Despair

The psychologist Erik Erikson proposed there are eight stages of psychosocial development across a human's life span. As I have argued, cultures and civilizations pass through the same psychosocial stages as an individual. The final stage in Erikson's analysis is "Ego Integrity versus Despair." Individuals enter this stage at about age 65. America and much of the rest of the world appear to have pinballed through the earlier stages and are now trapped in the despair antipode. With that background I offer this poem on the last day of January, 2020.
Star Man

Despair

Despair incinerates the skies above Australia

Despair irradiates the waters off Fukushima

Despair melts the glaciers of Greenland

Despair lies to the American people

Despair cuts medical coverage for pre-existing conditions

Despair erects a useless wall across America's southern border

Despair sprays Round-up on vegetable crops

Despair infects 7,000 Chinese with coronavirus

Despair rapes girls in India and Africa

Despair impregnates 360,000 women per day world-wide

Despair denies global climate change

Despair cancels social security benefits

Despair starves immigrants to death

Despair murders Amazon activists trying to protect the mato grosso

Despair tortures logic

Despair reduces taxes on the billionaire class

Despair abuses wives and girlfriends and children

Despair bombs Afghani wedding parties

Despair prays for the End Times

Despair poisons the drinking water of the nation

Despair fracks sacred monuments

Despair obliterates protections for rivers and the atmosphere

Despair suicides 123 Americans per day

Despair shoots children and their mothers
Despair votes against having witnesses in the impeachment trial

Despair weeps for the destruction of our home planet

Quote:

---

Posted in reply to the post by Star Man:

America and much of the rest of the world appear to have pinballed through the earlier stages and are now trapped in the despair antipode. With that background I offer this poem on the last day of January, 2020.
Star Man

Despair

Despair incinerates the skies above Australia......


Despair weeps for the destruction of our home planet

---

I have been so very grateful for the expressions of gratitude that I have received for this post on Despair. As an author I fight against despair every day. How to keep writing in the face of all the events that produce such a profound despair? Knowing that I have a little audience here on WaccoBB that appreciates my writing and sends me gratitudes helps alleviate the despair and gives me a push to keep on expressing myself. Star Man

Because your despair so closely matches my own and others, sharing that darkness opens a crack in the wall and allows hope in again, or at least the sense that there is a world worthy of our continued attempts to bring about.:heart:

Quote:

---

Posted in reply to the post by Star Man:

I have been so very grateful for the expressions of gratitude that I have received for this post on Despair. ..

---

This piece captures of so many people on our planet. I re-posted on my FB page, and am
sharing with friends on Quora. Are you a member of Quora, or Medium or other sites where
your writing can be shared?


A friend of mine just committed suicide last month; it was his 3rd attempt in several years.
He was completely alone in the world, except for me. We'd been intimate partners for 5
years from 2002, and I know that I brought joy into his very sad life. But his depression and
despair became too much for me to bear. I continued to support him even to the last day of
his life. He always refused therapy, relying only on cannabis and legal drugs.


My own despair keeps me isolated, and writing to support, encourage and inspire others is my only solace.

Quote:

---

Posted in reply to the post by Star Man:

Despair

Despair incinerates the skies above Australia

Despair irradiates the waters off Fukushima...

---

I admire your creativity, but I don't agree with your rationalizations. If I did then I'd be in the same boat as you. A place I choose not to be. Hopelessness is such a dead end.

Here are some antidotes:

https://reasonstobecheerful.world/we-are-not-doomed/

https://reasonstobecheerful.world/the-decade-in-cheer/

Quote:

---

Posted in reply to the post by Star Man:

...

Despair

Despair incinerates the skies above Australia

Despair irradiates the waters off Fukushima...

---