Isn't the basic tenet for Christians to "love thy neighbor as thyself"? Basic compassion spanning centuries and culminating in refugees finding shelter in a manger. We not only do not hear love, compassion, "blessed are the poor" or any other form of basic human decency coming from the Trump camp; we are hit with the dangerous and hateful threats of a White Supremist Party couched in Christian Nationalism.
But deep within the immigrant communities where fear is hiding and hate is knocking on the door, I hear singing, I see dancing and I sit at open tables for a meal whose recipes have traveled over ages, over countries from their "nanas" and "tias" prepared by loving hands. Food such as tamales, masa, chiles rellenos, mole poblano. A culture I grew up with and has become part of the fabric of my life. This is Arizona. This is their home, and they are not going anywhere.
While Trump builds walls, immigrants build tables and offer you a seat. The choice is clear. Tonight, I think of all the "refugees on the unarmed road of flight." I also think of everyone fighting for them; people they will never know. America has never had it easy but as MLK said: "We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear."
Four more years is grim but many are quietly organizing. Many refuse to allow the coming administration to destroy lives. To destroy the planet. We continue to have courts to support our welfare and that of the world. We have to be strong and support each other. We will succeed.
I just hope there is still the opportunity to change course in four years. I hope there is still ample access to free media for the average voter, that the information about what’s really happening in the US under Trump reaches them. And then, if they know what the impact of four years of MAGA politics has really brought to the people and families in the US, that they have a chance the express their preference for another approach in free and fair elections. I fear that, although the elections themselves may be free, they will no longer be fair since the conditions for democratic elections have been too much undermined.
Wishing you and yours a beautiful holiday celebration and a big break from American politics. We think that this is the worst its ever been, but there is precedent. Citizens got through in the past, albeit not unscathed, and we will again. The Earth will continue its rotations and after four revolutions round the sun, Trump will be behind us. Don't let Trump and MAGA spoil your days. We will overcome.
Thanks for ending with MLK. I sometimes feel like the proverbial ostrich hiding my head in advance of the coming disaster, but Dr. King’s words always help. In this instance, what resonates is "the time is always right to do what is right," and I plan to use them as a guide star in navigating the next 4 years.
I wanted to write about MLK but my introduction drifted into other directions, probably by a combination of the prolonged shock of American voters having collectively pushed the self-destruct button and my fear for what’s to come.
I continue to hold HOPE that Jan. 20th. will bring a reprieve given all the resistance in place and gathering momentum.
There are so many loopholes in our legal system, one HOPES that the right one with enough resistance will succeed in deterring the worst of the instigators of Project 2025 and leave room for a change of course. I don’t believe in Santa Claus 🎅 but I do have faith in the true power of compassion for the good people of this DEMOCRACY to seek and find our way through the darkness to the light in time to avert the worst of what has been threatened. Perhaps I am naive but we “do not obey in advance” per Dr.Snyder I believe; happy holidays everyone and peace 🕊️to all! ❤️🎄
also whenever he posts. He is such a voice of reason and compassion while thinking through the craziness of our current situation. I wish you peace and happy holidays. (If I may offer one piece of advice: don’t “over read”;
there is some weird stuff out there and you won’t feel
Thank you very much Alex for this deep reflection on these founding principles of equality, empathy that should all inspire us for a World - not better, because unfortunately it is surely unrealistic - but at least, a World where everyone has the right to their place as a Human Being as well as their dignity!
We are all women and men who fundamentally aspire to live in peace.
But there are so many "human specimens" who want, at all costs, power, domination, money!
What will remain of their power when, after having spread injustice, they lose the essential: their life. They are blinded.
They forget that they are not immortal and that we all share this same destiny.
The precious words of MLK that you have underlined, resonate in my mind:
"The time is always right to do what is right."
... a few words, but so powerful!
May these simple words guide our future and that of future generations!
Alex, I’m coming late to your post from yesterday because I had a bit of a meltdown after reading your most beautiful reflections on our society. I was brought to tears and I “got lost” in thoughts about my upbringing as a humanist in a non-theistic
movement founded in NYC called The Ethical Culture Society. My belief in deed above creed has always guided me to believe in the goodness of humanity. Your post so well described the trauma we’ve experienced and the fear that we feel about our future, both as a society and as a planet. When you so eloquently wrote about MLK I couldn’t help but remember what I was taught about “the supreme worth of the person”. Come January we have someone who seems to be missing the genes that are essential for one’s humanity and goodness: empathy, kindness, generosity, compassion, the ability to love and forgive, lawfulness and decency, to name a few. I am known as a person who always has a glass half-full. Your post and the thoughtfulness of everyone else’s comments have me hopeful that my glass will stay that way…
Thank you for a truly remarkable piece of writing.
Thank you, Anne. I read this twice. I think the small community around this newsletter has grown closer in the past month. That may have been sparked by this 52-weeks review but is fundamentally a process of compassionate people from all over the planet finding each other in a time where we instinctively feel we need to bond since we will face challenges and it’s better to face these together. Like you, I’m also unusually late in returning to the comments session; it shows I’m -like many of us- not sure where to go from here. I had hoped to use the last weeks of the year to work out what to do next year, but I will need more time for that. Even more than in the past, the next year is the right time to do right.
Your insights are profoundly accurate and perfectly expressed.
I can add nothing that should be said. It perfection. Thank you.
Thank you, Lizzie
Isn't the basic tenet for Christians to "love thy neighbor as thyself"? Basic compassion spanning centuries and culminating in refugees finding shelter in a manger. We not only do not hear love, compassion, "blessed are the poor" or any other form of basic human decency coming from the Trump camp; we are hit with the dangerous and hateful threats of a White Supremist Party couched in Christian Nationalism.
