It’s noon, and I’m still lying in bed, trying to decide whether it’s worth getting up today. I just glanced at the headlines in the hope of finding something positive to write about, and instead I found more of the old SSDD: Same Shit, Different Day.

And now I’m feeling brain dead . . . or maybe it’s just wishful thinking.

To put things in perspective, the high point of my day yesterday was when my doctor’s office called to reschedule next week’s appointment because my doctor has broken his leg in a skiing accident.

In my favor, my first thought was how terrible that was for him . . . though that was immediately followed by relief that I wouldn’t have to go out on Monday. It was just a routine checkup, but it felt like too much effort. And his misfortune turned out to be the best part of my day.

That is not a good thing!

*. *. *

Okay, it’s now 1:30 p.m. I’m out of bed, dressed, and have read past the headlines to the guts of the news reports. And I feel myself getting fired up once more as I read about the people out there fighting for “truth, justice, and the American way” (remember that?).

People like Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who has quite literally risked his own neck to travel to El Salvador, where he has met with the tyrannical president of that country, as well as with deportee Kilmar Abrego Garcia, in an attempt to have Abrego Garcia returned to the U.S. after his wrongful deportation by the Trump administration.

And people like the honest journalists who continue to report — whether from actual war zones, or from political “war zones” such as Washington, D.C., and Moscow — in order to disseminate facts that allow us to distinguish between the truth and the politicians’ lies.

And I know that I can’t keep quiet for long. My words may not reach more than a handful of people; but the mere act of speaking out (or writing) about the injustices we are witnessing in today’s world acts as a catharsis for me . . . and, quite frankly, as a sop for my conscience, because — like most of us — I feel helpless to actually effect any meaningful change in the course of world events.

But my fingers can still find the right letters on the keyboard. So here I am — back at it, doing what I can, and hoping you’ll stay tuned and join in. Because it’s only by shouting out that we will ultimately be heard.

And because doing nothing is simply not an option, when this is what we’re fighting for:

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
4/18/25