A week ago at my white heavy older persons Presbyterian Church, I found what i truly want in America. We have been led by visionary pastors. we share our church with a middle eastern congregation, many of who speak in arabic, and a Birundi refugee congregation. We share imperfectly. Services are mostly attended in self segregated ways. But slowly, slowly Slowly, the light of passionate worship is touching us stiff White Presby’s. And last week we did one service for all three congregation. We said the Apostle’s Creed simultaneously in three or more languages. It was chaos …and the sweetest music we have ever sent heavenward. It was the melting pot in unity. It was the American Dream in a shining moment. Respect and unity in a shining moment. Our differences- the ones that make us so much more 3 dimensional-gathered in a live of something bigger that our individual selves. I want that America- I want a celebration of this country with respect for so many cultures and an ongoing understanding about how that makes us stronger. We are all the hungry, tired and poor in many ways. We need each other. Other… can be taken as a bad thing. But it truly is not Its an added understanding and perspective in a small world. America, let’s do better. Let’s make the American Dream open to all with open arms.
It is encouraging to see organized religion used to bring people together instead of dividing them. Kudos to your church and best wishes going forward.
What a tribute to your Pastor and his Congregation and a very special thank you for your post, as it gives a profoundly candid and refreshing opinion to those still struggling with the word immigration. Immigration is a value added to any society and to look upon it as an intrusion and conflicting ideals is to be deaf to how your country was built - on the backs of immigrants.
As a proud Canadian, I can vouch for what you have stated as my country was also built on the backs of immigrants. And thanks to them, we are officially a bilingual and multicultural society.
I can so relate to your comments. One of the wonderful strengths of America is that we are a country of many cultures and peoples from all over the world. I write music that speaks to the One Universal Family that we all are, and addresses to need to "let the wounds of time dissolve in kindness." If you are interested, you can find my work at www.gregtenold.com . Also here are links to a couple of songs:
I’m fighting for my friends in the LGBTQ community. I’m in a fandom that is heavily LGBTQ and the people that I’ve met that are a part of that community are some of the nicest, kindest and friendliest people I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. I’d go to war for their rights every day.
I’m fighting for diversity in this country. We’re not a democracy if we prop up people and give them power only because of the color of their skin or what their genitalia is. A diverse country and democracy is a great country and democracy.
You’re welcome. I’m glad to know that you and fellow workers in the government are gearing up for the fight ahead. 45 and his republican cronies have no idea what’s coming when they try to enact their extremist agenda.
I'm fighting for the transgender child of my ex fiancee. My ex married wealthy and sent her daughter to the BEST PSYCHOLOGISTS for ten years of child suicidality and they ALL MISSED the child's transgender tendencies.
California Law requires psychologists to measure and89% refuse. Americans are more loyal to these QUACKS than NAZIS WERE LOYAL TO HITLER?
I will continue to organize Moms of dead kids to sue the government that hires these quacks.
I pray that one of these massacre murder suicidal terrorists was seeing TEN THERAPISTS weekly for years while scientifically logging their anger and suicidality... after the massacre the news media finds tthe terrorist's logs and does detailed depositions of all ten therapists... to find THEY ALL RATED THE KILLERS ANGER AT ZERO... THEY ALL RATED THE KILLERS SUICIDALITY AT ZERO... THEY ALL REFUSED THE SCIENCE REQUIRED BY LAW THAT WOULD HAVE EASILY REVEALED THE IMMINENT DANGER
There were 49,430 suicides among individuals ages 12 and older in 2022. But suicides are just the tip of the iceberg. For every suicide death*, there were about:
11 emergency department visits for self-harm**
52 self-reported suicide attempts in the past year***3
336 people who seriously considered suicide in the past year***3
Mnenonics
1
The number of attempts in US High Schools is ONE AUSCHWITZ ANNUALLY
2
The number of Americans who will want to die in ten years... HALF OF US
3
Osama Bin Laden's word for what he could do with these levels of victims of Shrink Quackery.... AMMO
4
The number of attempts by US adults age 18 and and older.... A SECOND AUSCHWITZ ANNUALLY
In a time when a convict can be President, and naked corruption and greed know no bounds, it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. However, thanks to prompts like this I’ll at least continue looking. And voting. After all, the midterms aren’t so far away I guess!
