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Fear, Anger, and Blame
I work at a very small office, a total of six employees, of which only three regularly come in. One of my coworkers just got a breakthrough case of Covid, has a 102°F fever, is quarantining at home. Our former owner, retired twice, still works, and is a Karen about masks. He is aware that I am a huge Trump fan, disdain the wearing of masks, and that I am a skeptic on manmade global warming. He has a granddaughter, now almost three, who was a 22-week premie. She was scheduled for surgery yesterday to correct some leg development issues.
We received an email this AM informing the employees about the coworker who got the ‘vid. The former owner responded with this:
I was planning to come to the office today but will not be doing so now due to Dxxx’s positive test. Rxxx’s surgery was cancelled 18 hours before it was due to begin because the children’s hospital does not have any beds due to children with Covid needing all of the beds. This did not have to happen. The selfish and the misinformed would not do the right thing for our nation. We had a sorry excuse for a president that politicized science because he would lie, cheat or steal if he thought it served his personal purposes. He has done so all of his life.
These lowlifes have negatively impacted my family, my friends, and our economy. They have impacted the sanctity of the democratic process and are tearing our nation apart for their own personal agendas. Natural disasters are being fuel by global warming that they deny and they think that they can fix with a Sharpie or by nuking hurricanes.
Whatever your political leaning, please do whatever you can to see that science is followed so we can put this pandemic behind us and protect our loved ones. Put pressure on our government, businesses and anyone you interact with to get vaccinated and wear a mask in public places so we can reclaim what has been lost in this pandemic.
Don’t drink the Kool Air (Clorox) and pay attention to the science. Time to put politics aside and do the right thing. It is up to us to stop this.
Hard for me not to think that this was specifically directed at me, so being a selfish lowlife, I wrote quite a few responses before deleting each. Writing those responses helped me vent some anger… Eventually, I sent the following:
I am so sorry to hear about all those children in the hospital and Rxxx’s surgery being postponed. I hope they all get the treatments they need and get better.
Dxxx too!
My former owner/boss is genuinely a really decent guy. He is just afraid that his granddaughter might get Covid, or might not receive the surgical treatment she needs, and that the planet is doomed, and ergo her future, and… so many other things we are told to fear. His fear has driven him to anger and blame.
I have been pretty angry too recently and ironically want to blame BodyBagBiden supporters for everything from Covid, lockdowns, mask nazis, the Afghanistan debacle, and January 6 Americans in solitary, all of it, everything, globally. I am fearful for our future as a country, for my grandchildren who might be taught they are intrinsically racist because they are white, for the lunacy of our debt and the Green New Deal… and everything else we understand to be wrong. In my mind, this is happening because they supported and voted for BBB. I see others here, writing about their fears and their anger and directing it at the shills at the Bulwark, some of our Rico directors, and some of the members who also supported BBB. Hatred is the emotion that is being brewed in this pot of fear and anger.
I have been nurturing a festering anger towards my old owner since the election, and it appears he has too, towards me. Or maybe not really me, but all Trump supporters. I just happen to be in his proximity, and he is particularly angry and frustrated this morning, so he blurted it out in his email. And I realize I don’t hate him, but I see him two or three days a week, so he becomes the target for my fears, anger, and blame.
We are all at the point of cracking with overwhelming stress, and a media and government that seems totally at odds with my perception of logic and truth. And my former boss lives in the alternate universe where he believes everything fed to him and daily repeated by the media and our pols. And everyone seems to be nurturing a festering anger where we blame the others. The rhetoric and level of accusations grows ever more outrageous. For example, pro-lifers are like the Taliban.
I don’t have answers, I am certainly not in a position where I can control or influence regional, national, or global outcomes. So I have fears. The only thing I can control is my anger. I am working on that.
Say a prayer for everyone, for everyone that has fears or is angry. Say a prayer for the kids in the hospitals, for the kids who can’t be in the hospitals, for everyone, especially those who wouldn’t pray for themselves.
Published in General
Annefy, thank you for writing. Did your boy come home ok? I was worried when you did not post for a while.
Yes. I permanently deleted my FB account almost exactly a year ago. best thing ever for my emotional wellbeing. And it was because of posts by people I was related to, loved or was friends with. Calling it a cesspool, is way too kind. And now, I am sure that if I were still a member, I would be banned. so there is that.
