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Hey, If You Can Kill 20 Million Native Americans, Enslave 12 Million Africans, and Let Biden Fund the Slaughter of 40,000 Women, Children and Elderly...
— Of Course You Can Install a Rapist/Felon/Fascist as your President! In the Meantime, Breathe, Take Care of Yourself, Read a Good Book.
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If you stop and think about it, we’ve come up with a lot of doozies in our history. Like the genocide of 20 million Native Americans. Or the enslavement of 12 million kidnapped Africans. Or us invading Vietnam and killing 4 million Asian people for no reason at all. We are not a good people. We have a non-stop cavalcade, a sordid laundry list of evil deeds that led us directly to last week, to the point where we the people, by popular vote, elected a 34-time convicted felon, a fascist, and a civilly-charged and convicted sexual abuser to be our 47th president of the United States. And we did so after he clearly and quite honestly warned us that he was going to do a mass round-up and deportation of nearly 15 million people. And that he would consider executing people he referred to as “the enemy within” (i.e. his political opponents and those who were disloyal to him).
It’s possible that history may be kinder to us if, next time, the working class doesn’t see our candidate campaigning with Wall Street billionaires. Or having to watch the campaign celebrate being endorsed by war criminals. And not having our side enthusiastically funding and arming the slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent women, children and elderly in a land we call “Holy” in the months leading up to an election where we are seeking to defeat someone who “admires” Hitler’s generals. Oh — and we commit to getting just 1% more of our people who voted with us last time, to vote with us next time.
Until then, here are my suggestions of other things for each of us to do, in our own personal time, to recharge, reboot, and revitalize our spirit before we head back into the fray. Try these:
Be the Anti-Trump. Make a simple commitment to yourself to do the three things that Trump never does and has proven he never will:
• Practice Kindness. The first step in counteracting Trump’s crusade of cruelty, hatred, bigotry, misogyny, ignorance and fear is for each of us, in our daily lives, to be kind. To live by the ancient code of Philo: “Be kind, for everyone you encounter is quietly carrying a great burden.” And to paraphrase something Jesse Jackson once explained to me: Ignorance and prejudice create a paralyzing and irrational, out-of-control Fear. Fear of “the Other.” Fear of the Different. Fear of the New. And Fear leads to Hate. And Hate leads to Violence. So in order not to end up with Violence, ignorance and stupidity must be the first to go.
So, perform at least one act of kindness each day. You will instantly make a small piece of this world a better place.
• Listen. Especially listen to women.
• Read. Books.
Join something. Anything. Being in community is a radical act. Those in power know that one of the key components of staying in power is to divide people because when the people get together, well, it never seems to turn out well for those in power. So right away, simply deciding to join with others — for any reason — is one of the purest acts of Democracy. And I’m serious, join anything. A knitting circle. A darts team. Your local HRC, ACLU, BLM, or any one of a number of social justice groups. Neighborhood clean-up. Food bank. Community theater. Over-50 hockey. Regardless of which state of grief any of us are in, nothing beats being with other humans. And by coming together — even if it’s just to make a quilt — it is during gatherings like these that somebody randomly comes up with an idea, and two other people pile on with their ideas, and before you know it, you have the beginnings of a new First People’s Cultural Center in town.
Take care of yourself. We need strength to fight. It’s really that simple. And for us to win, really win, this will require 100% of our body, mind and soul. So… Drink tea. Listen to music. Go snowshoeing. Eat ice cream. Rest, on a shoulder. Randomly just start singing The Beatles’ “Let It Be” — right now. Don’t wait, just sing. “When I find myself in times of trouble…” Practice gratitude. Get a pedicure. Notice birds. Do standing push-ups against a closet door. Cross the river into Canada — with no clue as to why you’re there. (Pro Tip: Call home and announce you’ve left the country.)
Get some real news. Go outside the mainstream media. There’s all kinds of journalism these days — dangerous muckrakers, investigative humorists, fearless instigators, unbought and unrepentant writers — find them. Embrace it. Read it. Watch it. Listen to it: ProPublica. The Guardian. Ha’aretz. CBC nightly news “The National.” Labor Notes. John Oliver. Current Affairs. BBC NewsNight. The Chris Hedges Report on Substack. Ayman on MSNBC. Drop Site News. A Closer Look on Seth Meyers. The Lever. Hammer & Hope. More Perfect Union. The Katie Halper Show. Night School with Marc Lamont Hill. “Citations Needed”. Jewish Currents. Al-Jazeera English.
Start there.
Make this pledge: I will be the first to stand for __________. Migrants who’ve come to this land. The unjustly incarcerated. The Palestinians who are being erased. The books I want my daughter to read — especially at 8 years old. The frightened Trans kid who sees political ads on TV warning the world that he is the monster.
Live your life by doing good for those who have the least among us.
(I’m guessing this needs no further explanation.)
Breathe. Hydrate. Rinse. Repeat.
Forgive someone.
Just because you know you should. Because it’s been too long. Because it’s the right thing to do. You will give this person a sense of redemption and they are likely to do the same for others. It will make you feel better about yourself. It will eliminate stress inside you from the simple act of letting go. The release itself will create its own healing. And the example you set will bring more forgiveness in the family and community around you.
Laughter. Comedy. Wit. Satire.
It’s the best medicine, the biggest high, the most effective vehicle for you to use to communicate your ideas and to create change. People like to laugh and they’ll listen to you better if you let them enjoy being with you. Sometimes when the moment we’re in or the facts that we’re facing are just too god-awful to handle, that’s exactly when a spoonful of sugar helps this bitter pill go down.