My Limit of F***s

When Donald Trump made fun of sexual assault victim Christine Blasey-Ford, I knew I was close. When he walked up the steps of Air Force One with toilet-paper stuck to his shoe, and no one told him, my laughter created a little bit of room for more. But the confirmation of undoubtedly biased Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court nailed it. I’m out of f***s. 

As Mark Manson wrote so beautifully in The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*** (my review HERE) each of us only has so many f***s to give. I simply can’t give any more to situations that a) don’t involve me and b) I can’t do anything about.

London-based performer Sarah Smith once said something on air with me that I couldn’t identify with at the time. Sarah is deliberately politically unaware, to a degree. You won’t find her ranting about politics on social media. In fact, she’s not a ranter at all. She’s a positive force of nature. However, when she said she doesn’t pay attention “to that stuff” I got it, but I didn’t totally get it. Not yet. My thought – without judgment – was, how can you not care about this/that/the other that might affect you?

Now I totally get it. As I write this, Sarah is on tour in Europe with her band. And even if she wasn’t, how would it help her music or her life to immerse herself in political bullshit? It wouldn’t. The difference between me and Sarah is, political bullshit is the bread and butter of what I do for a living. Still, her attitude gives me another reason to admire her. I could afford to be a little more like Sarah. (video below)

I’ve made a conscious effort to try to post fewer politics and issue-related items on social media just to see how it felt. I am working a little bit harder to find the positive, heart-warming, life-affirming stories. It’s part of my responsibility to read the comments on the radio station’s pages, and hide the offensive ones, and I’m working hard at letting them roll off my back. Like a duck. It’s an effort, not an accomplishment. I don’t want to turn into an ostrich. I’m also wondering how many more bird comparisons I can make before I have to send this paragraph soaring into the sky like a red-tailed hawk. One more, I guess.

These issues are deadly serious. Kavanaugh failed his job interview in a spectacular fashion and demonstrated that he’s anything but impartial. But I’m training my brain to try to turn this particular f*** around. For example, every time I think of Kavanaugh, my brain now replaces it with the following video, and my frustration turns to laughter.

The amazing Sarah Smith: