Piloting Your Life: In-Flight Entertainment (And Not Or) (June 9, 2020)
Welcome Back My Capable Passengers:
I just saw a Planned Parenthood ad on YouTube as I was getting my morning started and was reminded of the war on women’s bodies and reproductive health. In the US, there’s a war on women. There’s a war on black people. There’s a war on immigrants. There’s a war on brown people. There’s a war on poor people. There’s a war on queer people. There’s a war on education. The list goes on and on.
It all comes down to power and not feeling like one is not getting enough of the American pie.
But is life pie? Are the resources so scarce that one has to fight for their sliver? Their fair share? What does fair share really mean anyway? Who gets to decide?
No. Life is not pie. Certain people in this country were led to believe that there isn’t enough for everyone and therefore you have to take as much as you can get or someone ‘less deserving’ will get yours. How we define ‘less deserving’ depends on how the threats have been imagined and propagated.
After we finished recording today’s video, my second child Rei and I talked about how to focus on more than one issue right now. Racism is front and center and I am really hoping that we can work together to make some significant changes. But what about all the other shit?
While a lot of us are overwhelmed by the numerous demands in our personal and professional lives, we don’t have the luxury to take the easy path and ignore the threats to our democracy, the threats to people in our society, our dismal healthcare system, and our constitutional rights as Americans.
We are capable of focusing on more than one threat and issue. And we must.
We can’t focus on all of them at the same time or we become ineffective (not to mention the toll on our minds and bodies). What we need right now is effective change, not rhetoric. Pick two causes you care about and get educated, follow the activity, and do one thing every day or week to move that cause forward. Posting support on social media doesn’t count but writing letters, standing up for something or someone, making a contribution or an introduction, doing something at work to expand opportunities all count.
Just do something and stop just talking about it.
YouTube: More Than One Shiny Object (Keep the Pressure On)
I really struggled with how to talk about the topic of today’s video. I was worried about sounding tone deaf or being perceived as one who is guilty of distracting with ‘what about.’ As I prepared for the video, I realized that for all of us, it’s never just one thing, and we can focus on more than one critical issue in our country and in our lives. That’s where the And comes in.
YouTube: Less Talk, More Action (Revolution)
Every day it feels like I have bees swarming at me and the moment I swat one away, another one comes at me. The bees are the issues in the US that can’t be ignored whether it’s shit coming from the White House or the constant evidence of shitty people and shitty institutions in our country. It’s overwhelming but we must take action. More in Saturday’s video.
What’s my challenge for you today? Take a step back, take a breath, regroup, get perspective, and pick a few causes to get behind. Then take action.
With much love and gratitude,
Terri
P.S. Take the controls and be the pilot in your own life. It’s a beautiful day to fly, and you are cleared for takeoff.
Song: Talkin’ About a Revolution (Tracy Chapman)
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