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Most would say these are difficult times. At best confusing. Many people feel overwhelmed and would prefer to block the whole thing out by watching old movies or cute animal tricks on YouTube. I can empathize with all that. Who do you believe? Are our leaders really going to be able to deal with a pandemic? How will my retirement be affected if the bottom falls out of the stock market and the economy goes south?
To answer these questions and take care of ourselves and our family and our nation, we need to stay involved. Take a deep breath and get back in the game. If you’re not sure of what's happening, then you need to do your homework. We need to check the sources of the news stories. We cannot be lazy and just accept what is being presented as the truth when we know that there is a good deal of deceit and deception going on. Are we willing to do the hard work that is required now to maintain the democracy that we have? Are we simply too overwhelmed and disinterested? It is a time to be active, not passive.
Are we in danger of losing the democracy that we have? Is that possible? It couldn't happen here, could it? Unfortunately, the answer is yes. It could happen here. The United States is a relatively new experiment in democracy. We could lose what we have. We could go through another Civil War. We need to look at what the older Western powers have gone through. Bloody revolutions and civil wars, upheaval and economic disasters.
In the crazy times that we live in, it is easy to forget that an election—a very important election—is coming up in November. Resilience requires taking action. This is a critical part of problem-solving. Making a plan is essential, but carrying it out is even more important. Despite your political leaning, I believe we all would agree that we desperately need strong leadership in Washington. So we need to ask ourselves a number of questions between now and November.
- Who will help us move ahead and rebuild our lives, our economy, and our communities?
- What tools will they apply to this process?
- Will they be competent leaders and will they appoint competent people to share the various departments in our federal government?
- Will they use science as a tool?
- Will they listen to the scientists and experts, even if they are saying things that are not popular with other members of their party?
- Will they be courageous?
This is a time for people to step forward who are willing to be vulnerable. Courage only comes when people allow themselves to be vulnerable. We desperately need courageous leaders. And the only way we will find them and support them is to allow ourselves to be vulnerable, too, and to have the courage to do so.
If you're not paying attention to what's going on, start. Use the freedoms that you have. Support your candidate. Protest against the things that you are troubled by and, most of all this fall, vote.
