Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression

Those are considered the first four stages of grief.

I have two liberal female friends, both excellent artists – one in theater, one in visual arts – who have for nine months been appalled, aggrieved, furious, at the election of Donald Trump. I never bring up politics with them because they are good-hearted people and I don’t like to argue.

Friday one called to talk about her theater season, but she soon veered into telling me how difficult it has been for her to direct her plays lately, it’s like she has a mental block; she’s tired and depressed. She described a scene in one of her plays that takes place in a jungle, then asked, in a tiny, pleading, worn voice, how can anyone deny that there’s global warming when we’ve had three horrible hurricanes in a row? She sounded as if she was going to disintegrate.

Saturday I drove my other friend to an exhibit we were hanging, and on the way there she complained that she’s having trouble doing her artwork, she keeps reworking things, is never satisfied, and that’s not how she’s ever been with her work before. On the way home she got very quiet, then asked if I still supported Trump, and when I said I like some of the things he’s done, she said how she just can’t understand how I can like anything about him. She mentioned another mutual artist friend who is also ‘on the same page’ as me, and she can’t understand how the two of us, both women, can support him. She started to rant a bit, but it was half-hearted; she stopped, said she did not want to argue, and changed the subject. This is different from before, when she would rant right into blue language before she’d get a hold of herself.

You know, the last stage of grief is acceptance. I think we are creeping toward it with the part of the female population that isn’t paid to put out the resistance nonsense. They are very spent from being angry.

And I’ll add: I’m not happy at all that my friends have been so unhappy. It’s been my observation that for the past year the media and the Democrats sought the most potent ways to push women’s emotional buttons. And that neither uplifts women, nor respects them, nor supports them. It just exploits them. I loathe the people who paved the way for my friends to fall into this state.

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6 Responses to Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression

  1. TKC1101TKC1101 says:

    For believers, our Media is effective at pushing buttons.

    Eight years on the other side during Obama did not have this level of insanity.

    I believe your point is correct, people cannot sustain this level of self selected pain.

  2. MLHMLH says:

    wow. Guess I’m lucky that I don’t have any friends.

  3. 10 Cents10 Cents says:

    This might be off the subject but I often hear at church that lack of compassion is linked to hypocrisy. There is something in human nature that see the bad in others and misses a similar thing in oneself. I am glad you have compassion, Pencil.

  4. AdministratorAdministrator says:

    Schadenfreunde.

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