One day, I was supervising a chemistry lab with a grade 9 class, and one of my students was walking along with a test-tube rack, fully loaded. One of the test tubes wasn’t quite nestled in properly – it slipped out, and broke on the floor, spilling the contents.
The student expressed his frustration by giving the test tube rack a sharp up and down jerk, which ended up dropping most of the rest of the test tubes on the floor. A small mess was turned into a significantly bigger one, and put the student that much farther behind because he had to re-prepare more solutions.
Unfortunate, and avoidable.
There are a bunch of messes in progress. The climate catastrophe, COVID, war… We are *not* going to make it better by giving society a shake and electing right-wing politicians. We’re just going to get a bigger mess.
It’s a natural instinct, when things are going to shit, to close in and protect your own. But that just continues the cycle of shit, as we circle the drain. It’s a downward spiral (figuratively, so I can get off the poop metaphors 😄).
Resist that urge. When things are bad, help others. Stop doing the bad things.
Insist that leaders manage the country for *everyone*, not just a privileged few.
Killing innocents is a bad thing, usually a war crime, no matter who does it. Don't tolerate that shit from *anybody*. Don't tolerate leaders that tolerate it.
Don't vote for anyone who uses “Take back ______" as a slogan. People interested in taking will take from you, too.
We can have a just society. But we have to work for it, avoid the easy negative reactions, and force those with power and those who would seek power to work for the better, not for themselves.