Thank you for this thoughtful piece of writing. Since the election I have committed to taking 5 actions every single day. It may be five minutes of my time making calls to my reps using the wonderful 5 Calls app. It may be signing online petitions. A phone call to thank those who are in DC standing up for our citizens. It may be sending a donation to a critical race, or stretching my $ to subscribe to those independent journalists and podcasters who are trying to bring truth to light so that they can continue their good work. It has been attending demonstrations in person. It may be educating myself by watching one of the journalists and their guests on a video presentation. I read three banned books by Black authors in February to celebrate Black History month since our government wants to erase our celebrations of diversity. I wrote to our local school board asking them to outline for me their steps to protect our children from ICE at schools. Ordered my “red cards” with rights in Spanish and began dropping them off in places like local restaurants, bus stations and our train station. None of this takes much time or $. I believe every action every citizen takes counts.
Well damn it. There you go again bringing value and making a difference in my life.
After reading your post, I downloaded the Five Calls app and made calls to both my senators and my house rep about the disgraceful farce in the Oval Office yesterday.
While I’ve always had strong opinions and haven’t hesitate to share them I’ve rarely reached out to my elected representatives.
I’ll be doing this regularly through this shit show of an administration.
Came upon this cited on another blog; seems appropriate to share here (not sure if it is really a true story, or just perpetuated as an example)...
"When I was in 7th grade, our teacher put on a video and told us to take notes. Ten minutes in, she threw the lights on and shouted at Steven Webb Sladki, teling him he wasn't taking notes and he should have been.
But the thing was, Steve was taking
notes. I saw it. We all saw it. The teacher asked if anyone wanted to stand up for Steve. A few of us choked out some words of defense but were immediately squashed.
Quickly, we were all very silent. Steve was sent to the principal's office. The teacher came back in the room and said something like, "See how easy that was?"
We were reading "Anne Frank."
I started to understand. I just thought now was a good time to share this story.
Don't ever let anyone tell you that what you
see with your own eyes."
***************
Thank you Brent, for speaking up for the salmon, and our country.
I love your instincts as a child - so ugly the "adult" responses! I'm glad you got to revisit that childhood stream and make a real difference! We are not powerless! When I was younger I was part of the anti-nuclear movement and was arrested for trying to sit in front of "the White Train." Later I got very involved in Central American solidarity and accompanied endangered activists in El Salvador, and other actions. I never felt so alive as when I was putting myself on the line for what I deeply cared for. Now I'm older and have found my activism in sharing important posts on Facebook. Haven't been on the streets yet in this time, but I know that's coming. I'm glad my instincts about your goodness drew me to your writings!
Love this! Thank you for the reminders that there are kind, thoughtful, determined, ethical people in this world and that taking action against what’s wrong can make us feel better even if the problems seem insurmountable. 🙏♥️
I'm currently reading a book on Mao's rise to power by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday, and I've come to conclude we've got our own Mao. He believed in "I" as in, "People like me only have a duty to ourselves...not other people," or the belief he had that everything that went wrong you blame others, for everything that goes right he was why. Truly scary and I believe that it's going to get worse before it can even try to get better. This is not what this country was founded upon. We've strayed so far, do you think we can find our way back?
I do agree that it's the opposite of everything this country should stand for. I don't think we've gone TOO far (yet), and maybe this will even be clarifying for people: none of this stuff we all took for granted just "happened." People fought and died for it. It really frustrates and annoys me that people couldn't see this obvious truth, but now maybe they will.
Now that you look back on it, was that teacher seriously problematic? The way you described it sounds like some casual emotional manipulation just to shut you up so he doesn't look bad.
Oh, he was definitely a bad teacher! No fond feelings at all. (I had an unusually high number of bad teachers, even in private schools. But I did have a few great ones too.)
Thank you for this thoughtful piece of writing. Since the election I have committed to taking 5 actions every single day. It may be five minutes of my time making calls to my reps using the wonderful 5 Calls app. It may be signing online petitions. A phone call to thank those who are in DC standing up for our citizens. It may be sending a donation to a critical race, or stretching my $ to subscribe to those independent journalists and podcasters who are trying to bring truth to light so that they can continue their good work. It has been attending demonstrations in person. It may be educating myself by watching one of the journalists and their guests on a video presentation. I read three banned books by Black authors in February to celebrate Black History month since our government wants to erase our celebrations of diversity. I wrote to our local school board asking them to outline for me their steps to protect our children from ICE at schools. Ordered my “red cards” with rights in Spanish and began dropping them off in places like local restaurants, bus stations and our train station. None of this takes much time or $. I believe every action every citizen takes counts.
