United continued their campaign for you to never fly the friendly skies with them, Sean Spicer trivialized the atrocities of the Holocaust with alternative facts, and the question “What more can happen?” in the gun control debate was again answered in an elementary school in San Bernardino.
(If you answer, “Well, this is why we need to arm teachers,” keep this in mind: while in my classroom putting together a packet, I accidentally dropped my stapler. But sure, go ahead and give me a gun because that’s so much easier to hold on to, especially in a crisis. And yes, I’m being sarcastic.)
But this week is just one of many weeks in the past few months that have made some of us fear that 2017 is just the new 2016 dumpster fire. Everyday, we get news notifications that make us burn with rage; repost articles that inspire our friends to use the shocked, sad or angry face; or feel our anxiety reach monumental levels over what we cannot directly control.
So for today, I’m going to take a timeout from my anger and disgust. Instead, I’m going to take a moment and appreciate all the wins that happened this week.
So, what’s a win? Think of anything that happened this week that made you smile – hopefully it isn’t the thought of someone falling down a never-ending cliff. It could be the release of that new book you’ve been waiting for, discovering a fantastic Netflix series, or not hearing Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” for a full hour on the radio.
Go ahead and call it denial of what’s occurring in our society. It isn’t. Denial means that I refuse to acknowledge the existence of what’s happening with our country and the outside world. But for a moment, we need to remind ourselves that amid all the bullshit, there are still moments that make you remember that not all people and life suck.
Here are some of my wins this week.
Tracey Tong
By now, you’ve no doubt probably seen the cellphone video footage of a young woman from Queens coming to the immediate defense of a stranger, who happened to be Muslim, while she was being verbally accosted by a fellow subway commuter.
Last week, Ellen DeGeneres invited the subway shero, Tracey Tong, on her show:
We need more Tracey Tong’s in the world.
While many are arguing about who should leave or stay in our country, Tracey Tong reminds us that the beauty of the American landscape is a result of its diversity:
“I am not asking you to be quiet. I am asking you to please respect her. In Spanish, in English, in Chinese, in French, whatever language you want me to tell you, I will tell you whether you are from here, Puerto Rico or wherever you are from: I am born here and I don’t like the way you are treating her. We are all in this together.”
Could we please get a DNA sample of this girl and clone her?
Carrie Pilby
There’s something utterly endearing and simultaneously frightening about Facebook recommendations: on the one hand it’s like that best friend who knows and doesn’t tell others that you secretly listen to the Moana soundtrack and you have no children. On the other hand, Facebook recommendations turn you into Parks and Recreation’s Ron Swanson, making you want to throw out your computer for essentially spying on you.
This past week, Facebook recommended that I purchase on iTunes Carrie Pilby, based on the Caren Lissner novel.
Now usually, I ignore those type of posts, but fate intervened and I watched the trailer:
Here’s the film’s description:
“A person of high intelligence struggles to make sense of the world as it relates to morality, relationships, sex and leaving her apartment.”
Thanks, Facebook, for the judgmental recommendation. You’re lucky this movie looks amazing.
National Sibling Day
You know who had a win this week? Siblings.
Monday was National Sibling Day, also known as The-Day-You-Scour-Through-Old-Photographs-of-You-and-Your-Sibling-and-Post-Them-on-Instagram-Day.
Sure, there are days when you want to strangle them or even question if they came from the shallow end of the gene pool. But National Sibling Day is that reminder that no matter how much you’ve argued or competed for attention, you and your sibling (or siblings) love each other and have each other’s back.
And to happen during a time like this hellhole week, National Sibling Day was just the brief respite we needed.
Unfortunately, I had a case of the Monday’s, and completely spaced on this day. So, here’s my belated happy National Sibling Day to my brother, Mark:
BroBro, we are united by love, blood, and – in the early 80s – some kick-ass, mom-trimmed bangs. I wouldn’t change it for the world. Thanks for making this week a little more tolerable.
