No Loyalty and the Root of Anger

Let's talk about anger.

Everybody's angry about something these days. 

People are angry that they're forced to not get haircuts and drink at their favorite bar or work out at the gym. Fuck this pandemic bullshit! It's all hyped by a bunch of scared lib-tards anyway! 

Other people are angry at the people who are angry at being unable to get haircuts and drink at their favorite bar or work out at the gym. There's a god damn fucking pandemic where people are getting sick with a god damn fucking fatal disease and god damn this to fucking hell, I can't believe we have to argue about this. 

People are angry at protesters in the street, creating chaos and upheaval and threatening peace, law and order. 

Other people are angry that they have to fucking protest at all (because remember there's a god damn fucking pandemic going on) because being quiet and calm isn't stopping black people in this country from being singled out for murder at the hands of the police.

We're all angry about something. Everyone looks at the same footage and hears the same story yet find different things to be angry about. 

I think there is so much anger for everyone because loyalty is demanded of us from our politicians and our employers and our faith leaders but no one is loyal to us. Our needs and desires matter not one damn bit if it is not expedient to our politicians and our employers and our faith leaders. They get what they want out of us; we should not expect that to be reciprocated.  

I understand that kind of anger. 

For 16 years, I was loyal to an employer where I thought I could spend the rest of my working life. I had hoped to retire from there or at least die at my desk like a good worker drone.  

My employer had other plans. Yes, I am angry about that.  

For nearly 3 decades, I was a registered Republican because I held certain views on limited government and fiscal responsibility. I have watched as the Republican party shred the foundation of the party in the naked pursuit of power at the expense of the American people.

I changed my voter registration away from Republican because the Republican party had other plans and moved away from me. I didn't change, the party changed and yes, I am angry about that.  

From my childhood, I was a believer in the Christian faith. I have not been a good Christian but I never lost sight that the basic message of Jesus Christ was a fundamentally good one, one worthy of emulation. Why don't we just be good to one another?

Instead I've watched the Christian church fracture itself, lost in anger, rage and petty grievances in a pursuit of political power that is antithetical to the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.  Even if I've not always been a good Christian, I have recognized that the Christian church does so much good in helping people in need.  But that church is slipping away, down a slope towards Earthly political power. And it makes me angry that those who profess to be Christians are so determined destroy something that could be doing so much good and they refuse to see it.

We're all angry because we have no common frame of reference. There is no loyalty from the institutions that demand loyalty from us.