Reflection on Our Democracy and Next Steps
To anywho who is approaching this election season with fear about your future and the futures of those whom you hold dear; with anxiety or depression about the aftermath of many of the recent rulings of this Supreme Court, including yesterday’s decision granting the former president sweeping immunity for acts he undertook while in office that have effectively rendered the president a king above the law, and have made it extraordinarily hard for ANY president’s power to be held in check as ONE of the three separate but equal branches of government, for acts he undertook which threatened and still so threaten the very foundation of democracy on which is own office rested; for any of you afraid, worried, anxious or depressed, here’s what I want to do:
Breathe.
Vote.
Work.
Be Joyful.
Hope.
Breathe! Take a breath. Breathe in peace and clarity, and breathe out worry and despair. Being calm and clear-headed in the face of calamity is your super power. Use it.
Vote! Voting is not merely an act of expressing one’s displeasure at the present or past — it is a declaration of the future you want to see and the future you do not. So, if you don’t want a repeat of the previous term or worse, which has delivered this Supreme Court, vote. If you want a better chance at a more equitable, fair, and just system of governance, vote. If you want to see more policies that truly represent the majority of Americans, vs those that only benefit a few, vote. If you want to see a Congress that works on better healthcare, housing, employment, education, a better justice system, lower taxes over time, environmental sustainability, and other key ingredients of a better American experience, vote. If you want to see government leaders who don’t demonize millions of Americans because they don’t look like them or didn’t vote for them, vote. If you want better Supreme Court justices over time, vote. Vote for the future you want, not just the past you are disappointed with. And be clear, choose from the choices in front of you, not the choices you wish we had, because the only way right now to get to better choices four years from now, is to preserve the pathway to that scenario. And from my point of view one candidate offers you that path. The other does not.
Work! Democracy is not just voting. It’s participating in making, keeping and improving what we’ve got. So express yourself. Speak up for those less fortunate and privileged. Get involved. Volunteer. Lead. Use what you have to help those around you get to a better place. Bring people along. While elected leaders have an awful lot of influence over your daily lives, so do you! Most of us are not helpless to create better lives for ourselves, our families, our neighbors and our communities. I believe deeply in the power of the middle, and it is experienced in our day-to-day interactions with each other. So let’s stop wringing our hands and do more of what is in our control to make things better, together.
Be Joyful! Ah, my beloved, partake in your divine, universally inspired JOY! This joy that I’m speaking of, no one can take it from you. Do not let people, circumstances, or external forces beyond your control prevent you from smiling today. Smile through the tears when you have to. Smile at someone else when you don’t feel you have much to smile at. See the good in people and nature. Go outside. And if this exercise produces nothing you can find in your own life to be joyful about, do one small thing to help another human. Anything. The act of kindness will kindle your innate joy. Joy isn’t ignorance or denial. It’s confidence that you’re moving through and this moment’s despair is temporary. Joy is a respite, because it was given to you by a Higher Power. Go there when you don’t know where else to go.
Hope! And you know me. I believe that while hope may not be a strategy, it is a way to choose to be! I have hope because my vision of my life, and our shared experience, is so much bigger than a court ruling, an election, a mistake I made, a deadline I missed, a person I let down, a defeat I suffered, a humiliation I endured, a wrong I’ve committed, someone else’s wrong I’ve survived. I believe in a bigger US that is still being revealed as we work towards it, together. I do not believe we’re at an end. I believe we’re near the end of the beginning, and this thing is still getting started.
So, let us all commit to this: breathing, voting for the future, working to improve the present, being joyful and living hopefully.
I love y’all. Mean it. ❤️🙏🏽😊
