Ice Storms
In more ways than one...
Another person has been murdered in Minneapolis by rogue secret police. No matter how the regime spins it, we can see perfectly well that something is deeply, deeply wrong with what is happening. It’s not just the murders; it’s the response from a government that, without blinking, spews lies about what happened. Something is profoundly rotten in the USA.
Now is the time to come together, not only with our bodies on the ground, as so many brave people have been doing lately, but also by accepting the challenge to look at what is happening, and at ourselves, so that we can understand and express why it is wrong, why it doesn’t work, why it is unsustainable.
We know this viscerally, and we need to find the words too, the way Thomas Paine did, in his pamphlet Common Sense, that galvanized people to fight back against British rule, and Vaclav Havel’s The Power of the Powerless that became a manifesto for dissidents in Czechoslovakia, Poland, and other communist states.
Mark Carney’s speech at Davos was an impressive example of someone articulating a new reality. We need to go in that direction. I encourage you to read the whole speech.
The power of the less powerful begins with honesty. ~ Mark Carney
Examples of sanity and courage give us heart. All the people who came out in frigid weather in Minneapolis and other places, have been doing more than protesting what is harming their communities; they have been showing their support for sanity, for what is good and meaningful.
Even the most profound narrative can be temporarily silenced with a bullet, or a crucifix. And yet.
All the dictators, tyrants, and wannabes throughout history have suffered from the same problem: short-term thinking. When it comes to human beings, what can only be achieved by force can only be maintained by force. It’s always unsustainable…
As painful and disturbing as it is to witness what is happening in our time, take heart, and know that the power being abused is not real power. It has no alignment with the great systems that keep the sun in the sky, the earth turning on its axis, and our hearts and minds growing more aware of what is real and what matters. We shall overcome.
Give pause, a valuable asset. Thank you for seeing that need.
We, as a society appear to be at the cusp of the 'tipping point' to borrow a phrase from Malcolm Gladwell. Lessons to be experienced by all ... especially herr GropenFührer and his minions.
"All streams flow to the sea because it is lower than they are. humility gives it its power. if you want to govern the people, you must place yourself below them. if you want to lead the people, you must learn how to follow them.
~Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching