What Else Can We Do?
Thoughts and prayers
No. “Thoughts are prayers” is the response used by the gun lobby and those Senators and Congress Members to tell grieving parents of murdered school children that they care for their guns much more than they care for anyone’s children.
Many of us continue to ask the same questions amidst the growing feeling of powerlessness and hopelessness. Noah Michelson, Director of the Huffington Post Personal wrote a list of things to do when feeling helpless. He published that after the slaying of 49 and the wounding of 53 LBTBQ+ people at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando in 2016.
It is eerily appropriate today as we are immersed in the hatred, randomness and cruelty of the Trump administration. I asked for his permission to post it on my Substack and he granted that.
He wrote, “109 Ways To Fight Back Against What's Happening In The U.S. Right Now”
We may be living in Hell, but that doesn't mean we have to like it, accept it or surrender.” For the full text, click here.
Noah’s list is well worth the read and echoes what many of us on Substack have been saying. We cannot allow ourselves to be paralyzed. We have to find ways to self-care and to care for others, especially the most vulnerable among us.
My request for the weekend is to make yourself a beverage of choice, set aside 30 minutes and read his list slowly and carefully. Add to it in the comments if you wish, and I will get your ideas included. Print out the list and hang it on your bathroom mirror or the refrigerator . Carry a copy with you. Meditate on what we can do and allow the things we cannot do to fade away from our minds.
Be aware. Be vigilant, but do not follow our elected democratic leaders into their post-election coma.
Have a fabulous weekend, and be sure to read what Noah had to say.
In Resistance,
Greg