Before It's Too Late!
This is an inflection point in the history of our world
I just heard the folks at Pod Save America say that if you have any kind of platform, now is the time to speak up.
The President of the United States has gone full fascist on us. This isn’t a drill. This isn’t a matter of “Let’s wait and see what he does next before we freak out.”
It’s time to take a stand for the democratic principles we’ve held dear (even if our government has all too often fallen short of upholding them).
Personally, I don’t want my country to be a place where the federal government embraces and enshrines White Supremacy, abandons our allies, and cozies up to autocrats and dictators. I don’t want my country to show contempt for science, justice, empathy, education, equal rights for all varieties of humankind, and our duty as residents of this planet to protect the natural world.
I have a tiny little platform: 374 subscribers, as of today, to my Life-boat Made of Words; 856 friends on Facebook; and the dozen or so people with whom I interact, by phone or in person, in my daily life.
I’m speaking up now.
Yesterday I was part of a small but moving demonstration in New Milford, Connecticut. Everything at these events makes me cry: songs we sing, chants we chant, and, yesterday, a wonderful local trumpeter who played “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
It seemed that more than the usual number of cars that drove past gave us friendly honks, thumbs up, and peace signs this time.
I think (I hope and pray) that more and more people are getting fed up with our executive disaster.
All of us have a platform—and all of us need to use it to convince our family members, friends, colleagues, neighbors, and members of Congress that we the people will stand up for the principles enshrined in our Bill of Rights.
You don’t have to do something overtly political. Just doing something kind for a stranger is a statement of solidarity with the rebel forces rising up now in places all over the country—places where people want to take a stand for justice and empathy, for generosity and inclusion, for the sanctity of children everywhere who deserve our protection and deserve the chance to grow up in a safe and beautiful world.
This is a tremendous opportunity for us, as a species, to evolve.
This is, as they say, an inflection point in U.S. history and, by extension, in the history of the world.
Did you participate in a demonstration yesterday—or witness an extraordinary act of courage or kindness? Please send me your stories and photos! They’ll show up in my email, no matter how you send them. But if you send them from the SubStack app, they’ll show up here.
I love these words popularly attributed to Hopi Chief White Eagle (but probably written by someone alive today). What matters to me is their wisdom. Whoever wrote these words, I’m happy and grateful to hold them close to my heart.
This moment humanity is experiencing can be seen as a door or a hole. The decision to fall in the hole or walk through the door is up to you. If you consume the news 24 hours a day, with negative energy, constantly nervous, with pessimism, you will fall into this hole.
But if you take the opportunity to look at yourself, to rethink life and death, to take care of yourself and others, then you will walk through the portal.
Take care of your home, take care of your body. Connect with your spiritual home. When you take care of yourself, you take care of everyone at the same time.
Do not underestimate the spiritual dimension of this crisis. Take the perspective of an eagle that sees everything from above with a broader view. There is a social question in this crisis, but also a spiritual question. The two go hand in hand.
Without the social dimension we fall into fanaticism.
Without the spiritual dimension, we fall into pessimism and futility.
Are you ready to face this crisis? Grab your toolbox and use all the tools at your disposal.
Learn resistance from the example of Indian and African peoples: we have been and are exterminated. But we never stopped singing, dancing, lighting a fire and rejoicing.
Don't feel guilty for feeling blessed in these troubled times.
Being sad or angry doesn't help at all. Resistance is resistance through joy!
You have the right to be strong and positive. And there's no other way to do it than to maintain a beautiful, happy, bright posture.
[This h]as nothing to do with alienation (ignorance of the world).
It's a resistance strategy.
When we cross the threshold, we have a new worldview because we faced our fears and difficulties. This is all you can do now:
- Serenity in the storm
- Keep calm, pray everyday
- Make a habit of meeting the sacred everyday.
Show resistance through art, joy, trust and love.
RESIST TYRANNY HERE AND ABROAD!
Let each of us do everything we can to assure that democracy triumphs over fascism and tyranny. Let each of us do our part to help our species evolve and save this beautiful planet of ours from the forces of exploitation and greed.
And let us celebrate, as long as there’s breath in our bodies, the miracle not only of being alive but also capable of gratitude and love.
Besides being a terrified citizen of the U.S.A. right now, I’m also a poet and novelist. Do you love reading? You can find out about my books by Googling my name or visiting my author website. I’ve been making updates, including the substitution of my professionally made, pre-Covid photo (apologies to the talented Laurie Bell Bishop—we’ll have to have another photo shoot together before my next book is published!) with a snapshot someone took of me this summer.