Dear Editor:
Imagine: Before downtown construction and before last summer’s tourists, shop owners are busily preparing, making things just right. Finally, you’re going to open your new china shop filled with your beautiful collections of hand-thrown pottery and imported art. Though the shelves are loaded, they’re not set for display. You’ve got to get-er-done!
Help! Light bulb! So, you grab your two bulls, the fat old orange one and the impetuous musk ox. Dragging them by their nose rings, you get ‘em through the door - and let ‘em go! “Rearrange with efficiency, boys! You know, like you’ve never seen anything like it before!” Good idea?
That’s the Trump madhouse that we’ve elected. Elections have consequences. Now we’re in this together, no matter who you are or how you voted. Or not voted. So now what?
In the early days of these first 100, I was scared, dazed, and intimidated by the constant barrage of lies, norm-smashing, law-breaking, with threats to anyone he could cow, and much more. Just the way an aspiring dictator loves it!
So, I knew I needed to do something! But what? “I can do very little by myself,” I desperately pondered. I sought help as best I could and searched. Several things slowly came to me. Among them, the book “From Dictator to Democracy” by Gene Sharp, and clear guidance on “nonviolent action” from his website, “The Albert Einstein Institution” at www.aeinstein.org, with books, articles, videos, and more. Plus, more books from our Ruby Sisson Library, many YouTube videos, and deep conversations with close local friends. I also joined community members with deep insight and awareness, for marches and holding signs.
Please understand that we are in this together! This is NOT about which party you adhere to, your religion, your ethnicity, what philosophies float your boat, etc.. This is about “We The People” saving our Democracy and Country from dictatorship, and staying free!
I’m amazed at the variety of thoughts, life stories, and aspirations we each have. Everyone must be honored and respected. We all fail and make mistakes at times. The greatest goal remains: to learn to love as we walk this earth journey.
I have been a registered Republican, a Democrat, or an Independent through the years. Even though I’ve hated politics, especially when they fail to be fair and honest, or worse e.g. heartlessly cruel, vindictive, and self-serving, things changed when I became a grandfather. I needed to understand much more history, politics, and human nature. I/we need to protect their future.
I see all things as a gift, even hard things. How we choose to respond is what sets us apart. Armed with choice gives us power and defends us from being victims. Being a victim is a choice and an attitude.
Donald Trump is serving mankind by giving “We The People” a stark clarity of choice. And the majority of us do not want what he’s trying to shove down our throats!
Mitch Nielsen