That is FANTASTIC! I downloaded that app too.
We really do have the power, and I think we're all going to discover that in the years ahead.
Edited- since Jan 20, the Inauguration, commitment to five things a day!
Well damn it. There you go again bringing value and making a difference in my life.
After reading your post, I downloaded the Five Calls app and made calls to both my senators and my house rep about the disgraceful farce in the Oval Office yesterday.
While I’ve always had strong opinions and haven’t hesitate to share them I’ve rarely reached out to my elected representatives.
I’ll be doing this regularly through this shit show of an administration.
Mille grazie!
Haha, you're very welcome! And thank YOU.
Yes, we're all in this together, I guess.
Came upon this cited on another blog; seems appropriate to share here (not sure if it is really a true story, or just perpetuated as an example)...
"When I was in 7th grade, our teacher put on a video and told us to take notes. Ten minutes in, she threw the lights on and shouted at Steven Webb Sladki, teling him he wasn't taking notes and he should have been.
But the thing was, Steve was taking
notes. I saw it. We all saw it. The teacher asked if anyone wanted to stand up for Steve. A few of us choked out some words of defense but were immediately squashed.
Quickly, we were all very silent. Steve was sent to the principal's office. The teacher came back in the room and said something like, "See how easy that was?"
We were reading "Anne Frank."
I started to understand. I just thought now was a good time to share this story.
Don't ever let anyone tell you that what you
see with your own eyes."
***************
Thank you Brent, for speaking up for the salmon, and our country.
Keep up the fight, everyone!
That is a FANTASTIC lesson! (But I wonder if a teacher could do anything like that today without being massively criticized by parents...)
Thank you for the kind words. We'll all in this together! (We always were, we just didn't know it yet.)
I love your instincts as a child - so ugly the "adult" responses! I'm glad you got to revisit that childhood stream and make a real difference! We are not powerless! When I was younger I was part of the anti-nuclear movement and was arrested for trying to sit in front of "the White Train." Later I got very involved in Central American solidarity and accompanied endangered activists in El Salvador, and other actions. I never felt so alive as when I was putting myself on the line for what I deeply cared for. Now I'm older and have found my activism in sharing important posts on Facebook. Haven't been on the streets yet in this time, but I know that's coming. I'm glad my instincts about your goodness drew me to your writings!
Yes, it's definitely coming, isn't it? (And I worry about the militarized response to that...)
Your kind words mean a lot to me/us.
Thank you. For your story. For your activism. For this post. Speaking out and doing really does make a difference.
Thank you very much! I agree, you CAN make a difference, and frankly, it's surprisingly easy in many cases...
Embarrassed to be an american (capitalization rejected).
Very well put.
Loved the article, and I'm taking action . It's tough in Tennessee where everyone is a republican.
Oh I bet! But hopefully some of that will be changing soon.
❤️❤️❤️
:-)
Thank you for giving me some hope again.
You're welcome! 😍
Love this! ❤️
Thank you very much!
Love this! Thank you for the reminders that there are kind, thoughtful, determined, ethical people in this world and that taking action against what’s wrong can make us feel better even if the problems seem insurmountable. 🙏♥️
What did Margaret Mead say? Never forget a small group of dedicated people can make a huge difference. In fact, they're the only people who ever had.
(Sadly, this goes both ways. Bad people can make a big difference too. Hopefully recent events will clarify this.)
Very inspiring!
Thank you!
I'm currently reading a book on Mao's rise to power by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday, and I've come to conclude we've got our own Mao. He believed in "I" as in, "People like me only have a duty to ourselves...not other people," or the belief he had that everything that went wrong you blame others, for everything that goes right he was why. Truly scary and I believe that it's going to get worse before it can even try to get better. This is not what this country was founded upon. We've strayed so far, do you think we can find our way back?
I do agree that it's the opposite of everything this country should stand for. I don't think we've gone TOO far (yet), and maybe this will even be clarifying for people: none of this stuff we all took for granted just "happened." People fought and died for it. It really frustrates and annoys me that people couldn't see this obvious truth, but now maybe they will.
You succeeded - I’m inspired.
Wonderful! I'm so glad!
I'M CALLING MY DEMOCRATS too ! Trump-Vance are PUTIN'S AGENTS and fortunately they are being shockingly obvious about it. FIGHT LOUDER NOW!
Absolutely!
Now that you look back on it, was that teacher seriously problematic? The way you described it sounds like some casual emotional manipulation just to shut you up so he doesn't look bad.
Oh, he was definitely a bad teacher! No fond feelings at all. (I had an unusually high number of bad teachers, even in private schools. But I did have a few great ones too.)