Sunday Reflections – 29 January 2017

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Happy Sunday! Or not. Maybe this should read Angry Sunday? Because the president is doing a great job making people angry, myself included.

I don’t know about you but I was hypnotized by the news this week. I could not tear myself away from Twitter as the executive orders starting rolling in. It got so that I was afraid to find out what I missed upon returning from meetings or in the morning. I am simultaneously embarrassed for my country and so proud of my countrymen for taking to the streets and the airwaves to protest the orders, particularly the Muslim ban. I have tried calling one of my senators and my representative, who just happens to be the Speaker of the House. My senator’s three phone lines all have full voicemail boxes, and the Speaker’s phone is constantly busy. I take this as a good sign. People are speaking up and speaking out in ways we have not seen since the 1960s. It makes me hopeful that the damage the president and his chief of staff seem to want to inflict on the country can be contained and eventually overturned. Hopefully, that day is sooner rather than later.

I would say this was a business-as-usual week, but there was nothing usual about it. I made phone calls. I wrote postcards. I tweeted. I read. I debated with my family. It was probably the most politically active I have ever been, and I know this is just the beginning. For those of you who are like me and get horribly anxious at the thought of making a cold call to a politician, I have found the site 5calls.org to be very helpful. They have scripts that remove some of the fear for you and provide you with the words to say in case you have no idea. So helpful and as I said, based on my attempts to call, it is working. What are you doing to express your opinions and make your voice heard?

Here are past posts from the last week in case you missed them the first time:

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? – 23 January 2017
History is All You Left Me – Teen angst at its finest
Little Deaths – Tragic and timely
Caraval is magic
Fabulous Friday – 27 January 2017

Try and have a wonderful Sunday and an even better work week, everyone. The news is exhausting, and I can see how silence can be so much easier than expending the energy it takes to speak out about injustices. Get your rest and gear up for the week to come; I suspect it is going to be a doozy.