Exactly. The midterms are our best shot at checking 45’s power and making sure he and his republican minions are put on blast for their blatant corruption, lying and any destruction they cause to our country. And odds are with how he’s turning his back on his own supporters, I’d say it’s all but certain that Ds will get the House back. The Senate is another story.
I value the freedom to read widely the books I choose with no restriction on my choice of book. Censorship is the gravest vdanger to an informed and thinking citizenry.
I'm fighting for my children and grandchildren. I want them to have good opportunities, good healthcare and a liveable planet. Mostly, I want them and others to be able to live fulfilling lives.
Don't forget that Franklin, per the Smithsonian, invented the library system as we know it. A man who believed in education and literacy when we are faced with an incoming administration that wants to destroy the Department of Education.
I see a lot of calls in comments on social media loudly excited to see the end of the Department of Education. “Give it back to the states,” they cry. But they have no idea what the role of the Department of Education (ED not DOE) actually is. ED’s role has nothing to do with assessments, curriculum, or standards; that is all under the purview of the individual states who have their own state education departments. The stupidly of these people is loudly showing. So sad.
Not to mention that the cry "Give it back to the states!" has a very ugly history, which includes the Civil War. My best guess is that these people want what Gov. DeSantis is doing in Florida: to literally WHITEwash U.S. history in order to make them feel better and not have to think too hard (or at all).
Arizona's voucher system is the pattern for other states. In addition to bankrupting the state, we are seeing large school yards sold for housing and business offices. Public schools have been underfunded for more than a decade.
As a retired special education teacher, I fear the impact on students needing SE services provided in order to level the playing field for them. I’m willing to fight for them.
I share your concern about students with disabilities. The states can’t afford to provide for their needs without Federal funding, and the Dept of Education oversees the states implementation of IDEA, Individuals with Disability Act. Which has federal laws and rules to safeguard students birth to age 21.
I love the First Amendment, especially the designated rights of freedom of the press, the right of citizens to assemble peaceably and freedom of religion. This is what makes America so special to me.
Agreed: our first amendment freedoms are so essential to the America I love.
I grew up with a mom who was always having after-dinner meetings of neighbors in our living room - whether it be to support the local schools/strengthen the PTA, or raise money by collecting everyone’s newspapers (which ultimately led to forming a recycling center for the whole city), to organizing to preserve natural open spaces/take environmental action locally, to organizing to elect candidates to local office or referendums/recall campaigns to stop unpopular extreme actions/corrupt officials. I just thought everyone’s mom went door to door getting signatures and canvassing to get out the vote at election time.
I learned from my mom (of blessed memory now) that small groups of well-organized people can make a huge difference. I learned the power of a clear message that resonates with people’s lived experiences and challenges the big lies.
For 2025, let’s empiwer each other and remember that *WE** ARE THE ONES WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR! Yes, we are the adults in the room - it falls to us to rise up. But if we work together, we can and will bring the changes we want to see.
Freedom of speech and assembly must be preserved for America to pull through these dark times.
I love this request. And I’ll respond later. Your reference to Grant also prompted me to recommend reading “Fever in the Heartland” about the dominance and resistance to the Klan in the 20’s and 30’s. I learned things I did not know about our history, reminded me we have been here before(much of the dynamic was very much like now) and it reminded me that goodness and decency can prevail.
I’m fighting so my kids who are part Asian won’t be bothered by racist people who already feel emboldened in the current political climate. I’m also fighting so my baby granddaughter will feel safe and be safe going to school.
I also have Asian grandchildren and am similarly concerned. Told my son that he is doing the right things to show them the ropes of becoming adaptable and educated.
Whether or not humanity will continue to live on Earth it is still to be determined. The planet will keep on orbiting the sun for about another 5 billion years. Maybe intelligent insects or arachnids will eventually evolve & do a better job.
