I think I might literally be checking out

Silly as it sounds, I suddenly feel FANTASTICALLY OBSOLETE. Not for any physical or mental reason - not that I don't have problems with that - but morally.

I was raised by the Bible's Golden Rules as I was taught them:

• Be kind to others
• Give thanks for your state in life
• Do not steal
• Do not lie
• Be a good neighbor
• Do not be the first to cast stones
• Be aware of the gifts you have and be humble about them in public
• (Implied) Don't be a dick.

These life precepts are no longer remotely in the minds of Americans: MAGA in particular, but many Americans and nearly all politicians. This is not a "both sides suck" idea - but the reality that the new ethic in the country rewards hate, bullying, being selfish, and being anti-intellectual. *

Will I PERSONALLY be okay going forward? Probably. 

I will never need body autonomy as I am not a woman (and it is totally safe for men). I won't have kids, so the attack on public schools, libraries, and teachers doesn't personally affect me. I am not homeless, so the movement to put the worst off in our society into a jail cell rather than help them doesn't apply to me. 

I am a well-off white gay male and will hopefully know when to get out of Dodge and have the funds to do it. 

But the idea of where this country is going - loudly, proudly, and hatefully - is the antithesis of my moral compass. It is crushing me. CRUSHING.

I am checking out the news for a while.

 Again. 

This time, not out of frustration or anger. This time, out of despair. I am slightly afraid that if I don't check out, I will fall down a black hole that will suck the hope and love out of me.

* It's funny because, as atheists, people always ask if we have any morals if we don't believe in God. How could we have morals? 

Look, I say. You don't have to believe that one guy 2,000 years ago popped out of a virgin as God, to understand that the New Testament of the Bible presents a valuable moral code. I don't have to think Plato was a God to follow some of his precepts. I don't have to believe that Seneca was a God to follow the principles of the Stoics. I don't have to believe Franklin Roosevelt was a god to believe that the Four Freedoms are a significant moral compass.