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Be where you are [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-01-27

This is not what I'd planned to write about today, or when I had the chance to put my thoughts down for an article. But the one still in the works will wait, patiently as it happens because it goes back and forth in time. Thus, not the in-the-moment urgency of most of the articles here and pretty much everywhere right now.

The immediate impetus for this article today? I was watching/listening early this morning to an interview on Pod Save America, hosted by Jon Favreau, and with his guest for the entire hour one of my favorite journalists, Rachel Maddow. I had to stop and start the interview as I was in the kitchen cooking for my two doggos while also making sure they didn't harass each other too much or irritate the cats (if you are owned by cats, you know they have a short fuse); and serendipity worked--not listening straight through allowed me to jot down ideas, walk around drinking my coffee while thinking about what she was saying and what it may mean for the millions of us who are concerned, upset, angry, scared, all of the above, add your own words please, over the s**t show we know is going to be a four-year slog through, well, you know what.

The takeaways? First, she has said every week, and before she went to a weekly show, almost every night, Monday through Friday, after Trump won the first time in 2016, and then throughout his first term; and then, holy cow, while he ran again for president at the same time he was in court trying to throw out the election he'd lost that it was imperative for us to "watch what they do; not what they say." Far too often the words are simply a way to alarm us, distract us, and scare us; it's a way of keeping us off balance. But they are as often more trolling than intended action driven.

Indeed, Ben Meiselas, of the Meidas Touch Network calls these words crap WMD--by which of course he doesn't mean destruction, but rather, Weapons of Mass Distraction. In a comment I made one night to his show, I said I called it the Shiny Objects Theory and I guess he'd read that comment and named that day's shuck and jive nonsense the shiny objects theory. Which goes to say, comment, interact with these folks, the ones you respect and trust. They need to know that we are not only listening and watching, but we are thinking about what they are saying and care enough to engage with them. It's a lonely job they have. And many of them have given up their careers and much higher incomes.

And to pick our fights and shots--meaning choosing not to die on every darned hill.

Find places to put your thoughts, your activism and if possible, your money. (I've been paying attention to where best to spend my money, what I have of it to donate, and have concluded that the cascade of legal fights we'll have to deal with will require a lot of dedication, lawyers, and that biggie, money. So, to that end, I am going to donate monthly to the ACLU.)

For our mental, physical and spiritual well-being? Well, Maddow ice fishes. Not me for sure, but I take her meaning. Just her, a fishing rod, a lonely spot, nature and the time spent away from thinking all the darned time about the situation we find ourselves in. Find those things that bring you joy and embrace them, even if it's only for an hour or two.

She also reads fiction. Which is something I'm all in on. I'm finishing up now a 12-book series (the 12th book is in process--he, the author, is on deadline to publish it in mid-May). In book 11, a British mystery, as are all of them, his protagonists are working to solve a murder that intersects with the coming war--and what we will then in history call WWI. These books are so well-written, with banter and humor and history, that I am able to immerse myself in them and not have even one thought about the crap swirling around us. Not a bad thing for the monthly cost of a Kindle Unlimited membership. (And yes, I know, it's Amazon---which as much as possible I've now decided not to use for purchases; it's not easy to compromise my own decision and values, but on this one, I think $11.99 a month isn't going to do much to aid the juggernaut that is Amazon.)

Stay hydrated; eat better than you usually do if you haven't been paying particular attention to what you put in your mouth; try to stay away from alcohol--it's not a solution to the angst; get enough sleep so you can wake up refreshed and keep taking on the issues that matter to you (in addition to the daily grind of keeping up with our regular lives of work, family, chores, friends, school, worship--which together can be overwhelming in and of themselves).

However, here as is often the way of things, past is prologue. Today's thoughts on being where you are were triggered by a phoenix rising from the ashes.

Years and years ago I attended a week-long series of classes and seminars, can't even remember now what the subject/topic/point of it even was. But anyway, one of the speakers and the leader of a seminar that spanned two days, came out on stage, sat down, and chatted to us before he launched into his lecture.

He told us he'd been a Catholic priest who'd left his order, entered the world of work and business, married and was the proud dad of a little guy. The little guy was the point of his chat: he said he'd taken his young son to a movie and while they waited for the previous viewers to leave the theater, his pager went off. The beeper message included the words "urgent that you call this number." And as he said, "like a lemming to the sea, I began to look around for a pay phone."

Then he brought himself up short and realized that what he was about to do would mean he'd likely not see the movie, have to take his son home disappointed, and never recapture that moment again. Unbidden these words came to him: "Be where you are."

This memory and the words Rachel Maddow spoke in her hour-long interview/chat with Jon Favreau, reminded me of the impact this former Catholic priest had on my life all those years ago.

We are in for a very long haul, with awful events, distress and law-breaking, as well as the real potential for harm to our economy, our country, and worst of all, to thousands, maybe even millions of our own and the world's citizens. As this is our new and unwelcome reality, we could do worse than to choose to be where we are. Every day. To be in the moment. To deal with what is and not what may be. Indeed, if you think about it, dealing just with what is in front of us is more than enough. And it will aid in keeping us whole and not exhausted while we still have miles to go before we sleep.

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