This is not the ‘60s

Dear Editor,

This is not the ‘60s.  Trump’s attempt at fomenting civil war is not the Vietnam War.

I am reading Bishop Budde’s How We Learn to Be Brave, and watching an interview with Joan Baez (not simultaneously).  Baez, too, is somewhat blown away with conditions at the moment, but not giving up.  She, like us, is just needing to find a way, be willing to step up, as Bishop Budde might say.  These extraordinary women, each from her own experience, are saying we need to DO SOMETHING.  We need to be brave.  At the root of it all, we need to have hope - also referred to as faith – that little bit of solid ground on which to stand.

This is my “something” – words of consideration, and belief in a certain good insight, and the willingness to do my individual something.  Music, working with kids, instilling self-trust and care for ones neighbor, being there for the sick and frightened and dying…getting organized – clearing the clutter and saving only the truly worthwhile.  What is your “stepping up”?  Your calling?”

The horror and fear some of us feel is somewhat natural, given the actual insanity at work in today’s sham government.  The craziness is meant to have its way with us.  What we might read on line, or see and hear on the news and late-night talk, may be mostly “clutter”, offered not  just to entertain us, but to assure us that we are “right”, depending on the show we’re watching and what they are selling.

Be not dismayed.  You know what is true and right, especially if you were lucky enough to have been taught actual History, in its true form, before recent attempts to rewrite it.  If History classes were bolstered by Civics books (ours were school-issued, rebound, navy blue) we were offered legal skills to be citizens in a democracy using our civic rights – resist, protest, refuse to collapse, as I was in danger of, only moments ago.

We are in this together – feel the vibes.  This is our democracy, our country.  When we peel away the schlock, the fibers of real liberty are there for us, along with the centuries-proven tools to nurture and grow them.  

Are you a little scared and a little hopeful?  Me, too.

Lola Gregg

Avoca, WI