Dear friends,
Less than two months ago, I declared a new era of discipline — to deliver good news every Tuesday so that you can reliably recharge your batteries each week to store energy for action in the days and nights ahead.
I don’t think that any amount of discipline on my part will enable me to deliver good news today.
So, instead, I will share a strategy for days like today.
If you can’t figure out what to do to help turn the ship, it’s okay to rest and regroup. Figure out what you need. Call a friend or go lie down and listen to a song that makes you cry or put on the song that makes you dance or take a walk among the trees or fall into a good book or all of these.
On my way home from Vermont, to break up the hours of reading bad news, I flirted with a baby on the train and we had a lovely moment on the platform in Albany. Babies are the best. And the t-shirt is pretty great, too.
Fellow traveler, Burlington to New York City
After you take care of yourself, do something for someone else. It can be something tiny. I bought ice cream for a despondent loved one yesterday.
Then, think about one small thing you can do that’s useful. You’re not turning the ship today; you are moving one grain of sand.
I have a date today to write postcards to Florida voters. I need a jump-start on my 200 cards; plus, everything is more fun with a friend.
Get involved with the Environmental Voter Project.
Another friend emailed to ask if I wanted to help register voters on Rikers Island. I signed up for September 11 because that’s when she’s going. You can come too.
Sign up to register voters on Rikers Island. There are multiple dates.
You can support Cori Bush from anywhere, and protect a justice champion.
Join a Working Families Party phone-bank to get out the vote for Cori Bush.
So, to review, it’s a three part plan made up of baby steps: do something to take care of yourself, and then do something for someone else, and then do one small thing to reach beyond your circle and do some good.
Gowanus Mutual Aid is collecting funds to support newly arrived immigrants.
There are lots of things to do. You get to choose which grain of sand you’re going to move.
Last week, I did post good news; if you missed it, check it out.
Recently, someone brought this poem to my meditation group, which formed in the last presidential election year and has sustained us through days like today. When I heard Lynn Ungar’s poem, I knew we were going to need it.
Breathe by Lynn Ungar
Breathe, said the wind
How can I breathe at a time like this,
when the air is full of the smoke
of burning tires, burning lives?
Just breathe, the wind insisted.
Easy for you to say, if the weight of
injustice is not wrapped around your throat,
cutting off all air.
I need you to breathe.
I need you to breathe.
Don’t tell me to be calm
when there are so many reasons
to be angry, so much cause for despair!
I didn’t say to be calm, said the wind,
I said to breathe.
We’re going to need a lot of air
to make this hurricane together.
with love,
L
I plan on spending July 4th writing letters for Vote Forward. Today, I breathe.