TRUMP IS KILLING HOPE!

No question about it--it is hard to maintain hope with Trump in power. I try to protect myself from the news, but like an addiction, each morning I find myself sipping coffee, reading the NY Times online, then the Guardian, then Twitter--just in case I missed something dreadful that would make me snort coffee up my nose.

Such as: a poor woman with brain cancer who can no longer afford her premiums ('cause the insurance industry is all roiled up due to Trump's egregious threats); or how Mr. Zinke is going after Bears' Ears Park in Utah; or how the GOP is stacking the judiciary with young, radically conservative judges who will be in power for ages; or how many immigrants no longer dare come to our country. I can no longer look at pictures of the Statue of Liberty without wincing.

Recently, I was chatting with an old friend who works at a small graduate center on the other side of the country. She lamented that enrollment was down this semester. Pausing during the conversation, she then observed, "You have to have hope to go to Grad School, to take on that debt and feel you will have a better future."

I have two adult "kids," millenials, and I sometimes wonder what their lives will be like once we are gone.  They are both bright, educated, and committed to helping others. But will their lives be more constrained than ours were, growing up in the 50s-60s?  Will they have health care that covers more than the basics? Will one be protected by laws forbidding discrimination against the LGBTQ community? I don't know.

Another old friend with two daughters, millenials, said they aren't hopeful about their future, and that they are grateful they have dual citizenship in a country in the Commonwealth. Then, if things become truly tire, they can go live abroad.

A member of my Writers' Group said recently, "If I were younger, I'd move to Denmark just so I wouldn't have to hear about Trump!" I have felt the same way; if I were younger, with small children and an independent income, I'd seriously think about moving to Denmark. But, that ain't happening.

So--we sit tight; wait out Trump's administration; hope the Dems put up some good candidates that people will vote for to break the GOP monopoly in Congress; donate money to good causes; resist and keep the faith; drink good wine (remember--Julia Childs said, "Life is too short to drink bad red wine."); love our circle of friends and family and people on the margins; and--oh, yeah. Pray. Really hard.