STP Speaks

I am so sick of being outraged at everything I see in the news. I don't think I can muster up any more outrage or anger at our government anymore. In my job as a public defender we call this kind of burn-out "compassion fatigue". I think I have the political version of this. I shall call it "outrage fatigue". For example, I used to get such a kick out of reading these godawful right wing freaky fake emails my Dad or my retired military uncle would send me. I would take delight in fact checking these and sending that back to them, forwarding it to all the people they had sent it to, and all the people that sent it to them. That was a fun sport for me that I used to love. Sadly, this week, I told my Dad to stop sending these stupid emails to me. I just can't muster up the outrage right now. I hope this is a temporary issue with me. I can't stand to watch the news, cause I don't want to talk about all the bad stuff I see on it with my other liberal friends. I am trying to care..... but I am just worn out by it all.

What works to combat this issue in my job is simple. I just go to some "Rah-rah-rah" Public Defender conference and get all motivated to help poor people charged with crimes again. Works every time. I think it is the combination of the group building each other back up again and seeing the new public defenders all eager and idealistic. Guess I need something like that to build me back up again before the 2008 elections. This is the danger we liberals face right now. We have a great opportunity to turn this country around, and I am afraid we may lose it if we don't keep up the appropriate amount of outrage. We need to get out there right now and join some group, or donate to a candidate, or work on someone's campaign. We can't let the right wingers defeat our wills to fight by sheer atrocity after atrocity.

So get out there and do what you do LIBERALS. It is time to take action and walk the walk. Let's fight for our rights, for our values, for our country, and for our right to partay !!!