Fearless or clueless?

Some people consider me fearless.

Others may consider me clueless.

Which is it?

And why?

It has never occurred to me to be super conscious

…of my surroundings and potential dangers.  Not that I haven’t encountered my fair share of danger! Very few people assigned female at birth have.

I certainly have.

But each of those brief, unnerving encounters left me unscathed, so I have a sense of inviolability or individual agency, which is likely more a matter of dumb luck than actual invincibility. I know that most (if not all) of my female friends and relatives have not escaped unwanted male attention  unscathed.

So, I was lucky, not charmed.

I think I’m relatively fearless

for a number of reasons:

• I’ve never been (successfully) physically attacked by another human being
• I have rarely been confronted by a challenge I haven’t been able to overcome
• I’m well-read and adequately equipped  (educationally and intellectually) that I rarely entertain unlikely worst case scenarios, so I move through life with relative confidence
• I love and respect animals and their proclivities and boundaries
• I’m non-confrontational but far from a pushover; people realize my boundaries and that I’m fully capable of maintaining them
• I’m intuitive, with reliable instincts that I pay attention to

None of the above immunizes me from danger. But in combination, the list has allowed me to feel feeling largely in control of my own destiny.

Fearful people can poke holes in this theory

…but they are the ones to feel sorry for, in my humble opinion.

Either they have experienced horrendous things that have proven me wrong, or they have listened to so many bogeyman stories from their intentionally divisive news sources about people being harmed by the almost-rare-as-hens’-teeth “alien other” (immigrants, trans people, drag queens, Muslims, feminists, democratic socialists, etc.) that they have armed themselves to buttress their loved ones from an “assault” that will never come, except from the government that they voted into office.

I Left the United States

…because my life was genuinely under threat from the policies promulgated by the current regime.  I was able to discern genuine, existential threats to my life while there was still something I could do to mitigate against it. But that wasn’t fear as much as it was prudence.  I knew it was time the moment T-Wrecks won the last election. He’s a madman who enjoy bringing pain and suffering to others. My guess: it literally turns him on to hurt people. And trans folks are the lowest-hanging fruit. Next in line for his cruelty are women, children and black and brown people.

Of course, there are more women and children and black and brown people to hurt, so the policies so far have targeted them, but when it comes to getting to the point of shoving people into cattle cars (as happened in Germany), trans individuals, LGBQIA+ and neurodiverse folks will be among the first to go. I read the writing on the wall and got outta Dodge. Those who say I should have stayed and fought from there don’t remember what happened to those who stayed and fought from inside Germany and Poland. Or they never learned that history.

So See? I Recognize Existential Danger When I See It

…and then I mitigate against it as best I can so I can function without having to subject my nervous system to daily existential dread.

I Feel For Those Left Behind

…who remain under threat and cannot leave. And for those who are suffering from T-Wreck’s other policies and corrupt practices.  Those who voted for him are reaping what they sowed, so I don’t feel overly sorry for them (even though some of my relatives are among the victims). But for everyone else who can’t make a go of it in the United States anymore, my heart bleeds.

The Error Can Be Corrected in November

..if everyone who has been negatively affected by the current regime turns out and votes against it.  And I mean EVERYONE, whether you’ve voted before or voted GOP, INDEPENDENT, DEM, GREEN or any other party.

The message has to be so overwhelmingly clear

…that it scares the present fear of Trump and his cult right out of the remaining GOP so-called representatives.  It has to resonate so loudly that the entire world can witness what happens when US citizens unite to say, “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! WE’RE ENDING THE MADNESS RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!”

I’ve Done My Part 

My vote is in.  And, based on what I’m seeing from abroad and from within the U.S, a helluva lot of other patriots have answered the call and submitted their ballots, too.

It’s Up to the Rest of You Now 

What will you be telling your progeny and other significant others about what you did when your country was on the verge of destruction and needed you to stand strong to reestablish it as a representative republic?

If you’re at least 70 years old…

your immediate forebears (fathers, grandfathers, Rosey the Riveter mothers and grandmothers, Code Breakers and Muskegee Airmen, etc., including my own mother and father) saved the world from fascism during WWII.  Now it’s your turn. And it doesn’t require you going to war. It just requires you going to the polls or sending in your ballot.

Easy peasy, in contrast.

Don’t sit this one out.