Silence Is No Refuge, When Awareness Becomes a Cage

Each day as I read, watch, and listen, I feel overwhelmed by a flood of things I wish I didn’t have to see or hear. The internet is saturated with negativity, warring words, hatred, attacks on human rights, abuse of power, erosion of free speech, breakdowns in democracy, prejudice, bias, and corruption. These are the very behaviors I was raised to reject, yet they dominate the headlines and feeds.

What unsettles me most is that many of these acts are carried out, or enabled, by people in leadership. They hold the power, or they hand it to others, while I sit powerless to stop it. As I scroll, I often wonder whether I should keep reading, watching, or listening. But even when I want to turn away, I feel an equal helplessness in not knowing. So I continue, though it weighs on me.

It cuts deeply to witness leaders, elected or appointed, pursue power for its own sake. Many seem to care only about winning or keeping office. They speak for their base or for themselves, ignoring the half of the population that didn’t vote for them. They please one side, or no side at all, yet we all must live with the consequences.

So each day I face the same dilemma: to listen or not, to read or not, to watch or not. Either choice leaves me uneasy, bombarded by wrongdoing if I stay engaged, or anxious in the dark if I turn away.

How do you cope?