Having just been through a small “melt down” of my own yesterday, this is on my mind this morning, so will shoot off a few random thoughts on the topic to invite discussion.  

I’m defining “melt-downs” as those times when I become emotionally entangled with an issue or a topic or other posters, and lose my cool, along with my good judgement and objectivity.  My feelings then can take charge of my fingers, because I forget to “pause for the cool down cycle” , (like a  clothes dryer on perma press setting) BEFORE posting.

First, it never ceases to amaze me that I can know perfectly well how to prevent my own melt downs,  yet every now and then, I forget all I know!

I suspect this is because am still a fallible human being, and I shall never totally overcome this one till I croak and fall right  off this chair.

And because right now, there is more happening, globally, to CAUSE  pressure that leads to melt downs, happening all around us than  I can ever remember in my lifetime.

What I see today, is a greater need that ever, for me to offer myself, and everyione else as well, a much larger helping of empathy and compassion than I have so far.

These are terribly difficult times to be a citizen of this country. Terribly, horrible difficult, for me personally.   And it is hard to even write that, when I know that in other lands, people just like me are suffering so much MORE horribly that I have ever had to suffer. I almost feel like I have no right to even talk about how hard it is for “me”.

But keeping silent doesn’t help me deal with the horrendous anguish and rage inside. And because it has no where to go, it can easily spill over on those closest to me, and I don’t want that, either.

So I guess the only thing I can do is work harder at maintaining my own essential internal “balance”. Monitor myself more closely and make sure I am not spending too much time in front of this screen or the TV, and that I am feeding the best parts of who I really am with face to face contact with those I can share direct sustenance with as often as we all need.  

And I can also better utilize my “trusted others”  who, when the pressures need to erupt up and out,  can handle it, knowing it is what I need to do in that moment.  

Because the very LAST thing I want to ever do, is add to the pain levels, or the levels of free floating  rage and fear that are taking this world so close to the edge of the abyss.

Boo, my reaction to your posting the other day was emotionally driven and I apologise for the harshness of it. I know what you said  came from your own anguish and rage,  which is no less than mine.  I still have ocncerns over the choice of language used,  but you didn’t deserve the harshness of my response.

(note: as for anything I write for the near future, this goes up unedited due to temporary vision limitations soon to be resolved!) (Hey, at last I have an excuse for being a rotten typist!)