We've only been here for something like 100,000 years, a cosmic blink of an eye. I'd like to think humanity will stick around for at least a few million years.
But as governor Pritzker says, first we have to learn to let our rational minds override our evolved instinctual fear of the unknown. I.e. many folks find the solid evidence of climate change scary, so they instinctively deny it then get angry at folks trying to convince them.
Yes!! The human-caused climate crisis is an extinction opportunity for humans, and has already cause many other species to go extinct. Homo sapiens is smart enough to solve this. The problem is it will take 50+ years of concerted worldwide effort to bend back the curve (given that CO2 persists for 100 years or so in of earth’s atmosphere, once emitted). Luckily, Adapting and evolving to a clean renewable economy is doable without reducing our quality of life. But making the transition will require us to prioritize our actions based on their impacts on our great grandchildren - when our attention spans are getting shorter.
The jury is way out on whether humans can pull it together enough to succeed at the sustained efforts needed to meet this moral imperative. We are way behind and thus far seem to have mostly wasted previous decades
We cant afford to have much more backsliding such as seems to be in store during the Trump 2.0 Devolution.
The question our great grandkids will ask us is “you KNEW, so what did YOU do?”
I’m motivated by the power of art to create a fairer and more just country: John Dos Passos, Upton Sinclair, and John Steinbeck all humanised the tolls exacted by rapacious capitalism.We’re a story telling, social species, more affected by emotion than reason, more motivated by uplift than derision. I write in this spirit, and support artists and journalists like you who provide narratives that create a better future.
Universal health care. Protecting Social Security and Medicare. Voting the oligarchs out of office and building real guardrails to prevent their return. Decency. Honest government. An end to Citizens United and the Electoral College. Eliminating poverty. LGBTQ rights. A strengthened Voting Rights Act. Dignity for every American.
1-My late in-laws sacrificed for-My FIL joined the Marines & fought in the Pacific. My MIL quit college to work in a military factory
2-My parents survived the horrors of a Slave Labor Camp for 5 yrs to breathe free & raise their 3 children here
3- I fight for my grandkids so they can have the freedom, tolerance, decency & love of this country because:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" -The Declaration of Independence
I would like to see a return to common decency when interacting with our fellow citizens. I would like to see religion removed from government. I would like to see full funding of public education and paying teachers a good salary. I want a Supreme Court that does their job and doesn’t bow to select groups. I want a country that abides by its Constitution. We will soon have a convicted felon in the presidency. Greed and lust for power have replaced governing. It’s very hard not to be morose and defeated.
Yes indeed -- but we have to call him out ALL THE TIME. No deference! Convicted Felon! YESS! I love it! He should be shunned and not honored - at least by WE the "normies" who maybe have less to lose than more high-profile folks -- who knows? He is so unfit and such an aberration that I am at a loss for words -- beyond utter disgust, depravity, heartbreak and we are on the precipice, losing our soul.
A week ago at my white heavy older persons Presbyterian Church, I found what i truly want in America. We have been led by visionary pastors. we share our church with a middle eastern congregation, many of who speak in arabic, and a Birundi refugee congregation. We share imperfectly. Services are mostly attended in self segregated ways. But slowly, slowly Slowly, the light of passionate worship is touching us stiff White Presby’s. And last week we did one service for all three congregation. We said the Apostle’s Creed simultaneously in three or more languages. It was chaos …and the sweetest music we have ever sent heavenward. It was the melting pot in unity. It was the American Dream in a shining moment. Respect and unity in a shining moment. Our differences- the ones that make us so much more 3 dimensional-gathered in a live of something bigger that our individual selves. I want that America- I want a celebration of this country with respect for so many cultures and an ongoing understanding about how that makes us stronger. We are all the hungry, tired and poor in many ways. We need each other. Other… can be taken as a bad thing. But it truly is not Its an added understanding and perspective in a small world. America, let’s do better. Let’s make the American Dream open to all with open arms.
It is encouraging to see organized religion used to bring people together instead of dividing them. Kudos to your church and best wishes going forward.
