Once again a large part of the country has been upended by catastrophic climate. Once again we’re not prepared. I wonder how long it will take for people to get a grip on our new reality. Old systems no longer serve us. Privatized utilities that can shut power during unprecedented cold, do not serve us. Building pipelines for Canadian tar sands during a pandemic does not serve us.
Estimated numbers of sex trafficked victims tripled over the past year does not serve us.
But make no mistake someone is being served.
People pretend to not see and then it’s too late. You become victim.
Amazon may soon have its first union in the United States, and by all accounts they are using the same union busting tactics deployed long ago. Infiltration into the ranks, blatant lies and not so veiled threats prevail.
Too many of us are complacent or revel in false exceptionalism. Too many succumb to the allure of wealth. Too few have cultivated the empathy required for people to live in a society that can benefit all.
If not for the brave souls determined to chart new courses, I would feel total desperation.
But there you are on the front lines helping feed and house people, finding creative ways to educate our youth, standing for social and environmental justice which we now recognize as one and the same. There you are, the ones who have turned hope into action; the ones who refuse to look back or to call what we are leaving behind “normal”.
Because normal it is not. Kindness is normal. Compassion is normal. Destroying racism is normal. Declaring our need for peace is normal. Loving the earth is normal.
Someone is being served, someone will be served, let it be all of us.
let kindness win 