Public Service Announcement:

If rule-following institutions are something you have taken unexamined comfort in,

And the institutional breakdown of the Rule of Law is going to destabilize you on a fundamental level,

That’s fair. This is scary. Here’s something you can try:

Fill a fuzzy sock with rice or other dry grain, and tie it off. Heat it up in the microwave. Carry it around cradled in the crook of your arm. This can be your “faith in institutions” comfort object. It feels nice, and it’s got a nice weight to it, and it’s warm and reassuring.

Once you’ve carried it around for a while, it will grow cold. Your arm might be sore.

Get a shoebox.

Dig a hole in your back yard.

Put “faith in institutions” in shoebox.
Put shoebox in hole.
Get some flowers, if you want.
Remember how nice it felt to hold.
Crying’s ok.

While you’re filling in the hole, think about what you put in that box. It wasn’t your pet. It wasn’t your child.

It wasn’t a living thing.

It was something you made, out of things available to you in the moment, to help you.

And now it’s gone, and you’re still here.

And at the end of the day, all that your comfort object did was feel reassuring for a little while, and put you out one fuzzy sock, and a meal or two worth of rice. And make your arm kinda sore. Because someone wrote some words down somewhere, telling you that’s how it should be.