Quote:
Originally Posted by JEEPONLY
It's pretty obvious the person you've responded to is quite distressed. Many of the other posts in this thread recognize this, and show compassion. You sound like the young woman who convinced her boyfriend to off himself-Pathetic!
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I don't want to exaggerate my distress. I'm in decent health, have a roof over my head and food on my table, have access to beautiful places all around me, and my work has not been impacted. My hardship is only about 1% of what people in New York and many other places around the world have been through and I count my blessings. Still, I have a deep sense of disquiet about all the phenomena I mentioned, which together surpass everything I've experienced in the past---much greater than 9/11, for example. As I get older, I feel less resilient to such things. The purpose of my post was more to find out how other people are experiencing what's happening and their larger view of what it means for their own future. I had absolutely no political intention and I'm sorry that my post was taken that way. I wish people would take the time to get to know a newcomer instead of guessing the person's politics and then deciding to associate every statement with that supposed position.
There has been a huge rise recently in the number of people experiencing stress, anxiety, and depression. Except for groceries and campgrounds, my life is about the same as it was before, so I'm luckier than most. I have a medical issue that's making me a bit paranoid about the grocery thing---I've been social distancing for 20 years because of it.
I think it's not a good idea to demean people who express stress. It sends them a message that they're outliers, when we know that's really not the case right now. I'm pretty sure there are people on this forum who are dealing with new stressors added to their old ones. Compassion would be in order. And dropping the political paintbrush would help too---there might not be an association between mental health and politics. I'm not sure about that, but let's not take a link for granted because people of all political shades can suffer from anxiety etc. Let's give people's sincerity the benefit of the doubt.
TiltonBB, in case you missed this, my closest friend of 35 years died in March of an illness related to COVID-19. He died exactly at the point when we were supposed to be stocking two weeks or a month of food, but the grocery stores were empty, a very stressful moment for us all. He was a much more than a simple friend. It was a real blow and probably has colored how I'm seeing things. As you get older you start losing people and it starts to weighs on you because you realize they're not replaceable this late in life.
God help you if you can take this post and turn it into something mean spirited. You don't have to treat me with compassion, but at least be authentic yourself and maybe others will do the same. Treat people the same as you would if you met them for the first time at your local summer fair.