You do well to point out that nobody in America – or Canada or Australia, or the UK if they're under 80 – has lived through anything like this. Nearly everyone I know is affected by it in one way or another. Neither September 11 nor the first Trump administration had anything like the kind of effects that this one has had in just its first few weeks. In living memory the only things to have had even close to this kind of effect on everyday life were the Vietnam War and the COVID pandemic. And the question racing through my mind is: how do we deal with it? In the first administration we thought we might be personally affected in abstract ways (being brown, being LGBTQ) but that usually turned out to be more fear than reality. Now jobs are already being lost, futures being smashed. It requires a different kind of cope, and I'm not yet sure what that is.
Amod, thank you for this comment. Yes, while we've had things like 9/11 and COVID to prepare us for rapid, dramatic change, none are on the same scale as what we are seeing now. They were short-term....this set of changes is long-term. As I said, we aren't going back. The question is what kind of "forward" are we going into, and what coping mechanisms do we need now? I suggest that we already have the skills we need; we're just rusty. We have been taught how to navigate massive change by our ancestors across traditions. Now is the time to consult them, learn from them, and take their teachings to heart. For starters, we have to believe that we can get through this, together.
I agree. I think both sides have lost sight of the sense of higher purpose their ancestors found. The right wing likes to think of itself as Christian, but it is hard to imagine a more un-Christian leader – in so many respects – than Donald Trump.
You do well to point out that nobody in America – or Canada or Australia, or the UK if they're under 80 – has lived through anything like this. Nearly everyone I know is affected by it in one way or another. Neither September 11 nor the first Trump administration had anything like the kind of effects that this one has had in just its first few weeks. In living memory the only things to have had even close to this kind of effect on everyday life were the Vietnam War and the COVID pandemic. And the question racing through my mind is: how do we deal with it? In the first administration we thought we might be personally affected in abstract ways (being brown, being LGBTQ) but that usually turned out to be more fear than reality. Now jobs are already being lost, futures being smashed. It requires a different kind of cope, and I'm not yet sure what that is.
Amod, thank you for this comment. Yes, while we've had things like 9/11 and COVID to prepare us for rapid, dramatic change, none are on the same scale as what we are seeing now. They were short-term....this set of changes is long-term. As I said, we aren't going back. The question is what kind of "forward" are we going into, and what coping mechanisms do we need now? I suggest that we already have the skills we need; we're just rusty. We have been taught how to navigate massive change by our ancestors across traditions. Now is the time to consult them, learn from them, and take their teachings to heart. For starters, we have to believe that we can get through this, together.
I agree. I think both sides have lost sight of the sense of higher purpose their ancestors found. The right wing likes to think of itself as Christian, but it is hard to imagine a more un-Christian leader – in so many respects – than Donald Trump.
Thank you Lauryn 🥰🙏