Summon your courage.

I probably never mentioned this here, but I suffer from major depression. I've had it for about 25 years. It almost killed me. It is well controlled now, and I'm off all my meds except for one (for my depression I mean...plenty of other meds for other stuff).

That shit is starting to wave hello to me again. I can feel it trying to creep back in. Once the depression became controlled, I became a different person. Confident, mentally and physically strong. Increased empathy.

I'm frightened, as we all are. Things are uncertain. But we know this...it's going to get much worse. This guy is a fucking lunatic, and I can't figure out what his game is, but he's out to destroy.

I deal with it by recognizing that this country is changed permanently. Many more people are going to die. Recognize that the American people are in a battle for their lives. Don't try to sugarcoat it, recognize it.

When that fact sinks in, you will realize that we have no choice but to go down swinging. I'd like to think that most of us are going to survive this. We are smart, and we know the score. But I also know that may not be the case as well...maybe more people will die than I think. We fight this by remaining true to ourselves. We fight this by not changing. We fight this by being kind to each other. We help those who can't help themselves. We speak up. We don't bicker with each other, but instead, we make the other side back down. We write our letters to our representatives. We call their offices. We protect ourselves as a group with common values.

I'm not just talking about DU. I'm talking about real life.

I made an OP yesterday about having guilt. I read and appreciate all the responses. Right now, I don't feel like I did when I made that post. I feel like I want to protect myself at all costs, and I hope and assume that people who think like me will protect themselves also.

Please do whatever you can to help someone out. Summon your courage. Be kind. Because November is going to be too late. We have ourselves, we have our courage, we have our kindness. Ignore the protesters...a lot of them will likely be sick or dead soon enough.

We have our courage. That means that no matter what happens, we tried to do the right thing...and that means a lot.