The election results were good news and bad news.  Nearly 50/50, America is split down the middle according to votes for the next president of the United States.  Either/ or, “both sides,” there are many who are tired of the back and forth, the political bickering, the divisive speech, the red and blue states of America. Not wanting to pick a side or tired of having to choose, some might decide to sit these conversations out, turn their televisions off, take a break from social media and family members with which they disagree. 

I confess that I am tired. Tired of candidates and speeches, rallies and pleas for support. Tired of the divide. Tired of “both sides.” Tired of being lied to, tired of catching and keeping track of lies. Tired of hearing about, talking about, arguing about politics.

Fatigue. It’s not a buzzword. It’s not trending. It’s a constant.

I am tired and I have a list of things I am tired of with politics being at the top, along with the laundry that keeps mysteriously piling up. “Didn’t I just wash this? Didn’t we already watch this episode of us versus them?”

I am missing a sock and the days when things were not so red and blue. How I wish these colors would run together. I know that it is not a good look but however, let us do whatever it takes to get back to some semblance of normalcy. Now, there’s a word I would like to hear more of.

Because I have a laundry list of words that have been hyper- politicized to include virus, mask, vote, ballot, count and recount. And then persons wonder why we cannot come together. Democrats and Republicans are government gangs. The “sets they claim” are states. Flag divided, red and blue, they dare not cross each other– at least not in public. They lie to us and to each other.

And I am tired of the falsehoods, the half truths and whole lies used to move agendas, money and plans plagiarized. It’s all been done before, been said and done before. There is no new con under the sun. It’s all about the preservation of power, position and resources– financial, material, and physical.

Call it what it is and then call it off. Shut off the political machinery and give American citizens a break. We are tired.

Because I know that I am not alone. Tired of being at home but not tired of being alive, I will keep my mask on and keep my distance. Tired of the news cycle and running in circles at the park. Tired of grocery store runs, even the aisles are closing in on me.

Tired of the circles around my eyes and too tired to cover them up with makeup for yet another Zoom meeting. Tired of talking, wanting to connect but tired of the internet connection. I am all Zoomed out– because there are elephants on Zoom too.

Tired of the silence and all the back and forth, the infighting. Tired of Americans backbiting, dividing along political lines. Tired of the bickering with no expressed desire to come to an understanding, a consensus, an agreement to agree to disagree. Heels dug in while singing, “This land is my land.” But, this attitude is tired.

It has run its course and has long been exposed as a lie that couldn’t go the distance in any African American history course. And I am tired of people who don’t know the truth about our shared history. Tired of naming and explaining. Tired of offering examples and pointing things out. Tired of spelling it all out. Tired of repeating myself. Tired.

Exhausted, depleted, tuckered and tired of being ticked off, I don’t want to hear another word about a vote or a ballot. Count me out of any and all conversations on recounts and stolen elections. It’s over. I don’t want to hear another political word about it. I am tired and I am going to bed.