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Audette Fulbright urges us to “cast our vision” for a better world.
Always take the opportunity not to (just) say what you hate . . . but more—what do you **love?** I’d love to see competent leadership return to the Executive. . . . I’m looking forward to making sure we don’t leave the Paris Accords, and to finally having competent national Pandemic leadership, etc. You want to be sure to STRENGTHEN THE NEURAL PATHWAYS that make the connections and bring to mind the (for example) candidates or people whose work or vision you want to see succeed. (Facebook, May 21)
Speaking at an event protesting the death of Ahmaud Arbery, Jane Altman Page bluntly admits that she, a 69-year-old white, Southern woman, was raised to be racist. (Facebook, May 16)
Jordinn Nelson Long turned down her neighbor’s offer of pepper plants, because she had nothing to give in return.
In that moment I forgot how neighbors, and neighboring, and neighborhoods, work. How we abide in the care of one another, and how we are meant to. . . .
What we put on the line in community, at least sometimes, is not fair price, but its sheer opposite: our assent to owe one another, our willingness to swallow our pride and not make it even, our abandonment of the futile attempt to live fully independent of one another. (Facebook, May 16)
John Beckett answers the nihilism of a social media meme.
Life is a process of growth and decline. We’re born, we grow, we live, we decline, we die. So does every other living thing in this world, in one way or another. “Life is decay” is no more accurate than “life is birth” or “life is growth.”
Life is a bargain. We get growth, happiness, and joy. We also get decay, sadness, and pain. . . .
Life isn’t a fair bargain. Some get much and others get little. Our job—if we choose to accept it—is to make sure everyone gets enough. Accepting that job is its own reward. (Under the Ancient Oaks, May 21)
Alarmed by a congregant’s hospitalization for large blood clots, Joanne Fontaine Crawford tells us we need to get up and get moving.
Do what people have been doing since the start of time. Dance! Close your drapes if you’re self-conscious, put on your favorite music, and dance like no one is watching. Or dance like the world is watching, if that’s what motivates you.
The other reason for moving? You’ll feel better. There's tons of research about how even moderate movement, like arm exercises, lift your mood and sharpen your mind. But for me, I’ll take the advice of renowned expert, James Brown:
Get up offa that thing
And dance ’till you feel better! (Boots and Blessings, May 20)
Doug Muder argues that Democrats need to work hard in the 2020 elections—and not waste energy on unnecessary worries.
Democrats should not get complacent going down the stretch, because at the last minute Trump will be ready to try anything. But he won’t suddenly become a master strategist.
He’ll thrash and he’ll bluster and he’ll try crazy things. But like most things he tries, they won’t be well thought out. And like most things he tries, they won’t work. (The Weekly Sift, May 18)
Catharine Clarenbach shares her meandering musings about mercy.
[Mercy] has no hands, no mouths, no hearts but ours. And mercy, like forgiveness, like grace, is unearned. It is a gift that emerges from largesse of heart. We hope for mercy when we know when we have wronged someone (or SomeOne) by our actions or speech, and especially we hope for forgiveness when we have wronged someone who is in a position of greater power than we have. Mercy lightens the heart of the one who receives it, and it broadens the heart of the one who gives it. (The Way of the River, May 15)