Crafty Confrontations

I went to a craft fair today and won this lovely embroidered pillow. The arts and crafts scene isn't my usual thing, but it was something to do with my mom this Saturday...

And all would have been enjoyable, except my mom brought up politics which she doesn't really follow except for those chain e-mails her friends at the Y keep sending her. As I mentioned once before, my mother has developed a serious and unshakable case of Baracknophobia. Reason and logic can't cure it.

My father also fears Obama, but dad's opinions are more a product of Fox News and a yearning for a social order that hasn't existed for 40 years.

So here is the gist what my mom said: your dad was really upset about those comments Obama made about Nancy Reagan. He said "Obama had to apologize for it, but you won't hear the liberal media reporting on that!"

At that point, I'm not sure what happened to me. I don't know if it was the past few weeks of anxiety over the election, or the realization I'd be facing a multitude of silly manufactured outrages from neocons over the next 4 years (and hopefully 8) -- but my anger exploded like verbal fireworks. Or a singular firework -- one big explosion and then it faded. But I ticked off in one long sentence everything that Bush has never apologized for. You know the list of fuck-ups that have happened on his watch: 9/11, anthrax attacks, hurricane Katrina, war in Iraq, not catching Bin Laden, etc. Then I finished with the revelation that it will be nice to have a president who cares enough to apologize when he makes a mistake.

I used to be such a quiet person. I surprise myself with this recent anguish. Should I starve it or nurture it? I don't know.

But after my little burst, my mom finished the story. She said, "well I found Obama's apology in the newspaper, so I neatly folded the paper with that article showing, and left it at the table for your dad."

I guess that's the pathological way I've learned to avoid confrontation. Don't argue. Just leave a note.