pretty progressive independent, but he feels the same way. Tomorrow will come and tomorrow we will have the same problems as we had yesterday. It is defeatist thinking but we are conditioned to think that way. When nothing changes, nothing changes. Same shit, different day.
Thank you so true im from Australia and some of us are worn down too but we have a slight buffer. A distance buffer, a sort of left of centre federal government but we also have the corporations and the filthy rich who don’t care about anyone… and its only time before we too start to fall apart
Many people are afraid, worried , sick and exhausted about what’s happening and, as you and the followers who have commented, yet it seems enough people are wholly aware of what’s going on. Republicans are systematically destroying the country and stealing everything in sight. I have a 14 year old daughter who is dreaming about a future and is stressed about this chaos.
May I suggest: there is no need to figure anything more out. No need to solve anything.
There is one thing you and others can do: vote and vote to remove republicans from power. Vote early. Vote on election day if that works.
The country needs every single voter it can get to stop this insanity on November 3rd.
This is a great example of the world and how most see it. It’s the scary truth a lot a living with ever day. I wish I could say it will be better, but I seriously don’t see a change in enough people to make this happen. It reminds me of the time before the 30”s. And it’s just not America the whole world wants change! The truth be told until the rich feel threatened this will not change. Climate will probably do more damage to the planet than they tell us. We have no bunkers. Maybe that’s a good thing. For the Lord says the meek and the humble shall inherit the earth. I have almost given up on government and most parties. They make rules and lie to fill their pockets. They change rules to satisfy them them and expect us to agree! All the demonstrations have done nothing! Congress has done nothing! I seriously think the problems are now too big for the world to solve. They are not capable of fixing it so they do not try. What other explanation is there? The people deserve the truth instead of working and barely surviving! I wish just one man or woman would stand up and say we are drilling oil as it’s all we have, we can not fix the air, we can not stop what coming so we can not help you. But they and their greedy friends will be in bunkers. All of them will go to Hell! Well the public whos worked their life watch the planet get hotter and burn, as storms we can not control ravage us. Just one person in lease say the truth! God help us please!
It’s an eye opener to hear someone actually speak the truth that the majority of us are living or have been through. Some survive, some don’t. And now so much is being taken away from the working families and so much has been designed for the convenience of the privileged and raised out of the reach of the rest that every day becomes more and more difficult. Many work so hard and can barely maintain a decent life while others lose……. their homes, their ability to feed their family, healthcare, the ability to survive a family disaster, and the freedom to be who they are. These are the things we need to fight for. We need to restore the ability for everyone to afford groceries, afford to keep a roof over their family, provide healthcare that won’t put them in the poor house, and provide a safe place to live without the fear of being terrorized by a police state. We need to fight for the rights of everyone and VOTE for better things. We need to fight the oligarchs ravaging our country.
The assumption that silence equals indifference is one of the most corrosive misreadings of this moment. The person who isn't marching or calling their senator isn't necessarily uninformed or complicit. They may be working two jobs, managing chronic pain, holding a family together with whatever is left after the rent clears. The political system that produced this crisis is the same system that made sure most people have no margin left for anything except survival.
What struck me most is the word you use: exhaustion. Not apathy. Not ignorance. Exhaustion. Those are not the same thing and the difference matters enormously for how we understand what resistance is even possible right now and who gets to do it.
The people with the most at stake are often the ones with the least capacity to fight. That's not a coincidence. It's a design.
Jessica, you have described real life for probably 75 to 85% of the people living in our country. Try to share more and more with neighbors family friends. We don’t share our suffering here in the US, or our selves. Americans are trained to be way too independent and we hurt ourselves in the process Buy as little as possible. Use the library. Befriend the store clerk, the postman, some Guy at work, everyone you meet, say hello. Learn to ask for help and offer it. Love your kids with all your heart. Be kind to your partner. Do with less. Ultimately love and kindness and trust holds us upright no matter what comes. At least your heart will always be rich. None of us are gonna be able to fix this. But love and share with all those around you and you will lack nothing. I know this because I have seen people from other countries who have done this, who swam through rivers, lost everything, and have survived, because they held together and shared.
Probably the best Substack post I’ve ever read.
That means a lot to me, thank you. :)
And I read a LOT of Substack posts!
Thank you.
100% correct. I'm doing all I can, and I am under no illusions that it will be enough. Everyone can only do what they can do. There will be a mighty steep learning curve coming in the not-to-distant future, I'm afraid. And I'm afraid.
That's why I can't talk with hubby about any of this stuff anymore. He works 10 hour days, and just wants to come home and build his Minecraft thing - right now it's a mountaintop castle. He doesn't want to figure out decentralized communications, off-grid water systems, food preservation and storage, gardening, or how to fight Flock cameras and AI data centers.
A wise individual made the comment that American capitalism does not need to solve misery, it just needs to stop misery from becoming solidarity. That has relevance to people whose daily lives consist of remaining human and trying to get by. Also though, the intent has been to overwhelm us and it is working.
