It’s a pretty safe bet that I’m not the only American who has fantasized recently about going to sleep — maybe not for twenty years, but at least for four — and waking up when this whole nightmare is finally over. Perhaps a medically-induced coma . . . ?
Obviously, that’s not terribly practical, so I began musing about other options. And, thanks to the wonders of the internet, I stumbled across this little tidbit:
There it was: the perfect description of the way I’ve been feeling since the November 5th election . . . and a new word for my vocabulary as an added bonus. But further digging into the good old reliable Merriam Webster Dictionary revealed that . . .
. . . it doesn’t exist.
Ah, the good old unreliable internet! I should have known better than to trust something posted by someone identified as “The Language Nerds.”
There is, however, a noun from which this made-up word most likely evolved: “eremite,” which is defined as a “hermit.” That makes sense.
So, if we can’t sleep it off, we might be able simply to withdraw from all contact with humanity for four years — that is, if there’s any place left on Earth that’s remote enough, but still accessible to a grocery store, a pharmacy, and Amazon delivery. Probably not.
*. *. *
And then I thought: Are today’s problems really the worst they’ve ever been? Certainly there have been other eras throughout history when people wanted to give up, dig a hole, and climb in. Such as:
The Great Flood (about 4,000 years ago): After 150 days on water and 221 days stranded on a mountain top with a flock of smelly animals, don’t you think Noah ever wished he had just drowned?
The Golden Horde (13th Century): Really scary times for anyone in the path of the marauding Mongols.
The Black Plague (1347-51): The not-so-good old days before modern medicine.
Russia’s Time of Troubles (1598-1613): Actually, those have never really ended for the poor, beleaguered Russian people, have they?
Spanish Flu Pandemic (1918-20): It killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide — more than World War I. And we thought Covid was bad!
The Great Depression (1929-39): It took another world war to get us out of that one.
The Siege of Leningrad (September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944 – a total of 872 days): Just one of the horrors of that war in Europe.
World War II and the Holocaust (1939-45): Six years of pure hell.
*. *. *
Well, that sort of puts things into perspective, doesn’t it? Yes, we’ve got some major problems right now — a lot of them, in fact. But are they insoluble? Don’t we have legal options?
I seem to be saying this a lot lately, but I’m going to repeat myself once more, for those who may have forgotten:
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
And that, to me, seems the biggest problem of all.
Just sayin’ . . .
Brendochka
2/2/25
The Blog About Everything … and Sometimes Nothing 
You sum it up perfectly. I started my blog because is it says, I’m rather backward in coming forward about my views. I I’ve felt safe in the relative anonymity of the blog. But recently I’ve realised every bigoted and hateful person also hides behind similar anonymity. Perhaps times are such that it’s necessary for us not only to speak out but to be seen to be speaking out. It’s food for thought.
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So true! I began my blog from a dual need — to fill the idle hours since retiring, and to give voice to my thoughts in the hope that there might be people out there actually interested in reading them, whether they agree with me or not. It has been a pleasure to read your posts, as I haven’t found many as well thought out and eloquently expressed. And by the way, you have piqued my interest in New Zealand, its history, and specifically the history of the Maori. There’s always room in the brain for a new wrinkle!
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