Complaining Versus Volunteering
These days, social media and tv provide an endless barrage of situations that trigger us to react with righteous anger.
We’re right to be incensed at the imprisonment of babies whose only crimes were being carried or walked across a line in the sand, from Mexico to California, as their parents sought safety for their families. We’re right to be horrified at the pictures, videos and sound recordings of the babies crying as they’re ripped out of their parents’ arms by heartless ICE agents, who are “just following orders” and we’re right to be ashamed and infuriated by the politicians pushing forward bills to take us backward in time, to days of segregation of schools, busses, restaurants and water fountains. We’re right to be disgusted when we see signs in shop windows saying that LGBTQAI people are not welcome.
The fact that this and many other crimes against humanity, being perpetrated and encouraged by the US government, this year, should enflame our moral outrage!
But being angry isn’t enough.
Complaining isn’t enough.
Signing petitions online or even out in front of your grocery mart isn’t enough.
Signing the petitions helps, and complaining to your local politicians helps, and sending complaints to your politicians on Capitol Hill might even help……..when they deign to answer their phones.
Actually, being angry CAN help, if it motivates you to JOIN. Hillary said it best:
STRONGER TOGETHER.
And before Hillary, Obama said it, in his own way:
YES WE CAN.
You don’t have to have liked or supported them, to be able to admit that they had a good point. One whiner- complainer can be brushed off or easily silenced. Large numbers of people in the same place at the same time, are hard to miss. (Also, they photograph well, from news helicopters).
Another great truism is this: There is nothing new under the sun.
When I say that, here, I mean that if you are passionate about something, than chances are good that you’re not the only one who is passionate about that thing. You don’t have to be that lone whiner- complainer that gets brushed off by Capital Hill or your local politicians. You can join up with like minded folk and ……
Make a difference!
I happen to know of several really great organizations that would love to have more members with whom to march and resist and speak out for important causes:
The ACLU takes on domestic civil rights issues, on a regular basis. Amnesty International does similar work, internationally.
These days, social media and tv provide an endless barrage of situations that trigger us to react with righteous anger.
Of course we’re right to be incensed at the imprisonment of babies whose only crimes were being carried or walked across a line in the sand, from Mexico to California, as their parents sought safety for their families. We’re right to be horrified at the pictures, videos and sound recordings of the babies crying as they’re ripped out of their parents’ arms by ICE agents, and we’re right to be ashamed and infuriated by the politicians pushing forward bills to take us backward in time, to days of segregation of schools, busses, restaurants and water fountains. We’re right to be disgusted when we see signs in shop windows saying that LGBTQAI people are not welcome.
The fact that this and many other crimes against humanity, being perpetrated and encouraged by the US government, this year, should enflame our moral outrage!
But being angry isn’t enough.
Complaining isn’t enough.
Signing petitions online or even out in front of your grocery mart isn’t enough.
Signing the petitions helps, and complaining to your local politicians helps, and sending complaints to your politicians on Capitol Hill might even help……..when they deign to answer their phones.
Actually, even being angry CAN help, if it motivates you to JOIN. Hillary said it best:
STRONGER TOGETHER.
And before Hillary, Obama said it, in his own way:
YES WE CAN.
You don’t have to have liked or supported them, to be able to admit that they had a good point. One whiner- complainer can be brushed off or easily silenced. Large numbers of people in the same place at the same time, are hard to miss. (Also, they photograph well, from news helicopters).
Another great truism is that: There is nothing new under the sun.
When I say that, here, I mean that if you are passionate about something, than chances are good that you’re not the only one who is passionate about that thing. You don’t have to be that lone whiner- complainer that gets brushed off by Capital Hill or your local politicians. You can join up with like minded folk and ……
Make a difference!
I happen to know of several really great organizations that would love to have more members with whom to march and resist and speak out for important causes:
The ACLU takes on domestic civil rights issues, on a regular basis. Amnesty International does similar work, internationally.
I belong to California Calls for a Constitutional Convention, which is a group that has read the Constitution and understood it well enough to be aware that these conventions to discuss and revamp the Constitution are written into the body of the text, itself. ….. for a good reason. Our Founding Fathers knew that society changes, and so do the needs of a society, and therefore, the Constitution, as they were writing it was going to someday need to change to meet the needs of an entirely new nation of people.
We (the United States of America) are not what we once were.
