Hi Anita! Thanks very much for taking the time to respond. I understand what you’re saying in principle but I’m afraid in practice it would be going against an essential part of my character that is so deeply-rooted that I doubt I could change it at this point in my life, and in all honesty I’m not sure I’d want to. I guess growing up during the 60’s & going through my teens in the last of the residual social change movements in the 70’s stamped it on me ineffably that I have to try to do what I can to make positive contributions to my community, country, and planet when I can. It affected my choice of career, and in my spare time I’ve always been involved in some kind of nonprofit that I can feel is somehow contributing. Part of my frustration now – which is probably amping up my feelings against the POTUS- is that my health has me nearly housebound, and prevents me from doing all I’d like to be doing: the me of 20 years ago would have been at all the marches and meetings, and probably secretary on each committee and bringing coffee and donuts! As things are now, I can share information on social media – but because that’s what I CAN do, I feel compelled to do it. I have no delusions that what I’m doing is going to change Trump, but who knows who a tweet or a post might touch, and what they might accomplish? And I’m not sure I could live with myself if I detached completely and did nothing… I feel a debt to those who have fought for change in the past, and an obligation to the generations who will come after us. It’s important to me, when all is said & done, to be able to say “I cared, & I did my best to do what I could do.”

I just need to figure out how to de-personalize it somehow, to care about it without letting it eat me up inside, to do what I can and at the same time let it go. Like I said in my original post, I’ll almost be ok, and the he takes his ghastly assaults on democracy to a new depth, and I’m seething all over again.

Again, thank you for your thoughtful response, and I will continue to consider it.