I am a special education teacher and I also have severe depression (which my coworkers aren’t aware of). Whenever politics come up with all that is going on in the world, my brain shuts down. I just can’t engage with it. I already feel completely hopeless and thinking about how I may lose my job and my students may lose their rights tail spins me into greater sadness instead of motivating me to take action. Everyone went to the protest today and I just couldn’t. I know when I go back to work I will receive comments that doing nothing is part of the problem and I can’t just close my eyes and pretend it’s not happening. I don’t have a good comeback. I wish I was more motivated to protest and stay in the know about what’s happening but I’m having a hard time without all this other stuff going on and I’m just trying to take care of myself so I can go to work, love on my students another day, and not completely give up. How can I justify this in a way that says I care but I don’t have it in me.