Wrapping up a series on repair and sabotage of repair. We frequently talk about redemption. We rarely talk about reparation. As we finish, it’s worth pondering why.
My mother has been getting these lengthy GOP-inspired email messages, forwarded from a retired work contact who has nothing better to do in retirement than read conservative / GOP talking points and fwd on the nonsense to people.
My father succumbed to cancer in November, but much earlier succumbed to the poisonous rhetoric coming from Trump and his cohorts. It strained our relationship in unimaginable ways, and for some reason known only to me, I managed to care for him as he was dying. I wished to never endure the internal conflict that I suffered then, ever again.
My mother is of the same generation, but a different person for sure. Not hateful, not vicious and small, but she's older, and her media diet is not something I can strictly control. These email messages were worrying me, because they had a slew of lies, inaccuracies, misrepresentations, and so forth... and it was exhausting to keep giving point by point refutations.
I forwarded to her the first of this series. I've since forwarded the next two; I have her attention now.
If this series helps me keep my mother from getting her point of view twisted away from humanity and kindness, I'll happily subscribe ten times over. The series resonated with me strongly but I was already receptive to the argument, and the clarity of the argument helped me make sense of what I felt. I'm hopeful that this will also resonate with mom, who is a kind and generous person, but perhaps doesn't really understand what has happened to her friend and trusts him (entirely too much).
Sabotage: Part 14 - The Vineyard And The Mountain
My mother has been getting these lengthy GOP-inspired email messages, forwarded from a retired work contact who has nothing better to do in retirement than read conservative / GOP talking points and fwd on the nonsense to people.
My father succumbed to cancer in November, but much earlier succumbed to the poisonous rhetoric coming from Trump and his cohorts. It strained our relationship in unimaginable ways, and for some reason known only to me, I managed to care for him as he was dying. I wished to never endure the internal conflict that I suffered then, ever again.
My mother is of the same generation, but a different person for sure. Not hateful, not vicious and small, but she's older, and her media diet is not something I can strictly control. These email messages were worrying me, because they had a slew of lies, inaccuracies, misrepresentations, and so forth... and it was exhausting to keep giving point by point refutations.
I forwarded to her the first of this series. I've since forwarded the next two; I have her attention now.
If this series helps me keep my mother from getting her point of view twisted away from humanity and kindness, I'll happily subscribe ten times over. The series resonated with me strongly but I was already receptive to the argument, and the clarity of the argument helped me make sense of what I felt. I'm hopeful that this will also resonate with mom, who is a kind and generous person, but perhaps doesn't really understand what has happened to her friend and trusts him (entirely too much).