What a tribute to your Pastor and his Congregation and a very special thank you for your post, as it gives a profoundly candid and refreshing opinion to those still struggling with the word immigration. Immigration is a value added to any society and to look upon it as an intrusion and conflicting ideals is to be deaf to how your country was built - on the backs of immigrants.
As a proud Canadian, I can vouch for what you have stated as my country was also built on the backs of immigrants. And thanks to them, we are officially a bilingual and multicultural society.
👏👏👏 Yes! Respect for all our cultures and people. Difference is what makes life interesting.
I can so relate to your comments. One of the wonderful strengths of America is that we are a country of many cultures and peoples from all over the world. I write music that speaks to the One Universal Family that we all are, and addresses to need to "let the wounds of time dissolve in kindness." If you are interested, you can find my work at www.gregtenold.com . Also here are links to a couple of songs:
-Bless Our World: https://vimeo.com/443874822
-Vision For America: https://vimeo.com/442144439
Thank you for sharing your story.
Thank you. i enjoyed your work.
Beautiful.
I’m fighting for my friends in the LGBTQ community. I’m in a fandom that is heavily LGBTQ and the people that I’ve met that are a part of that community are some of the nicest, kindest and friendliest people I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. I’d go to war for their rights every day.
I’m fighting for diversity in this country. We’re not a democracy if we prop up people and give them power only because of the color of their skin or what their genitalia is. A diverse country and democracy is a great country and democracy.
Thank you. One of my children is nonbinary. Government workers like me will do everything we can to fight for lgbtq rights. We will undermine Trump’s Project 2025 Christofascism agenda: https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/resisting-project-2025-from-within-government
You’re welcome. I’m glad to know that you and fellow workers in the government are gearing up for the fight ahead. 45 and his republican cronies have no idea what’s coming when they try to enact their extremist agenda.
I am so excited to hear this! I just subscribed to your Substack and can't wait to read it. Thank you for everything you're doing!!!
I'm fighting for the transgender child of my ex fiancee. My ex married wealthy and sent her daughter to the BEST PSYCHOLOGISTS for ten years of child suicidality and they ALL MISSED the child's transgender tendencies.
California Law requires psychologists to measure and89% refuse. Americans are more loyal to these QUACKS than NAZIS WERE LOYAL TO HITLER?
I will continue to organize Moms of dead kids to sue the government that hires these quacks.
I pray that one of these massacre murder suicidal terrorists was seeing TEN THERAPISTS weekly for years while scientifically logging their anger and suicidality... after the massacre the news media finds tthe terrorist's logs and does detailed depositions of all ten therapists... to find THEY ALL RATED THE KILLERS ANGER AT ZERO... THEY ALL RATED THE KILLERS SUICIDALITY AT ZERO... THEY ALL REFUSED THE SCIENCE REQUIRED BY LAW THAT WOULD HAVE EASILY REVEALED THE IMMINENT DANGER
The Newsweek Editor found the best predictor of whether any US county voted for Trump... was Deaths of Despair
https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/facts/index.html#cdc_facts_stats_trends-far-reaching-impact
There were 49,430 suicides among individuals ages 12 and older in 2022. But suicides are just the tip of the iceberg. For every suicide death*, there were about:
11 emergency department visits for self-harm**
52 self-reported suicide attempts in the past year***3
336 people who seriously considered suicide in the past year***3
Mnenonics
1
The number of attempts in US High Schools is ONE AUSCHWITZ ANNUALLY
2
The number of Americans who will want to die in ten years... HALF OF US
3
Osama Bin Laden's word for what he could do with these levels of victims of Shrink Quackery.... AMMO
4
The number of attempts by US adults age 18 and and older.... A SECOND AUSCHWITZ ANNUALLY
Many older people feel fine with being done after our government is going Trumpian. Do not want to live those times.
Woo hoo, Ryan!!! Yes!!!
In a time when a convict can be President, and naked corruption and greed know no bounds, it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. However, thanks to prompts like this I’ll at least continue looking. And voting. After all, the midterms aren’t so far away I guess!