But deep within the immigrant communities where fear is hiding and hate is knocking on the door, I hear singing, I see dancing and I sit at open tables for a meal whose recipes have traveled over ages, over countries from their "nanas" and "tias" prepared by loving hands. Food such as tamales, masa, chiles rellenos, mole poblano. A culture I grew up with and has become part of the fabric of my life. This is Arizona. This is their home, and they are not going anywhere.
While Trump builds walls, immigrants build tables and offer you a seat. The choice is clear. Tonight, I think of all the "refugees on the unarmed road of flight." I also think of everyone fighting for them; people they will never know. America has never had it easy but as MLK said: "We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear."
Gracias por todo, Alex. Nosotras venceremos!
Thank you, Sharon. Your words are beautiful and provide hope.
Feliz Noche Buena! Paz en la tierra.
I will fight for them
Yes you will.
Four more years is grim but many are quietly organizing. Many refuse to allow the coming administration to destroy lives. To destroy the planet. We continue to have courts to support our welfare and that of the world. We have to be strong and support each other. We will succeed.
I just hope there is still the opportunity to change course in four years. I hope there is still ample access to free media for the average voter, that the information about what’s really happening in the US under Trump reaches them. And then, if they know what the impact of four years of MAGA politics has really brought to the people and families in the US, that they have a chance the express their preference for another approach in free and fair elections. I fear that, although the elections themselves may be free, they will no longer be fair since the conditions for democratic elections have been too much undermined.
Wishing you and yours a beautiful holiday celebration and a big break from American politics. We think that this is the worst its ever been, but there is precedent. Citizens got through in the past, albeit not unscathed, and we will again. The Earth will continue its rotations and after four revolutions round the sun, Trump will be behind us. Don't let Trump and MAGA spoil your days. We will overcome.
Thank you , Micha
Thanks for ending with MLK. I sometimes feel like the proverbial ostrich hiding my head in advance of the coming disaster, but Dr. King’s words always help. In this instance, what resonates is "the time is always right to do what is right," and I plan to use them as a guide star in navigating the next 4 years.
I wanted to write about MLK but my introduction drifted into other directions, probably by a combination of the prolonged shock of American voters having collectively pushed the self-destruct button and my fear for what’s to come.
I continue to hold HOPE that Jan. 20th. will bring a reprieve given all the resistance in place and gathering momentum.
There are so many loopholes in our legal system, one HOPES that the right one with enough resistance will succeed in deterring the worst of the instigators of Project 2025 and leave room for a change of course. I don’t believe in Santa Claus 🎅 but I do have faith in the true power of compassion for the good people of this DEMOCRACY to seek and find our way through the darkness to the light in time to avert the worst of what has been threatened. Perhaps I am naive but we “do not obey in advance” per Dr.Snyder I believe; happy holidays everyone and peace 🕊️to all! ❤️🎄
Yes, that’s essential. I read it too (and enjoyed his lectures while I was at Yale)
Judith, I read Tim Snyder
also whenever he posts. He is such a voice of reason and compassion while thinking through the craziness of our current situation. I wish you peace and happy holidays. (If I may offer one piece of advice: don’t “over read”;
there is some weird stuff out there and you won’t feel
hopeful reading most of it.
💞
Thank you very much Alex for this deep reflection on these founding principles of equality, empathy that should all inspire us for a World - not better, because unfortunately it is surely unrealistic - but at least, a World where everyone has the right to their place as a Human Being as well as their dignity!
We are all women and men who fundamentally aspire to live in peace.
But there are so many "human specimens" who want, at all costs, power, domination, money!
What will remain of their power when, after having spread injustice, they lose the essential: their life. They are blinded.
They forget that they are not immortal and that we all share this same destiny.
The precious words of MLK that you have underlined, resonate in my mind:
"The time is always right to do what is right."
... a few words, but so powerful!
May these simple words guide our future and that of future generations!
Let’s keep hope 🙏❤️
Thank you, Danièle, you’re so right.
Joyeuses fêtes de Noël à tous ! 🕊️🕯️🎄
Merry Christmas Danièle
Very well said - thank you.
Happy Holidays.
Happy holidays Evelyne
Alex, I’m coming late to your post from yesterday because I had a bit of a meltdown after reading your most beautiful reflections on our society. I was brought to tears and I “got lost” in thoughts about my upbringing as a humanist in a non-theistic
movement founded in NYC called The Ethical Culture Society. My belief in deed above creed has always guided me to believe in the goodness of humanity. Your post so well described the trauma we’ve experienced and the fear that we feel about our future, both as a society and as a planet. When you so eloquently wrote about MLK I couldn’t help but remember what I was taught about “the supreme worth of the person”. Come January we have someone who seems to be missing the genes that are essential for one’s humanity and goodness: empathy, kindness, generosity, compassion, the ability to love and forgive, lawfulness and decency, to name a few. I am known as a person who always has a glass half-full. Your post and the thoughtfulness of everyone else’s comments have me hopeful that my glass will stay that way…
Thank you for a truly remarkable piece of writing.
Thank you, Anne. I read this twice. I think the small community around this newsletter has grown closer in the past month. That may have been sparked by this 52-weeks review but is fundamentally a process of compassionate people from all over the planet finding each other in a time where we instinctively feel we need to bond since we will face challenges and it’s better to face these together. Like you, I’m also unusually late in returning to the comments session; it shows I’m -like many of us- not sure where to go from here. I had hoped to use the last weeks of the year to work out what to do next year, but I will need more time for that. Even more than in the past, the next year is the right time to do right.
You always find the perfect words. Thank you.
Thank you @Jamie Blue