I don't see myself as pollyanna, as someone seemed to suggest upthread. I can get as worried as the next woman; but I am blowed if I am going to let numpties like Putin and Trump spoil what I have left of my life.
I was a toddler in the Cuban Missile Crisis, and my mum was terrified for me and my baby sister. The Cold War continued throughout my childhood, the IRA was trying to blow people up in my teens (and often succeeding), and I was newly married when we got a leaflet through the door called Protect and Survive - advice about sellotaping windows and using tea towels as masks to avoid breathing in contaminated air in the event of a nuclear blast.
My first baby was born during the Gulf War, when people were citing Nostradamus' predictions of 'birds from the East' ending the world. I was terrified for him, and wondered what I was thinking, bringing a baby into such a world.
Soon after, BSE was supposedly going to kill us all and leave my babies orphans, and that was after a decade of being told that AIDS would carry us all off too. Then there was Swine Flu, Covid and so on.
I'm still here, though, merrily (or grumpily) posting on GN and dancing in my kitchen to the Ramones when my breathing allows.
I don't deny that things are grim. We don't know the half, as I said upthread. But letting bad news spoil the rest of our lives isn't going to make a difference. We will just have spoilt what's left of our lives. Usually, when people say there is nothing they can do, my reaction is to ask what they've tried that hasn't worked, and that often shows up that there is plenty that can be done, but they just don't want to be the one to do it. In this case, we are all powerless. If things get worse, who knows - there may turn out to be something we can do, and I'll do my best to do it. If not, well, the very best thing we can do is keep our spirits up and plod on.