We no longer believe in witches. We know now that slavery is wrong, and that women and black people can be educated enough to be trusted to vote and work outside the home. We have invented airplanes, and learned that that E= MC Squared and that we are not the center of the Universe.
We have more powerful telescopes and microscopes then we had when the Constitution was written and our weapons are similarly more powerful and efficient. At the same time, we no longer have to hunt for our food. We can drive a block or two down the street and walk into a grocery store and buy just about anything we need, from meat, to school supplies to dairy to microwavable treats and toys that hatch from eggs when you put them in a bowl of water for a day.
The Constitution made no mention of genteel and sustainable treatment of our environment, because back then, there was no mass production of meat and eggs. There were slaves to plant and harvest our fields, and feed and slaughter or buy our meat, instead, after a long hike or buggy ride into town. There were no factories belching noxious fumes into the air, and dumping their waste into the waterways of our once beautifully unpolluted country.
The Constitution also made no mention of guns for the masses, but only for the militia, and those were supposed to be stored in barracks. That was the only mention, because we hadn’t yet invented anything smaller than a rifle which needed reloading after every shot. We hadn’t yet invented ARs and AKs, pistols or tanks that each cost more than meals for an entire country of school children for a YEAR.
Consider this: Contracts between employer and employee often get revamped and tweaked. Employees get raises and new benefit packages written into their new contracts, and Employers get their employees to take on bigger responsibilities. (Mind you- these contracts span ONE LIFETIME). It only stands to reason then, that:
Our 300+ YEAR OLD Constitution could use a once over.
Our country has become more populous and more powerful than ever before. We have also become more wasteful, polluting, and dangerously short sighted than ever before. For a long time, we were an example of healthful, and progressive thinking and we were on a path to becoming a more fair and just nation, to our citizens of all ethnicities, colors and beliefs. We were just starting to live up to our promise of being the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.
Now, our Federal Government has begun to turn back the clock, under the auspices of “Making America Great Again” and it has become clear that We The People need a Constitution that better protects our Civil Rights, Nature’s rights, State’s rights, and all other rights……..especially from our Federal Government- those that we elected and trusted to make laws and decisions in our best interest.
We can do better for ourselves and we DESERVE better than we’ve recently gotten from our Federal Government. Our current administration has turned its back on what it good for the country, and shown its true colors: Greed and Corruption.
The Constitution was not even originally written to foster the democracy of which we are so proud. It was written by Rich White Males FOR Rich White Males:
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45/267.html
Eventually, our government, organically became a two party system, thanks again, to our Constitution:
This two party system is bad for the country, simply because it is CALLED a “two party system”.
That puts a subconscious message into the heads of everyone, and especially into the heads of our politicians that they must compete as teams and win for their team, at all costs, even if what they win is a terrible policy/law for the country, and this has gone on long enough.
We can’t possibly be a country of people that loves war and weapons of war, such as tanks and fighter jets more than our starving ranks of children and their families. We can’t possibly care more about being permitted to keep military grade weaponry in our homes than we do about the safety of our students. We can’t possibly care more about children of our nation than we do about the children of the rest of the world.
THAT IS NOT WHO WE ARE!!
We are better than that.
We are better than that, because we have to be. This nation’s PEOPLE have a reputation to uphold, in spite of the low born and short sighted behavior of our Federal officials. We have to show the rest of the world, BY OUR ACTIONS, that our “President” doesn’t represent us, and we’ve made a pretty good start.
Marching and being present in the Capitol Building and chanting and singing, is attention getting, and lets our politicians and our “President” know that we are NOT OKAY with ripping babies out of their mothers’ arms, no matter where they came from.
Marching and holding signs and chanting about his not having shown his taxes lets him know that that didn’t slip by us either- the fact that he’s cheated on not only his wives and contractors, but also on his taxes.
And maybe the Constitution needs to cover who can be eligible to become a politician or a “leader” of our people, because there was nothing in the first one saying that it had to be someone who had done military service, or so many hours of volunteer service, and had never been convicted of a crime. …..or at least not been sued over 1000 times, for 1000 different crimes. ……….
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/02/us/politics/donald-trump-draft-record.html
So JOIN an organization that shares your passion and be sure to vote too.
And (*1): If you are interested in California Calls for a Constitutional Convention, feel free to ask me, or just click Cal Con Con.
Yours in Service
Sue Hirsch, CHC and Hostess of Calexit Radio