While others are grilling hot dogs in red-white-and-blindfolded bliss, you’ve laid bare the true liturgy of liberty—the long, agonizing dash between illusion and justice. The dash where prophets get jailed, kids get caged, and hope becomes an act of civil disobedience.
I, too, was taught to pledge allegiance with my hand on my heart and my head in the clouds. But now I know: the revolution doesn’t live in the star-spangled spectacle. It lives in the tear gas, the courtrooms, the unmarked vans, and the quiet courage of those who refuse to give up the fight.
Let the rockets glare. Let the sky split. But let our freedom not be measured by fireworks, but by the freedom of the most despised among us.
And may the king fall again, this time for everyone.
A powerful message and one that resonates with many of our experiences in these times. Reminds me of my favorite John Lewis quote:
“But we must accept one central truth and responsibility as participants in a democracy: Freedom is not a state; it is an act. It is not some enchanted garden perched high on a distant plateau where we can finally sit down and rest. Freedom is the continuous action we all must take, and each generation must do its part to create an even more fair, more just society.”
This is so good. Gives me encouragement while I’m on an extended hiatus, semi-unplugging and staying home 90% of the time. But whenever I DO venture out or communicate in any way, I make myself known. Small talk does not interest me. I steer every convo toward THEE topic of our lifetimes because I cannot help but do so.
With obvious hostiles I at least try to leave one detailed question behind that paints a picture. Maybe, ‘doesn’t it bother you to think about someone like our neighbor __________ (a guy who cuts our lawns or the lady who makes the best quesadilla over at Racetrak or our favorite manicurist down the hill) suddenly disappearing… and then you see on the news people are somehow being transported from America to a violent prison in a completely different country, where their heads are shaved and they live in tiny cages stacked up? I mean, WHY? I wonder what happens to their kids, DONT YOU??? I wonder where the disappearing *women* are taken? I wonder how I would hold up in that situation DON’T YOU? It’s very scary, and I wonder what kind of people could participate in such activities, DON’T YOU? None of this seems political to me, it just seems completely WRONG. I even heard that guy Joe Rogan who is a big trump supporter talking about it!… I mean, is this what anyone really wants?’
I make a game out of it sometimes, plotting subversive ways to leave a little turd behind, floating around in a random brain. I lower my voice to a semi-whisper, to emphasize the climate of paranoia and fear which is descending on us. I look ‘em right in the eye with my best frightened kitten eyes when the question marks are reached. In other words, I make sure full human contact is made, no matter what the response, if any. Yep, send ‘em home with a little brain floater that won’t flush on the first try. Bonus: it’ll make you satisfied remembering, and naturally help you to start editing yourself for the next op.
The question is not "what should I do?", but "what should I be doing?"
We have a fantasy of a "one and done" grand plan to right all wrongs, but it will take an unrelenting effort and heroic patience to bend the "arc of Justice." We have to let go of expectations and nostalgia. The republic envisioned by the Founding Fathers has perished and resurrected on numerous occasions.
Just as Nazi Germany died and was reimagined as a modern democratic socialist nation, so too will the U.S. rise from the ashes of MAGA with a new national vision. The Republic is dead, long live the Republic.
If you are in touch with your authentic self, it doesn't need a pep talk to do what's best. Instead of exhorting that self, how about calling it forth? We aren't primordial sinners helplessly supplicating to an external god, but divine creatures in a sacred universe. People who are connected to that will do whatever they can to serve humanity.
On point, Mike. As always.
This is the sermon the fireworks won’t preach.
While others are grilling hot dogs in red-white-and-blindfolded bliss, you’ve laid bare the true liturgy of liberty—the long, agonizing dash between illusion and justice. The dash where prophets get jailed, kids get caged, and hope becomes an act of civil disobedience.
I, too, was taught to pledge allegiance with my hand on my heart and my head in the clouds. But now I know: the revolution doesn’t live in the star-spangled spectacle. It lives in the tear gas, the courtrooms, the unmarked vans, and the quiet courage of those who refuse to give up the fight.
Let the rockets glare. Let the sky split. But let our freedom not be measured by fireworks, but by the freedom of the most despised among us.
And may the king fall again, this time for everyone.
A powerful message and one that resonates with many of our experiences in these times. Reminds me of my favorite John Lewis quote:
“But we must accept one central truth and responsibility as participants in a democracy: Freedom is not a state; it is an act. It is not some enchanted garden perched high on a distant plateau where we can finally sit down and rest. Freedom is the continuous action we all must take, and each generation must do its part to create an even more fair, more just society.”
I can't tell you how important this was to hear.
This is so good. Gives me encouragement while I’m on an extended hiatus, semi-unplugging and staying home 90% of the time. But whenever I DO venture out or communicate in any way, I make myself known. Small talk does not interest me. I steer every convo toward THEE topic of our lifetimes because I cannot help but do so.
With obvious hostiles I at least try to leave one detailed question behind that paints a picture. Maybe, ‘doesn’t it bother you to think about someone like our neighbor __________ (a guy who cuts our lawns or the lady who makes the best quesadilla over at Racetrak or our favorite manicurist down the hill) suddenly disappearing… and then you see on the news people are somehow being transported from America to a violent prison in a completely different country, where their heads are shaved and they live in tiny cages stacked up? I mean, WHY? I wonder what happens to their kids, DONT YOU??? I wonder where the disappearing *women* are taken? I wonder how I would hold up in that situation DON’T YOU? It’s very scary, and I wonder what kind of people could participate in such activities, DON’T YOU? None of this seems political to me, it just seems completely WRONG. I even heard that guy Joe Rogan who is a big trump supporter talking about it!… I mean, is this what anyone really wants?’
I make a game out of it sometimes, plotting subversive ways to leave a little turd behind, floating around in a random brain. I lower my voice to a semi-whisper, to emphasize the climate of paranoia and fear which is descending on us. I look ‘em right in the eye with my best frightened kitten eyes when the question marks are reached. In other words, I make sure full human contact is made, no matter what the response, if any. Yep, send ‘em home with a little brain floater that won’t flush on the first try. Bonus: it’ll make you satisfied remembering, and naturally help you to start editing yourself for the next op.
The question is not "what should I do?", but "what should I be doing?"
We have a fantasy of a "one and done" grand plan to right all wrongs, but it will take an unrelenting effort and heroic patience to bend the "arc of Justice." We have to let go of expectations and nostalgia. The republic envisioned by the Founding Fathers has perished and resurrected on numerous occasions.
Just as Nazi Germany died and was reimagined as a modern democratic socialist nation, so too will the U.S. rise from the ashes of MAGA with a new national vision. The Republic is dead, long live the Republic.
If you are in touch with your authentic self, it doesn't need a pep talk to do what's best. Instead of exhorting that self, how about calling it forth? We aren't primordial sinners helplessly supplicating to an external god, but divine creatures in a sacred universe. People who are connected to that will do whatever they can to serve humanity.
Love this perspective--thank you so much for resharing on this important day for our democracy in peril!
Amen and fuck yeah