Illegitimi Non Carborundum

A phrase, which as Wiki rightly says, can only be “mock translated” as it has no meaning in Latin, and is generally translated as “Don’t let the bastards grind you down!”

I am a UK national, living in the SE of England with my American wife. This means I take quite an interest in US politics. I’m also interested in politics more geberally, but am also filtering it for my wife, as she suffers terribly from anxiety and just can’t pay attention to the news. She doesn’t look at news sites, we don’t own a TV, and she has her social media very heavily filtered for keywords that involve the orange felon just sworn in as President of the United States.

The world was already on fire. The orange monster and his cronies seem intent on making things worse. The flurry of executive orders he’s already signed are terrifying in so many ways. We, as members of the community ourselves, are especially worried about LGBTQIA+ folks across the pond. Things aren’t much better here in the UK, where the Labour party seem to have lost sight of everything they supposedly stood for and are instead behaving like Tory Light.

But, many of you already know that. This random blathering is about something else, although related to *gesticulates wildly at everything* world events, and that is how do we get through the next four years (and longer, ‘cos it will take years to repair the damage the felon is wreaking/going to wreak)?

We must not let them win. Resist where possible. Write to your political representative. Protest if you can. But, and it’s a big but… find the people/places/activities/things that make you happy. Actively seek them out as a distraction from the horror.

In my case, (apart from my wife, obvs) that’s friends, photography, heavily-filtered social media and, most recently, Lego.

What’s yours?

While you consider your answer, have a pretty photo from my personal collection.

Header image by Airam Dato-on via Pexels.