The Rage That Drives Me

Find Your One Thing

There are so many really rotten things happening at the same time with this administration that it seems that everywhere you look there’s another insult to our intelligence and another desecration of the values that we have held as a country since our founding. It appears that this “flooding the zone” by attacking on several simultaneous fronts was the strategy that the Project 2025 people had in mind when Trump got into office. Now it seems that in nearly every area it’s easy see dystopian disasters looming, and trying to fight all of these at once is diluting the effectiveness of our opposition.

I know that’s true for me. Between women’s rights, LGBTQ+ discrimination, racism, tariffs on our closest allies, the madness of thinking of making a resort out of Gaza, and all the other stupid or terrifying ideas, I struggle with how and where I can fight.

But fight I must.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been trying to find a way to address the big problem, removal of Trump and MAGA, with all these other problems that need to be fought, without making myself nuts, ineffective or both. The simple answer is focus, as it is almost always the case when confronting challenging, complex situations like this. I can’t make a difference if I try to support several different problems at the same time.

As I wrote before, Harry Nilsson was right, “A point in every direction is the same as no point at all”. If my efforts are to be effective, I need to find one thing that he’s done that pisses me off more than anything else, and make that a priority. By doing that I can increase my contribution to addressing my specific issue and still have energy left to fight the big fight.

The One Big Thing…for me

I’m a Navy veteran, I spent four years at sea right out of college, and I spent a few months in the Gulf of Tonkin at the end of the Vietnam War. I learned a great deal about leadership, people, and myself in those four years and while it wasn’t often a lot of fun, the lessons learned have been invaluable and I am grateful to my country for giving me the opportunity to serve. I also deeply appreciate the bond that exists among veterans; we share common experiences, and we share the values that we learned in the service. These are people who can be trusted and counted on, and that’s immensely important to me.

This is why Trump’s disgusting comments and acts against the veteran community is the one big thing that makes me furious about this nightmare. Starting with his insult to the memory of John McCain, the comments about how people who chose to serve their country are losers, his buddy in crime calling Mark Kelly a “Traitor”, and the evisceration of the Veterans Administration, I can scarcely control my rage and my hatred of the man and the people who support him. In my world, this is the single most important insult to our country and way of life that Trump has corrupted. I am going to focus energy on defending the honor of the veteran community and work to protect my sisters and brothers in any way that I can.

By focusing on the one big thing for me, I think I’m better able to make a difference in something that matters to me and at the same time help to make Trump go away. I will still work on that overarching goal, but I’ll have bandwidth to do both, if I focus.

If there is one thing going on that makes you angrier than anything else, the thing that fuels your rage about Trump, think about putting your focus and energy there, and do something about it. Your focused anger will make you a more effective contributor, and it might make you feel better, knowing that you’re trying to fix something that really matters to you.

There are enough of us, and enough evils in the current administration, that if we all choose one of the monstrous offenses being imposed on our country, we can use that anger to effectively battle the Kleptocrats and get rid of them.

And for my fellow vets, hang in, hang together, and fight.