Thank you Jessica. You just described my life. I use the spare time I do have to advocate here on Substack with the occasional cross post to Facebook. I have to do something! But it’s not and never will be enough. I have a little more spare time right now because I’ve messed up both my knees from a lifetime of work and so I’m missing between 10-12 hours a week. It’s devastating my finances. I either go to work and make my physical pain worse, or stay home due to the pain and worry myself sick over how the hell my wife and I are going to make it. And knowing that things are going to get a lot worse before it gets better scares me to death. Somehow we have to all pull together
Big love to you and your wife, Laurie. I make wishes for your knees to feel much better.
I’m an almost militant socialist democrat. My 3 adult sons grew up listening to me rant and rave and write and call and scream. My oldest son has asked me, repeatedly, to not discuss politics around him. It’s not that he doesn’t agree, it’s that he says that nothing he can do could possibly matter. He has to get up, go to work and try to pay his bills no matter who is in office. My husband is a pretty progressive independent, but he feels the same way. Tomorrow will come and tomorrow we will have the same problems as we had yesterday. It is defeatist thinking but we are conditioned to think that way. When nothing changes, nothing changes. Same shit, different day.
A very powerful and honest essay. Thank you, Jessica.
Thank you so true im from Australia and some of us are worn down too but we have a slight buffer. A distance buffer, a sort of left of centre federal government but we also have the corporations and the filthy rich who don’t care about anyone… and its only time before we too start to fall apart
Many people are afraid, worried , sick and exhausted about what’s happening and, as you and the followers who have commented, yet it seems enough people are wholly aware of what’s going on. Republicans are systematically destroying the country and stealing everything in sight. I have a 14 year old daughter who is dreaming about a future and is stressed about this chaos.
May I suggest: there is no need to figure anything more out. No need to solve anything.
There is one thing you and others can do: vote and vote to remove republicans from power. Vote early. Vote on election day if that works.
The country needs every single voter it can get to stop this insanity on November 3rd.
Vote. That will make a difference.
Very well written. And all quite true.
This is a great example of the world and how most see it. It’s the scary truth a lot a living with ever day. I wish I could say it will be better, but I seriously don’t see a change in enough people to make this happen. It reminds me of the time before the 30”s. And it’s just not America the whole world wants change! The truth be told until the rich feel threatened this will not change. Climate will probably do more damage to the planet than they tell us. We have no bunkers. Maybe that’s a good thing. For the Lord says the meek and the humble shall inherit the earth. I have almost given up on government and most parties. They make rules and lie to fill their pockets. They change rules to satisfy them them and expect us to agree! All the demonstrations have done nothing! Congress has done nothing! I seriously think the problems are now too big for the world to solve. They are not capable of fixing it so they do not try. What other explanation is there? The people deserve the truth instead of working and barely surviving! I wish just one man or woman would stand up and say we are drilling oil as it’s all we have, we can not fix the air, we can not stop what coming so we can not help you. But they and their greedy friends will be in bunkers. All of them will go to Hell! Well the public whos worked their life watch the planet get hotter and burn, as storms we can not control ravage us. Just one person in lease say the truth! God help us please!
It’s an eye opener to hear someone actually speak the truth that the majority of us are living or have been through. Some survive, some don’t. And now so much is being taken away from the working families and so much has been designed for the convenience of the privileged and raised out of the reach of the rest that every day becomes more and more difficult. Many work so hard and can barely maintain a decent life while others lose……. their homes, their ability to feed their family, healthcare, the ability to survive a family disaster, and the freedom to be who they are. These are the things we need to fight for. We need to restore the ability for everyone to afford groceries, afford to keep a roof over their family, provide healthcare that won’t put them in the poor house, and provide a safe place to live without the fear of being terrorized by a police state. We need to fight for the rights of everyone and VOTE for better things. We need to fight the oligarchs ravaging our country.
Thank you
What you are describing is exactly what enabled Trump to be elected. When life is hard with so many close to the edges and without safety nets,
This is the piece I needed to read today.
The assumption that silence equals indifference is one of the most corrosive misreadings of this moment. The person who isn't marching or calling their senator isn't necessarily uninformed or complicit. They may be working two jobs, managing chronic pain, holding a family together with whatever is left after the rent clears. The political system that produced this crisis is the same system that made sure most people have no margin left for anything except survival.
What struck me most is the word you use: exhaustion. Not apathy. Not ignorance. Exhaustion. Those are not the same thing and the difference matters enormously for how we understand what resistance is even possible right now and who gets to do it.
The people with the most at stake are often the ones with the least capacity to fight. That's not a coincidence. It's a design.
Jessica, you have described real life for probably 75 to 85% of the people living in our country. Try to share more and more with neighbors family friends. We don’t share our suffering here in the US, or our selves. Americans are trained to be way too independent and we hurt ourselves in the process Buy as little as possible. Use the library. Befriend the store clerk, the postman, some Guy at work, everyone you meet, say hello. Learn to ask for help and offer it. Love your kids with all your heart. Be kind to your partner. Do with less. Ultimately love and kindness and trust holds us upright no matter what comes. At least your heart will always be rich. None of us are gonna be able to fix this. But love and share with all those around you and you will lack nothing. I know this because I have seen people from other countries who have done this, who swam through rivers, lost everything, and have survived, because they held together and shared.