I really don't have it so bad, Caleb, and when I encounter fear or hatred, I try not to take it personally-- telling myself that they don't really know me... just a bogeyman caricature.
Thank you, for your passionate support and the Hughes lines which, in turn, remind me of Adorno's:
There can be no poetry after Auschwitz.
But, maybe, that's precisely when we need poetry, on paper and off, as a reminder of our angelic nature... after the demonic has struck.
Heaven help us to help ourselves _/|\_