I grew up in an evangelical church, and as soon as I could escape it, I did. I remember my mother talking longingly about the mansion she would have in heaven and, even at a young age, I felt uncomfortable hearing her talk about her life when she would be dead. It was as though she’d given up on anything good happening in this world, and only had the next life to look forward to.
If you read the recent rulings from the Supreme Court it’s as if they’ve given up on anything good happening in this world too, but also are trying to hasten us all, in one way or another, to the “next world.” If the baby that you shouldn’t be carrying doesn’t kill you then the guns that they made even easier to get, and easier to carry around, will. Or if neither of those situations do you in, then tying the hands of the EPA to reign in pollution and other hazardous-to-our-health chemicals will.
One of my own coping mechanisms may have some similarities – dreaming of living in another, better, country. But the important difference is I want to either change my current alive world, or move to another state, also where I’d be alive, or to another country if need be, also alive. I haven’t given up on this world yet and it’s very frustrating having a small group of seemingly white Christian nationalists (look at their opinions and rulings) who claim they are pro-life, yet every decision they make makes it that much more likely that someone (probably many people) will die. They may have given up on this living world, but I can’t, not yet.