Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts
Don't Ever Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down
Trump and Republicans want us to be downhearted so we won't vote. I'm with Keb Mo and Maria Muldaur. Don't Ever Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down.
Book Review of Across That Bridge by John Lewis
I have defined myself as a nonviolent person since reading Gandhi in college. That view of who I am has been challenged many times in my life, but never as much as since trump took up residence in the white house.
I struggle daily, asking myself... what am I capable of to protect my family, friends, strangers and the U.S. from fascism. My thoughts and words have often not been very comforting nor nonviolent.
I picked up John Lewis' book Across That Bridge after he died. I knew he was a great congressman from Georgia, had marched with Martin Luther King and had received the medal of honor from President Obama.
I wish I had paid closer attention while he was alive. I did not know the depth of his spirituality, strength and commitment to nonviolence.
Lewis describes struggle as "the act of making things right," both personally and in society. He goes on to say...
"And it is an expression of the inner dissonance a person experiences within his or her own mind and heart, a continuing disturbance that will not cease until the circumstances have been corrected."
My copy of Across That Bridge bleeds with yellow highlighter. His chapters are broken down into...
Faith
Patience
Study
Truth
Act
Peace
Love
Reconciliation
My favorite quote from his chapter on Peace is "Sometimes you have to be willing to turn things upside down to make them right side up."
I needed this book. I needed it now. It inspired me, it challenged me to be better, it encouraged me to study.
What Makes Us Come Alive Theme Song
There are many versions of this song and it is often quoted, Most recently I saw it mentioned in John Lewis' book Across the Bridge. It is my absolute go to song for hard times. Although many singers have recorded it, Sam Cooke's version remains my favorite.
So get up, dance and let your light shine. The world needs it.
Top Ten Reasons to Keep the Faith by S. Timothy Glasscock
9. We are all in the same boat. While not everyone is as upset with the current president as you are, the social unrest he’s created has just about every citizen longing for peaceful times and less stress. Sometimes, the very people who decide a certain ne’er-do-well is in their best interest to employ, decide that he’s outlasted his usefulness and give him the old heave-ho. When they say “Every dog will have his day,” that’s what they mean.
8. The constitution. It has held up through war, social unrest, devious criminals, gerrymandering, Supreme Court shenanigans, assassinations, civil war, and is still standing strong. While numerous political factions have tried to manipulate its precepts, and lawmakers and lawbreakers alike have defied it, the protections, checks, and balances laid out in that precious document have held fast and kept a million awful things from happening. And it still is.
7. The uncertainty principle. (Not the one by Heisenberg) Robert Burns wrote “The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley.” And what he means (I think) is that those who think they’ve got it all figured out, rarely do. Yeah, it seems like a great party to throw all rules and established procedures for running a government out the window and do things “off the cuff,” until the very crises and dilemmas for which these procedures were created crop up and BAM! Suddenly you’re the laughing stock of the world. No matter how the current kakistocracy tries to spin the Covid-19 pandemic and resultant economic crash, there’s no way to escape their culpability in our downfall. Trump OWNS this mess and everyone knows it.
Read the rest of Tim's list...
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