Confessions of a Scholar Mom
I don’t believe loving someone is ever easy, especially when it’s a stranger.
Yesterday, I shared a piece I wrote the day after Election 2016. Emotions were high, much of our nation was baffled, and experience reminded me that loving people is complicated.
But, just three days later, the hand I was dealt was angry, white, and male.
And for the very first time, I absorbed hatred in the presence of my children.
My uncle is a plumber. To the average American, there is nothing exceptional about his life.
One Christmas, when our extended family still gathered for the holidays, my uncle was late. At the time he was working for a highly-esteemed university in our community.
The reason for his tardiness that particular year? He had been called in to shovel snow off of campus sidewalks.
I remember staring at him in disbelief. “But it’s Christmas.”
“Well,” he explained with an air of resentment, “those professors gotta have clear sidewalks so they can do their work.”
What I didn’t realize then was that this division – between the haves and the have-nots – was bigger than Christmas lunch that year. That it would only grow in the years to come. And that it would forever change our political landscape.
I don’t know about you, but Election 2016 has left me pretty nauseated. I no longer enjoy the news, small talk, or Facebook.
It’s like the whole of politics has played Grinch for all of 2016.
I think we’d like our happiness back.
Last night I watched the vice presidential debate in horror – perhaps in even more horror than the first presidential debate of the 2016 election season.
When did the fighting get so loud that we stopped listening to each other?
I saw a young man walk into a wall at the park last week. No joke.
The Pokémon Go craze has almost (yes, almost) intrigued me enough to learn how I, too, can walk into walls and run away in shame.
But, let’s be honest, we have bigger things upon which to focus. Take the 2016 Republican National Convention. Even if you haven’t watched it (I haven’t), I’m sure you’ve heard the highlights:
Trump said something inappropriate!
Protests took place outside!
Cruz got booed!
So in the midst of much excitement (i.e. drama), why then are thousands of people choosing to escape into an augmented reality game?
Because, quite simply, we are already living the game – all of us.
