I’m tired. Of everything. I just want a week or two of uninterrupted peace and quiet. No drama. No internecine squabbles. Just a well-run government whose leaders aren’t in my face 24/7, and a population that gets it — whatever “it” is.
I’m tired of pandemics. I’m tired of being trapped in my house, and I’m tired of listening to people whine because they can’t play golf, or have their nails done, or go into a store unencumbered by wearing a mask.
I’m tired of people who can’t just understand that unless they’re 110 years old, they’ve never lived through this before, and it wouldn’t be a bad idea if they listened to people who study these things instead of everyone else but.
I’m tired of people who flout laws and then act as if everyone else has a nerve being upset. With all due respect to the vast majority of law-enforcement officers, in what universe is it acceptable to place your knee — and put all your weight on it — on someone’s neck for more than eight minutes, even if it doesn’t result in the man’s death? Or to shoot a person in the back as he’s running away trying to wiggle out of being tased because he’s drunk in public? Even discounting race, that’s a little excessive, don’t you think? Now, add race and you have a cauldron ready to boil over — and for reasons I shouldn’t have to explain.
I think it’s pretty easy to understand why people react to such things with indignation, and I’m tired of people who can’t see that.
I’m also tired of people who use the honest anger of the afflicted to smash windows and loot, ruining the moment and the message.
I’m tired of people who get offended by the least little thing, and I’m tired of people who get offended that some people get offended.
In the first case, lighten up. Not everybody spends their days dreaming up ways to be offensive. But some things that have become everyday expressions are offensive. And it doesn’t matter whether we’ve said it all our lives. If it’s wrong, or offensive, it’s wrong and offensive. Be a big enough person to understand why it offends, and don’t say it anymore. Simple.
I’m tired of statues and monuments unless they’re bonafide works of art. And I’m tired of listening to people moan and groan about whether they should be taken down. Take them all down. I understand why people would be loath to honor anyone who owned slaves or, worse, acted as a wholesaler for them. It’s not easy to admit the country to which we swear allegiance was founded on the backs of victims who were shamelessly and corruptly exploited. I’m tired of people who won’t even entertain the thought.
But if we don’t want to dismantle the Washington Monument or Jefferson Memorial, I can understand that, too. But please draw a line with Confederate soldiers. Grind them all to dust and recycle them within someone’s patio. They not only turned their weapons on the United States but did so to defend an institution that a major part of the country finally came to realize was immoral.
I’m tired of people who try to defend leaving them up because it’s “history.” I’ll bet you’ll have to go pretty far into France to find a statue of Hitler. Or Ethiopia to find one of Mussolini. That’s history, too.
Finally, I’m not just tired of pessimism, I’m tired of all the people who deal in it. These would be people without any knowledge who chime in with the sole intent of scaring us all to death. Or people who take every situation and make sure the bad alternative is watered and cultivated, while letting the more positive alternative die on the vine. These things have a way of becoming self-fulfilling prophecies. Some of that’s on the media. And some of it is on politicians. And some of it’s on us. Whoever you are, go away. I’m tired of you.