What other way is there to get through life? We stress when we are waiting for something to happen, we stress when it happens differently than we wanted it to. What if we didn’t stress, and we just lived our life as we want to? Without worrying about what others will think, or what others will say, or do in response. That sounds like I am advocating for acting like Trump, but I am not, because in my world, people have morals, people have souls and the casual cruelty that embodies the republican party is not a thing anymore. That really is a pipe dream, I know.
The group in Congress that took one message and made their way there in 2015 - the Freedom Caucus - they have now caved again to the demands of Trump and his unlimited greed and casual cruelty. In doing so, they and all the others who allowed the ugly ugly budget bill to pass to the president’s desk, will be forever marked with its’ adherence to make sure more wealth traveled up to billionaires and to make sure Trump’s plan to inflict as much terror and cruelty on the deportation effort of migrants will go forward - they had already used all their budgeted money and needed the infusion provided by the ugly budget bill. They also now have more money to build concentration camps, such as the one in the Florida Everglades, to hold the kidnapped after they are snatched off of streets and businesses by masked, unidentified men. These men are nothing like our law enforcement and have no rules to work under. They are armed gangs Trump and his republicans have unleashed on America.
There is an App available for apple products that will allow you to post if you see a sighting of these masked ICE agents. It is free for use, and easy to download. Look for ICEBlock, it looks like the old time ice blocks people used in the summer to put in their refrigeration at the time. The question mark at the top explains how to use it. There is also a group, working to contact local police departments and see if they are cooperating with ICE in ways that are not necessary. I heard about them from a group called the Workers Circle, and the program I accessed was called #DisappearedInAmerica Talk To Your Sheriff Training
Please watch if you are interested in learning more about this subject. It turns out that in La Crosse County, our local sheriff and the county sheriff departments do not work to notify ice, nor seek to find out if people they stop are immigrants. If contacted by ICE about a specific person, with ICE holding a warrant for them, the local police will help them at that point.
I have many pictures all over our home. In my office area, there is a picture we purchased at an art sale years ago in Brookside, in Kansas City. I love the picture, it shows a door in a wall, and it is so evocative of a welcoming door for going in to visit friends or family, and being welcomed.
We can welcome the stranger and are called upon to do that by our faith. We can turn away from those who try to make us call upon our petty resentments and instead find joy in the learning of other cultures, other ways to live and cook and be. Difference expands us and makes us better. When we narrow our choices, our friends, our beliefs, we lose a part of ourselves. We are called to be inclusive, and equitable and caring of all. Look at the differences and find the similarities. Do all mothers love their children? Do all fathers want their children to do well, perhaps better than they themselves did? Do we wish for others the same things we wish for ourselves? Try to envision life this way and see if your heart and soul expand with the joy of discovery and wonder.
I purchased a new book at our local book store (I hope you have one of these treasures in your community!), a book of stories and drawings of birds by Amy Tam. I have loved her writing for years and had no idea she was a talented artist also. I am captivated already and have hardly peeked inside. It will be balm for my soul.
Find your joy and love today. Call a neighbor. Be kind to a stranger. Educate someone in a subject they wonder about. We can be the light in the darkness. We just need to light our lamp and go out and find a place to shine.