Oh that’s a tough situation. I try to avoid politics in the office. And I try to not to encourage politics from others, at least toward me. It just makes for a tension filled work environment. One could be the best of friends until you learn the other person is a NeverTrumper, and then hate enters the picture. Once it’s reached this far, I wouldn’t know what to advise. Try to disengage. Remember very few people are persuaded to change their political stripes from just back and forth banter. My best to you, and hope everyone gets healthy and stays healthy.
I believe it. I refuse to join social media. It divides.
Well, I’m 59. I’d like to live more than a couple of years, you know? I believe in heaven, but I want to wait as long as possible to get there. ;)
Nohaaj is a man? All this time I had assumed that was a woman’s name…lol. I’m sorry Nohaaj. :)
Thanks for your worry. I tried to get the word out, but obviously didn’t do a good job. We got a message over the weekend that he and his men were back in Kuwait.
Hopefully we’ll see him stateside in the next month or two. It’s been rough for me. Not sure how it’s been for him.
Sure. But are you “terrified” of CoViD? Or are you willing to weigh risks and live a balanced life?
I am not terrified of Covid.
Good. Then what I said doesn’t apply to you. Carry on living.
“I’m getting out of your world as soon as I can.”
Yet they stay…and stay…and stay.
That is such a relief. Thank goodness. Thank for protecting your country through your son.
I appreciate the sentiment, Gary. But I deserve no thanks. All I did was feed him and drive him to school. And challenge him when he said something stupid. Which was very rare. As my dad said when they locked eyes – this one has been here before.
My first thought was that it was a suicide note. Definitely mental illness there.
The same thing occurred to me. So I reached out to her adult son, who is well aware of her recent spiral. To be honest – and I don’t mean to sound cavalier – she’s arrogant enough to think the world couldn’t possibly continue to spin without her. I wish I could write a post about her; she’s as tortured as anyone I’ve ever met and our friendship has been rich and … tortured. She moved to our little hamlet of Monrovia CA and I immediately sent her (and her obnoxious husband) into cognitive dissonance. She knows I’m not hateful, she knows I’m not bigoted, she also knows I’m not stupid. Her son spent weeks at my home while she traveled; and yet I vote … conservative! She loves my sons and is proud of their military service; but we’re deplorable.
I’ll give it up someday. For now rest assured most of you know her name. If you’re of a certain age and watch shows about famous trials.
If I ever do write a post about her, the theme will be how the rejection of religion,the un-mooring of that which is known to be true, is the road to madness.
I am sure that you fed him with love and joy. And you drove him to school with calmness and commitment. And you confronted him with loving firmness. Nothing you did for him was every wasted.
Nothing you did for your son was ever wasted. Nothing.
Our office is made up of right wing nut jobs. But we don’t hate anyone; we just point and laugh.
In vino veritas.
She could move to France.
Annefy, I am grateful to learn of your son’s safety.
“The un-mooring of that which is known to be true” is a great phrase. It encapsulates so much of the ongoing leftist agenda, from “toxic masculinity” to “systemic racism” to “transgenderism”, so perfectly. And it is so clearly a deliberate road to madness, to insanity.
She wouldn’t be happy even there.
I’ve mentioned it elsewhere, but the large hospital system where my brother works has been administering Ivermectin for COVID patients for quite awhile. Because it works. So yes, some doctors — even in solid blue areas of the country — are treating their patients with it successfully. Hopefully they won’t be ratted out.
Since we have horses, we have a ready supply of horse dewormer aka Ivermectin. For the record, I did offer to supply some to my coworker… so far he has declined.
That boss of yours is incredibly irresponsible and has just opened himself up for liabilities, depending upon your state. I am not a lawyer, but as a senior executive I am regularly dealing with personnel matters for the whole company. A couple of rules of thumb that pertain here:
This boss has opened himself up for action against him. Action by you and the person with Covid. Even with a small 6 person office. It still pertains. The hostile work environment that’s been created potentially has the opportunity for everyone to take action. The political rant is a part of the general hostile work environment creation. But does not seem otherwise actionable.
If he takes any negative action against you you have a rich trove of material to attack him with. I would find an employment lawyer and start documenting things with him.
That is great to hear. I apologize for calling this valuable, inexpensive, helpful medication “horse dewormer.” I was wrong, and a bit arrogant.
Gary, we frequently think you are wrong about things, but this time, you are not. Ivermectin is in fact, among other uses, a horse dewormer.