Protecting Ourselves in Today’s Uncertain World

In writing posts for Elizabeth’s Creativity Challenges (number 29), I’ve focused mostly on factual information. When you are writing about the word “protect,” as I am for this post, I would normally focus on the factual information on what we as a nation could do to protect ourselves from the uncertainly and distress in the world. I could also focus on what we as individuals could focus on to protect ourselves. I find myself in a different place as a writer than I’ve ever been and I think, at least according to some of us, we find ourselves in a different place as a nation.

I have to pose a question. How do we protect ourselves from our ultimate protector? Not just the protector of the United States but the protector and the most powerful man in the free world? No one more than me hopes that myself and my contemporaries turn out to be wrong about President-elect Donald Trump. I hope that he is our protector and our leader as he is going to swear to be on January 20, 2017.

I don’t believe we are wrong. At best, I don’t believe Mr. Trump knows what he is getting into. I don’t believe he has enough political or diplomatic knowledge of the workings of the world to understand what it means to be President of the United States. He sees it as a power grab. A power grab from “the other side” however he defines the other side. Since he is now a Republican, I assume he defines the other side as Democrats. He, himself, was a registered Democrat not long ago. Men who become leaders because they seek power and without the understanding of the ramifications of that power are dangerous when they command armies.

At worst, Mr. Trump does know what he is getting into and is doing things like waging Twitter wars, appointing inappropriate people to his Cabinet that have conflicts of interest, focusing on issues that are irrelevant like his feud with the New York Times, because he considers these things more important than, for example, taking his foreign policy briefings every day. This begs the question of why the President-elect does not want to know what’s going on in the world? Is he really that arrogant? Or is there a darker reason?

Another issue. Mr. Trump alienates the media on purpose. Why? He doesn’t want to be held accountable by the media. The media is an unofficial source of checks and balances. Perhaps more or less corrupt than our three branches of government. Even though we are skeptical of Congress, there are some good people there that are honest and who would try to help.

Is the protection between us, as citizens of the U.S. or the free world, suddenly just gone? What a horrifying thought and there is nothing we can do as individuals to protect ourselves on a global scale from that.

Can we protect ourselves on a personal level? That is a good question. We don’t know how Donald Trump is going to govern yet and we won’t know for sure until after January 20, 2017. We can’t plan for what we don’t know. What we can do is protect our state of mind. We can try to stay positive at least about ourselves. We can’t spend 24/7 thinking about the state of the world or we will be useless and unable to help ourselves or anyone else. We have to get on with life. Work, socialize with like-minded people, see friends and family. Don’t spend too much time living inside your own head. Instead of just getting your news from sound bites on cable news, buy a newspaper. Read that newspaper. Form your own opinions. Keep yourself physically healthy. You will feel better if you eat the right food. Drink water. Get exercise to relieve stress.

My opinion? We may need our strength. Individually and collectively. Just as important. We don’t know yet. #amwriting #amblogging #writing

The Challenge here is to use your creative talent to bring light into the current distress in the world around you, in whatever form that talent takes. The word today is “protect.”