Compassion Fatigue

I'm tired. 2020 has been one sucker punch after another. What with COVID-19, the BLM movement beginning anew, Trump winning the Republican ticket, every lie that has come out of his mouth, and the latest blow of this boxing match, which is the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsberg. A champion for equality. Now, we must find it within ourselves to care about what happens within the Supreme Court.

And its exhausting. I want to stop caring. So many times I've closed the page when reading an article or watching a news video. The sheer quantity of how much we need to care about seems overwhelming.

But while my first instinct tells me to forget about the rest of that article, that the last 10 minutes of that video are too frustrating, that is my privilege as a white woman. The thing to remember, though, is many of our fellow citizens don't have the privilege to not care. Therefore, I must continue.

Compassion fatigue is real. We see shootings more and more in the news, more protests and social justice actions. Its easy to write them off, and not become invested, not continue to educate ourselves. But we must. These movements need as many voices behind them as possible to amplify the message.

Black lives still matter. We can not stop talking to our friends and family about these causes. The ICE facilities on the border are still wrong. We can not stop petitioning for those who are unlawfully detained there, separated from their family. The war on drugs is still discriminatory. We must emphasize this to our elected officials and get them to commit to making legislative changes.

And with the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, it is wrong to fill her seat on the Supreme Court before the election is decided. The republican party very clearly set that precedent in 2016. We must hold them to their word.

I know how tempting it is to give in to compassion fatigue. It is taxing to care about so much. Especially when our privilege tells us it is okay to check out and let someone else fight. This is a lie. If we don't stand up for what we believe, who will?

We fought for the rights to vote, protest, and be heard. We have the responsibility to hold our elected officials accountable. So let's do just that.