To the Editor:

I am tired. I feel worn from all the political gyrations of Trump and his hired cast. Right now, I would just like to say the heck with it, let America completely fall.

Why struggle, why not just focus on family and friends and the small world I can connect with …. I feel like all we have known, all we have lived by, all that, although far from perfect, has kept us afloat and given us a place to continue improving is now being swallowed by the Trump sinkhole of a power grab fostered by men of immense greed.

Their delusions of grandeur seek to make America into their own image. They are the deep state that has plotted and planned for years. Congress itself seems null and void. So why should I bother — a David against a large number of Goliaths.

Yes, I am tired. I don’t want to struggle, I don’t want to fight, I don’t want to continually feel the pain that my soul now feels. But then a vision of a past America comes into view.

I see our young people dying and wounded throughout the years, fighting wars, some necessary, some not, but I see those young faces bloody on the beaches and jungles of other lands and how they gave their lives, their limbs, their sight, their peace for the America they believed in.

I see the battered in the streets of America fighting for the rights of a people so suppressed and abused for their skin color. I see the community of LGBQT who have raised our awareness in so many ways as they walked out of their closets to teach us all the beauty and strength of humanity.

I see the women over centuries fighting for their right to be other than property, and then in that same vision I see the face of my granddaughter, her innocence, her hopefulness, her future and the tears for all begin to flow.

My soul trembles from the horror that now encompasses the Earth and all its inhabitants. My pain, for all good that was and for all that could be, runs down my cheeks and I know I cannot give up, I cannot hide, I cannot give them what they want.

My giving up now would be aiding and abetting evil … I don’t know if I can make any difference at all, but I do know that in all this pain and desire to rest — I must, I must try.

I hope you will join me. I know you are tired also. I know you just want to turn off your TV to anything political and curl up in your own world. I know your strength is waning and you feel hopeless but I want you to know there are many of us that feel as you do and we hear your pain.

You are not alone and we need each other. There is strength and sustenance in connection. Seek out those, who like you, do not want to see America and the global community stomped on by the foot of fascism.  

We are called to resist. We are called to not give up. We are called to learn from history and stand up to the desecration of America. Live or virtual, come together in groups where you can share ideas, plan action, and find comfort and strength.

You and I cannot erase history but we can pledge to not let it repeat. Make Amerika — America again.

Joan Storey

Guilderland