I'm glad that you voted, don't think your vote did not count for anything. It did, I am glad that you did. In our community it is a number of things unfortunately and it's difficult to boil it down to one easy pill to swallow. It's this individualistic mindset that's engrained in a good number of us. It has festered and enabled itself into this disease of intolerance and prejudice against things we should not have prejudice against. "I'M doing fine NOW. MY family is doing fine. I'M okay. This won't happen to ME or MY family."
So many people are focused on themselves, fending only for themselves, making it seem like we can't look beyond ourselves or that thinking of others beyond the self is not a good thing or that it's criminal to do that. To care for the wellbeing of those less fortunate or that do not have the stable footing that one might have by comparison. And any time I think I might be the crazy one, I think a lot of my mother. How hard she fought, the values she instilled in us, how much she cared for those around her even if she barely had anything to her name, she always ready to give. "They don't have to like you, but they have to respect you, and when you give something make sure to give because you can and not with the intention of wanting something in return" was something she engrained in my head.
I feel like a good chunk of us are too self-absorbed now. Not all of us, but the numbers are there, we can't forget about those around us. I always thought and I still believe, even if I may be called hopefully naive, that our culture championed our sense of community and unity. I know it's still there. Don't give up okay? Do not let the doom and helplessness overwhelm you. I am doing my best to do the same, to turn that to rage and spite, to be louder. Thank you for voting.