Exactly. The midterms are our best shot at checking 45’s power and making sure he and his republican minions are put on blast for their blatant corruption, lying and any destruction they cause to our country. And odds are with how he’s turning his back on his own supporters, I’d say it’s all but certain that Ds will get the House back. The Senate is another story.
See my note and tell me what you think about that.
Yes, also help organize your community and support or at least learn about mutual aid in your area -- we're all in this together!
I value the freedom to read widely the books I choose with no restriction on my choice of book. Censorship is the gravest vdanger to an informed and thinking citizenry.
👏👏👏
I'm fighting for my children and grandchildren. I want them to have good opportunities, good healthcare and a liveable planet. Mostly, I want them and others to be able to live fulfilling lives.
My thoughts exactly.
Don't forget that Franklin, per the Smithsonian, invented the library system as we know it. A man who believed in education and literacy when we are faced with an incoming administration that wants to destroy the Department of Education.
I see a lot of calls in comments on social media loudly excited to see the end of the Department of Education. “Give it back to the states,” they cry. But they have no idea what the role of the Department of Education (ED not DOE) actually is. ED’s role has nothing to do with assessments, curriculum, or standards; that is all under the purview of the individual states who have their own state education departments. The stupidly of these people is loudly showing. So sad.
The irony of the uneducated wanting to destroy the Department of Education....
Not to mention that the cry "Give it back to the states!" has a very ugly history, which includes the Civil War. My best guess is that these people want what Gov. DeSantis is doing in Florida: to literally WHITEwash U.S. history in order to make them feel better and not have to think too hard (or at all).
Arizona's voucher system is the pattern for other states. In addition to bankrupting the state, we are seeing large school yards sold for housing and business offices. Public schools have been underfunded for more than a decade.
They're not going to succeed.
But in many Republican-run states they've already succeeded.
I should have qualified my statement: they're not going to succeed in the long run.
As a retired special education teacher, I fear the impact on students needing SE services provided in order to level the playing field for them. I’m willing to fight for them.
I share your concern about students with disabilities. The states can’t afford to provide for their needs without Federal funding, and the Dept of Education oversees the states implementation of IDEA, Individuals with Disability Act. Which has federal laws and rules to safeguard students birth to age 21.
👏👏👏
I love the First Amendment, especially the designated rights of freedom of the press, the right of citizens to assemble peaceably and freedom of religion. This is what makes America so special to me.
Agreed: our first amendment freedoms are so essential to the America I love.
I grew up with a mom who was always having after-dinner meetings of neighbors in our living room - whether it be to support the local schools/strengthen the PTA, or raise money by collecting everyone’s newspapers (which ultimately led to forming a recycling center for the whole city), to organizing to preserve natural open spaces/take environmental action locally, to organizing to elect candidates to local office or referendums/recall campaigns to stop unpopular extreme actions/corrupt officials. I just thought everyone’s mom went door to door getting signatures and canvassing to get out the vote at election time.
I learned from my mom (of blessed memory now) that small groups of well-organized people can make a huge difference. I learned the power of a clear message that resonates with people’s lived experiences and challenges the big lies.
For 2025, let’s empiwer each other and remember that *WE** ARE THE ONES WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR! Yes, we are the adults in the room - it falls to us to rise up. But if we work together, we can and will bring the changes we want to see.
Freedom of speech and assembly must be preserved for America to pull through these dark times.
Sounds like your mom was a very special person who I surely would have liked a lot.
Yes!
I love this request. And I’ll respond later. Your reference to Grant also prompted me to recommend reading “Fever in the Heartland” about the dominance and resistance to the Klan in the 20’s and 30’s. I learned things I did not know about our history, reminded me we have been here before(much of the dynamic was very much like now) and it reminded me that goodness and decency can prevail.
Thanks for flagging that book.
Yes. Excellent book and a cautionary one.
I’m fighting so my kids who are part Asian won’t be bothered by racist people who already feel emboldened in the current political climate. I’m also fighting so my baby granddaughter will feel safe and be safe going to school.
I also have Asian grandchildren and am similarly concerned. Told my son that he is doing the right things to show them the ropes of becoming adaptable and educated.
I'm fighting to save the planet. If we don't do that, nothing else is going to matter.
