Obviously, I didn’t have a lot to say this week. Things are just in a rut–the kids have various little things and I have various things, but really the days sort of just bleed into one another.
But, that’s not entirely true. I’ve wavered between needing to talk about this and not being about to address it, but here it goes. My anxiety is through the roof–not because of the pandemic, but because–and I know this sounds dramatic, but it is actually accurate–Portland has been invaded. I know it is all over the news and many outlets say that Portland is a city out of control. This is completely false.
Before the Federal troops were sent in, the peaceful protests had dwindled to almost nothing in Oregon. Honestly, there is always some group protesting something here, so protests are really no big deal. Now, there is an anarchist group that routinely uses peaceful protests as an excuse to act up, but they are not part of the protesters.
Then, the Feds came in for no other reason than to create a situation that Trump can exploit. People are being shot at, gassed, thrown into unmarked vans, and otherwise harassed for doing nothing more than exercising their First Amendment rights.
(And, yes, I know that there was a fire set at the Justice building. From everything I’ve read, this was done by the anarchist group, not the protesters).
Oregonians have always been an independent people and I realize that we’ve lived in a bit of a bubble. While the rest of the nation could be a complete mess, things were okay here. And then Trump decided to drag us into his mess.
And it isn’t just me. The kids have heard enough of this that they are scared. Have you ever had to reassure your kids that the front door wouldn’t be broken down by men in fatigues spraying tear gas at you? Well, I have.
I try to stay out of the political fray, but I’ve lost my patience with anyone who thinks any of this is remotely okay. If you think that Oregon deserves this, that we created this, that this is all fine, then you are, at best, and utter moron.
Argh! Okay, see? This has been a hard thing for me to deal with, and holding my tongue has made it all the harder. My anxiety was so bad that I was back having stress dreams last night, in which I was having a huge fight with Pat over Christmas Carols. Seriously.
Okay, enough of all that. Time for some pictures! I’m taking a break from the old pictures to show some pics from our hike to at the Trappist Monastery in Lafayette, Oregon. It was quite a hike and you can read all about it in this post, but I’ve saved the pictures for today.
So, there you go, I hope that Oregon will be in a better place and Gestapo free by next week–I doubt it, but one can only hope.
A Web of Stories 