How to be a good civic steward without becoming depressed...

This past week has been an emotion filled and energy draining week. If it were not for the the two civilians  shot and killed by police and the 10 Dallas police officers shot by a sniper killing 5 and wounding two other civilians, I could still be mulling over this same question in my mind. 

​The fact is, we live in distressing times. Terrorist attacks at  home and abroad, destabilizing economies around the world, epidemic gun deaths across the United States, North Korea testing  medium range missals, daily barrage of  hate openly expressed by  people because of gender, nationality, sexual orientation, religion, and a presidential contender that routinely fans the hateful fires that rip us apart. 

What are we supposed to do?   There is an internal voice that wants to argue with me about this.  Actually, there are two separate voices. (I know, this is scary to me too) One voice keeps telling me that all this crap going on in the world is consuming me and my time. That I only have so much time, and it is also smothering what creativity I have to offer. This voice cautions me against becoming overwhelmed by it all.

Still, the other  voice, (which is just certain it is the wiser of the two) reminds me of the words of Edmund Burke, "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing."  This is my voice that reminds me it is important to stay informed and not count on others to do this on my behalf.  Bad things have happened throughout history when people assumed others would do the right thing on your behalf. 

There is no one correct voice here. They both  speak to truths. The answer has to fall somewhere in between. I must do my  homework, so to speak, and be informed both for the purpose of  voting and also being outspoken when and where necessary. At the same time I must allow myself to break at times from  extensive and draining  news coverage of things. I must  allow myself time to take a walk and absorb nature. Take a long  soaking bath. Or read just for the recreation of it. Years ago I learned that we should never lose our ability to become indigent when something is wrong. 


Now, I need to learn how to feed optimism and believe in change for the better.  I also need to keep open the pathway to writing and not  feel overwhelmed by the world or  the struggle to write what needs to be said.