What's the Big Deal?
Disaster fatigue is a real thing, and our struggle to "track the details" makes sense as a dust devil of challenges swirls around us. For a moment, let's ground ourselves.
Monday, February 21st
Dear Freedom Friends,
Every so often, I am hit with a very real sense of fatigue. It usually coincides with forgetting to eat breakfast (and today, I missed lunch, as well). Humor and crashing blood sugar aside, I am not alone. My husband (for the first time ever) has thrown in the towel and given up on watching the news. Any news. His emotional health just isn’t up to the challenge. Another friend finds that he is too depressed to get our of bed every other day! Most people (whatever news they are consuming) have been flooded with fight or flight stress hormones for two solid years. That’s a serious problem on a number of levels.
What do all human beings need, in times of challenge?
Resiliency & endurance
Clarity of mind & healthy bodies
Energy & strength
In a very real way, all of this is more important than the topic at hand, the issue on the table, the problem in need of a solution. Because, without the chicken, you have no eggs and no omelette!
The Great Change is upon us. We all knew it was coming, but predicting how it would arrive, who would usher it in, how the cookie would crumble, in what direction the dominoes would fall and so on — was impossible. And it remains so, even as some pieces of the puzzle slide forth from the darkness to capture the light of our attention. Which is why I will add a few necessary traits to the above list.
Flexibility, adaptability & creativity
The ability to dodge, scatter and regroup
A community one can trust
On Wednesday, I will join the People’s Convoy! At 10am, those gathered at the Adelanto Stadium will officially begin our PEACEFUL transcontinental trek across this beautiful land we are so blessed to call home. I will head out of the deep desert and join the People’s Convoy as it passes through Barstow, headed for Kingman, AZ where we will enjoy our first night of rest, recuperation and community.
BUT WHY?
If we don’t have a solid answer to that question, we are far more vulnerable to confusion and overwhelm. How do I know this? It’s happening to me! As each layer of the onion is peeled away and more threats rises up to snap at my heels, I can feel my brain cells swirling around like noodles in soup. Granted, the past few weeks have been beyond intense!
The roller coaster of Canada’s Freedom Convoy continues to dash us against the rocks as elders are trampled by huge horses, residents are threatened (by strangely violent riot police no one recognizes), vehicles are vandalized and local business owners are threatened with arrest for “daring to serve the truckers” coffee and food.
The beauty of the Maori People standing up in New Zealand is contrasted with the derogatory and dismissive attitude of their government’s highest elected leader (Jacinda) as she tells MSM that New Zealanders protesting in their Capitol are misinformed, too stupid to evaluate the data, and possibly acting with malicious intent or nefarious purposes.
And I’m almost done listening to Kennedy’s book which is so perfectly cited and accurately sourced that you’ll notice, no one is claiming the book is untrue and there are no lawsuits being brought against the authors. (Full Disclosure: after 25 years as an informed consent advocate who constantly tracked new data and media manipulation, the history and details presented in this book have blown even my mind.)
As I began to prepare for the People’s Convoy, I began to rehearse how I might approach a complete stranger with an offer to record their thoughts. What question might I ask? How might people answer? Which questions would elicit the most beneficial conversations? Because five dozen people saying, “I’m here for freedom,” would almost assuredly not be the full story. My job, as an interviewer, is to create opportunities for people to consider more deeply and answer more fully. So, I began to imagine a reporter walking up to ME and saying, “Why are you at this protest? Why are you in this convoy? What’s your message?”
I don’t have a ready answer. Do you? If these questions were posed to you, would your answer flow clearly and smoothly, driving home your primary goals and concerns? Or, would you stumble over a mouthful of mounting concerns and scattershot worries? I would, and that’s a problem in need of a solution.
As people live through natural disasters or human created war, the initial reasons for engagement rub up against painful encounters and fresh traumas that stack one upon the other and we may lose track of our most heartfelt reason for stepping up in the first place. This doesn’t always happen, but it can, and it’s worth our time to take a deep breath, find a quiet space and spend some time thinking back on the past two years.
What went terribly wrong?
Who do you trust or distrust?
How has your worldview changed?
Where do you want to see us go from here?
And why?
I’ll go first. I have one concrete belief that carries the same weight as any religious, philosophical or spiritual conviction ever held by a man or a woman. It has guided every conscious decision I have ever made, and it goes like this: there are as many right answers as there are people in the world.
To every question, problem, concern or situation — the right way to respond differs from person to person — and this guarantees two things: (1) every problem has many solutions and (2) NO ONE can claim to have the best answer for anyone else. Period. Full stop.
In other words, whenever a society, culture or civilization adopts a “One Way Only” approach, BAD THINGS HAPPEN.
So, with all the other details aside, I am standing up to defend our world against the danger of totalitarianism & the horrendous harms that will inevitably occur, should such a state of coercive governance be allowed to overwhelm our planet.
I literally feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. What a relief! Thank you, my dear Freedom Friends, for journeying with me through the current, chaotic terrain of our world, to the simple truth of who I am and what I stand for.
And now, what is your Heart Truth?