Today I’m contemplating Mahatma Gandhi and what he accomplished with his commitment to non-violence. He led the resistance that led to India’s independence from British rule. I think these times are requiring us to do the same, to honor non-violence as we resist this intended takeover by those who care only about making themselves even wealthier than they already are.
The 14th Dalai Lama tells the story of a Tibetan monk who spent 18 years in a Chinese prison labor camp. When asked about the dangers he faced during this time of torture, confinement, and abuse, he replied that his only true danger was the risk of losing compassion for his captors.
These examples are inspiring. It may not seem we’re facing such challenges, but things are changing rapidly. It is to be aware and prepare.
The water in the fountain rises and falls, rises and falls.
I’m starting this post with a quote from Thornton Wilder inThe Bridge of San Luis Rey, a book I read periodically. I believe in the power of Love.
There is a land of the living and a land
of the dead and the bridge is love, the
only survival, the only meaning.
With that, I suggest everyone read Heather Cox Richardson words for today, September 12. She begins with this:
On Thursday, in The New Republic, conservative judge J. Michael Luttig published a dire warning to the Republican Party…and to all Americans. In the piece, Luttig outlined how Republicans could refuse to seat elected Democrats in January after a Democratic victory in the 2026 midterm elections of November. “The coming crisis,” the piece says, would be “The Final Battle for America’s Democracy.”
Luttig spelled out that Trump is fighting a war against America’s democracy. While the refusal of Vice President Mike Pence to assist his power grab made it fail in January 2021, Luttig notes, today Trump and his Republican congressional allies are more determined than ever to take over the country.
Luttig focuses on the ability of House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to prevent the recognition of duly-elected Democratic representatives on January 3. Johnson has the power, Luttig says, to remove the current House clerk, Kevin McCumber, and replace him temporarily with a MAGA loyalist who will refuse to list Democrats on the roll of those elected to the 120th Congress.
We know what Trump did on January 6, 2021. Only Mike Pence’s courage stopped it. Now, they’ve planned more carefully, and they have Mike Johnson doing Trump’s bidding. I don’t understand it and I know we’re all doing what we can to ensure our vote counts, and yet, it almost didn’t in 2021, and now, and with it all, we hold onto and believe in the power of love.
In my meditation these days, I keep seeing and feeling the daily growth of my two Amaryllis plants. Each has its own rhythm, and reach. One is now two feet tall, and the other has settled gently in at one. I’m struggling with the photo of five year old Liam Conejo Ramos in a blue knit hat with white bunny ears and pompoms. I can’t believe I live in a country where this is happening.
I’m also with a poem by Ilya Kaminsky, “Psalm For the Slightly Tilted”.
I live in a county with a high percentage of seniors, and I’m struck by this last stanza of the poem as it feels so true of the protests I’ve attended.
