It Can Break Your Mind

I have always been familiar with and have experienced the phrase: it can break your heart. Heartbreak hurts. That is for real and for sure. And, for the most part, time heals a broken heart or at least assuages it. Sometimes, even, one is stronger after the fact.

But, someone commenting on one of my blog posts on LinkedIn about the haves and have nots in American society commented that, these disparities --- particularly in the context of education --- can break your mind.

I had never heard the phrase and now I cannot stop repeating it. Apparently, it is not a new phrase either.

Explaining the craziness of our world right now is a tough task. Some days, there are barely words to describe what scrolls across the television or appears in newspapers. If it weren't so real, I would think what was occurring in the world was a joke or a comedy or a fantasy or make-believe. But, from insults to hacking to deportation to limited immigration to denial of funding to key organizations to changes via Executive Order on a myriad of topics, the proverbial ground is shifting right under my feet. I can almost feel the earth cracking, as if I were stepping on an actual fault line in California.

The current behavior of people -- including our President -- defies logic and explanation. Some of what is occurring does break my heart -- seeing families panicked over being separated and students fearful of being deported. The prospect of war -- on the ground invasions outside our borders -- also rips into my heart as does the death of service men and women who volunteered to protect our freedoms. Tear at my heartstrings might be a phrase I would use.

Yet, much of what is occurring today (and yesterday and probably tomorrow and the day after that) is mind-bending, and I cannot wrap myself around what is actually occurring. Newspaper folk are excluded from briefings; people in high places are lying as if fiction were fact; values we hold dear as a nation are being stepped upon as if they were bugs. I can't find explanations. I cannot construct logical arguments. I cannot grasp how quickly the shifts are happening -- and many many Americans seem totally comfortable and supportive of what is happening in Washington DC and beyond. As the swamp darkens and become more dangerous, folks seem perfectly content with the changes -- although perhaps not the individuals who are actually producing the change as noted in a recent thoughtful WSJ article. https://www.wsj.com/articles/many-americans-disapprove-of-trump-but-are-open-to-his-agenda-poll-finds-1488117602.

Then it struck me: my effort to create understanding is, at times, fruitless. What is happening in our nation is, then, breaking our mind. It is not just broken hearts with which we are dealing. It is the fracturing of minds. And that seems to me to be a whole lot more dangerous and damaging and deleterious than emotional heartbreak. One can recover from the latter. But recovering from a broken mind (assuming no mental illness for which psychopharmacology might be of assistance) seems like a hugely difficult task.

How exactly does one heal a broken mind?

Note: Inspiration provided by MW, yet again and with gratitude.