Life Isn't Fun

Life isn't fun anymore.

I used to tell my young daughter, when she would complain that she was bored and that her life wasn't fun, that life in general isn't fun. People have obligations and responsibilities, whether they are at work or in school. Our lives are generally pretty mundane. We get up each morning, go to school or to work, come home, watch television, go to bed, and get up the next morning to do it all over again. And somewhere in there, we find time to shop, cook, do laundry and take care of our families, our pets and our houses.

I have been retired for more than a decade, so I don't to to school or to work each day. I still have responsibilities, of course, but I am free of the daily 9 to 5 drudgery. Still, my life isn't fun.

I do have fun, of course. Travel is the biggest source of fun in my life. And photography is fun. I enjoy reading and learning new things. But recently, the world in which I live is decidedly not a fun place to be.

Think about it. Climate change is wreaking havoc on the country, with record wildfires. States were devastated by massive hurricanes. Several states in the south and along the eastern seaboard faced massive flooding and loss of life. This country's northeast has been hammered by record-breaking snowfall. Immigrants from Central America and Haiti continue to flood our southern border, the result being an overwhelmed border patrol. People and wildlife in northern Kenya struggle to survive terrible drought.

Millions of Americans refuse to get jobs despite there being millions of positions available, many of which offer low pay. I watch each day as Russia bombs parts of Ukraine into oblivion, bombing schools, hospitals and places where civilians are taking shelter. They are unable to win through military might, so they now are targeting electric and water infrastructure.

White nationalism, encouraged by the acquittal of a punk 18-year-old who fatally shot and killed two men and wounded a third after claiming self-defense, has only encouraged the extreme far right to ramp up its attacks on our nation and on our freedoms.

I believe this nation is at a crossroads that will determine whether we continue to live in a free, democratic nation, or whether we become just another racist, fascist country. Republicans are hard at work passing bills to make it more difficult to vote, all while claiming they want to protect against non-existent voter fraud. Attacks on women's reproductive rights are already happening. The Republican clan in the US Senate refuses to support the president's legislation that would help the poor and middle classes, claiming the bill would add too much to the federal deficit. Of course, these same officials had no problems with adding to the deficit when they cut taxes on corporations and billionaires.

I thought that once the former occupant of the Oval Office lost the election, we would get a reprieve from the daily rantings and obstructionism of the Rethuglican party. 

I couldn't have been more wrong.

So no, this adult, intelligent, caring retiree definitely agrees that life isn't fun.