What you say is so obvious, Nadine, but so few people actually internalize it.
Whether or not humanity will continue to live on Earth it is still to be determined. The planet will keep on orbiting the sun for about another 5 billion years. Maybe intelligent insects or arachnids will eventually evolve & do a better job.
We've only been here for something like 100,000 years, a cosmic blink of an eye. I'd like to think humanity will stick around for at least a few million years.
But as governor Pritzker says, first we have to learn to let our rational minds override our evolved instinctual fear of the unknown. I.e. many folks find the solid evidence of climate change scary, so they instinctively deny it then get angry at folks trying to convince them.
https://youtu.be/qXnlWeY5Gw4?si=BSJD6E3KCL4Px4Pl
Looking at recent news I'm tempted to dispair & drop out, just cocoon at home with my family. (Wife & I are retired, Only Child is disabled.)
That would be the easy way out.
But I'll keep at it.
climate catastrophe is mounting
Yes!! The human-caused climate crisis is an extinction opportunity for humans, and has already cause many other species to go extinct. Homo sapiens is smart enough to solve this. The problem is it will take 50+ years of concerted worldwide effort to bend back the curve (given that CO2 persists for 100 years or so in of earth’s atmosphere, once emitted). Luckily, Adapting and evolving to a clean renewable economy is doable without reducing our quality of life. But making the transition will require us to prioritize our actions based on their impacts on our great grandchildren - when our attention spans are getting shorter.
The jury is way out on whether humans can pull it together enough to succeed at the sustained efforts needed to meet this moral imperative. We are way behind and thus far seem to have mostly wasted previous decades
We cant afford to have much more backsliding such as seems to be in store during the Trump 2.0 Devolution.
The question our great grandkids will ask us is “you KNEW, so what did YOU do?”
I’m motivated by the power of art to create a fairer and more just country: John Dos Passos, Upton Sinclair, and John Steinbeck all humanised the tolls exacted by rapacious capitalism.We’re a story telling, social species, more affected by emotion than reason, more motivated by uplift than derision. I write in this spirit, and support artists and journalists like you who provide narratives that create a better future.
Thank you for this addition.
I would like to see the Constitution enforced and realized.
Yes! Anyone who tries to “suspend” or “cancel” the Constitution is a traitor. Period.
Universal health care. Protecting Social Security and Medicare. Voting the oligarchs out of office and building real guardrails to prevent their return. Decency. Honest government. An end to Citizens United and the Electoral College. Eliminating poverty. LGBTQ rights. A strengthened Voting Rights Act. Dignity for every American.
I read your stuff on Substack. You write very clearly as the above paragraph. Keep writing. Thanks.
Thank you. Now I don’t have to write anything. You’ve said it all. I have a granddaughter, and I’m fighting on her behalf.
Thank you Claudia. That is much appreciated.
Keep fighting!
I fight for the America:
1-My late in-laws sacrificed for-My FIL joined the Marines & fought in the Pacific. My MIL quit college to work in a military factory
2-My parents survived the horrors of a Slave Labor Camp for 5 yrs to breathe free & raise their 3 children here
3- I fight for my grandkids so they can have the freedom, tolerance, decency & love of this country because:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" -The Declaration of Independence
I would like to see a return to common decency when interacting with our fellow citizens. I would like to see religion removed from government. I would like to see full funding of public education and paying teachers a good salary. I want a Supreme Court that does their job and doesn’t bow to select groups. I want a country that abides by its Constitution. We will soon have a convicted felon in the presidency. Greed and lust for power have replaced governing. It’s very hard not to be morose and defeated.
Yes indeed -- but we have to call him out ALL THE TIME. No deference! Convicted Felon! YESS! I love it! He should be shunned and not honored - at least by WE the "normies" who maybe have less to lose than more high-profile folks -- who knows? He is so unfit and such an aberration that I am at a loss for words -- beyond utter disgust, depravity, heartbreak and we are on the precipice, losing our soul.
Yes, respectful civil discourse!!! Especially across party lines.
Diversity, Democracy, Freedom and much more.