You’ve Got the Power! PYL In-Flight May 14, 2022

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Terri Hanson Mead

3 min readMay 14, 2022

Welcome Back My Powerful Passengers:

I’ve spent the last few weeks wanting to write about what is going on in the world but couldn’t come up with the right angle. My TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram feeds are filled with various takes on the Roe v Wade situation. I am traumatized by what I am reading, watching, expecting, and experiencing, and I’ve been paralyzed with fear and dread.

I keep watching the trainwreck caused by the religious zealots in our country that is taking down not just women, but our democracy, and I’ve felt impotent to stop the carnage.

I vote. The people I know vote. Asking all of you to vote is pointless. You already vote.

So, what can we do? What can we do that can fit into our normal routines and that can add up over time?

Be intentional about where your money goes and who you support.

If you have a choice between shopping at Whole Foods or your local market that supports the community and has similar values to yours, shop at the local market.

If you have a choice between going to a local coffee shop that supports your community and has similar values versus one that is run by a family that not only went to the January 6th insurrection but insisted on having the BLM signs taken down in your city, choose the local coffee shop. (Yep, this is real. Zeke said it best when he wrote about Chez Nous? Chez nope!)

Most of you have the luxury of choice so channel that privilege and wield your financial power.

Yes, goods and services are expensive right now, but our rights and freedoms are at stake and if we lose them, not much will matter.

It may be easy to buy goods from Amazon but can you support a local shop or other online retailer with values that align with yours? A company that pays taxes perhaps?