We have every right to be afraid, to be terrified in fact,
of what is happening in our country today in as much as those people in power
who seek to destroy our democracy and install trump as our dictator. It IS
terrifying, it IS the scariest thing that any living soul in this country has
ever had to face as an American citizen or even as an immigrant living here. This feels like the ‘end game’ where the next
step is the demolition of every freedom and every right so many have fought so long
and hard to secure for everyone who lives here and most especially the vulnerable,
the impoverished and the discriminated against. It ‘feels’ like OUR democracy
is slipping away and we don’t know what our future holds.
Yes, we are afraid, and we should be. However, we MUST NOT
lose our heads, we MUST NOT panic, we MUST NOT fight among ourselves weakening
us as a people.
Think for a moment about the heroes who keep us safe, who
rescue and help us in our every day lives and think about how ineffective they
all would be if they allowed their fear to overcome them in the time of the
greatest need for their help.
Think about firefighters who run into a burning building
when everyone else is running out. They feel fear, it’s impossible not to feel
fear in most of the situations they enter into willingly. But they remain calm
and rational as they save lives, fight fires and rescue people from sometimes
tragic and impossibly difficult circumstances.
The ONLY way they can do their job is to remain calm and rational. Just
imagine if they gave into their fear; people would die, houses would burn to
the ground, flood waters would carry away helpless victims and worse. It is
ONLY through their resolve to remain calm, cool and collected in the face of
possible and sometimes certain death that they are effective.
Think about our amazing military personnel who go to war. They surely must feel fear as they move toward the enemy who they
know is dedicated to killing them, to taking their lives by whatever means they
can. Imagine how ineffective they would be if they gave into their fears and panicked. These
troops who face death every day in foreign lands have one thing at their
disposal that keeps them as safe as possible and that can help them make it
home alive. That ONE thing is to remain calm and rational. They are trained to
know what to do in almost any situation but yet if they were to allow fear to
rule them they would quickly abandon their training for panic and the fear of
death.
Think about all the public service people out there who
brave impossible odds to save lives, to keep others safe and to ensure the
public’s safety every single day. Don’t fool yourself that they don’t feel fear,
but they are trained to remain calm and rational. We’ve seen with our law
enforcement what happens when an officer allows fear to override calm and
rational thought and behavior; they kill innocent people because they are ruled
by their fear, because they lose their calm and rational thought.
One thing that all of these people, people who choose to serve us at great risk to their lives, have in common aside from choosing calm and rational thinking over fear and panic is that they draw on the strength of those whom they serve with. Their unity is one of their biggest strengths and without it, without that brother/sister-hood, they would not be able to accomplish the sometimes impossible feats of heroism that they so often do.
So, we must take a lesson from these fine men and women who
serve our country abroad and at home every single day. Only the fool denies
they are afraid and only the fool chooses to let fear dictate their thoughts,
their actions and their reactions.
We are UNITED in this my dear brothers and sisters and if we
abandon all hope, all calm, all rationality we will fall as one. It is OUR TIME and we MUST act and react with
calm, we must be rational, we MUST NOT allow our fear to guide us but let us
allow it to motivate us to become MORE UNITED, MORE ORGANIZED, MORE DETERMINED that
this country, OUR COUNTRY, will not fall to the fascists.
It is said ‘to the victor go the spoils’ so let us be the victor
by being ONE UNITED MOVEMENT TO SAVE OUR DEMOCRACY and we will enjoy the spoils of justice and liberty for all. We will create that brave new land that has been the basis, the promise and the dream of this country but we have thus far fallen far short of manifesting for everyone in it. The land of the free and the home of the brave!!!
WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS, KEEP YOUR HEAD AND IT WILL SEE YOU
THROUGH!!!
