It’s Personal.
It’s our family, kids, parents, friends, neighbors, co-workers, people we love.
Friends, the insanity continues. Watching the reality of 2.0’s first 50 days, the Republican Congressional leadership remaining lock-step out of cowardice even though many know these policies and most certainly this budget will directly harm their constituents, the lies upon lies, and a gold statue of DT in Gaza with floating dollar bills is…a travesty.
Travesty was the word I used in 2016 to describe the rise of this kind of unhealthy destructive and divisive leader (and his alignment with Evangelicals), and it remains one of the best ways to describe it. The image on it says “We’ve got to give up our addiction to kings.”
The problem with this travesty is the real harm it is doing to real people.
While we are at a stage in our lives where we currently aren’t personally at risk, none of this is theoretical to me, my family, our community. These policies, this hijacking of our country by brazen billionaires, Christian nationalists, and talk show hosts are a violation of our core values and touch close to home.
I know it’s the same for many of you.
This isn’t theoretical.
It’s personal.
It’s your family. It’s you. It’s your kids. It’s your parents. It’s your students. It’s your co-workers. It’s your neighbors. It’s the people you love who are being harmed.
It’s my family. My friends. My community.
It’s personal.
My husband’s family immigrated here from El Salvador when he was 4.
I watched Fox News, conservative Christian propaganda, and Q-Anon suck in my mother-in-law in ways that were deeply painful to our family (I know many of you know this grief, too).
My adult kids and husband all have or are currently serving as officers in the military.
My husband is a lawyer at a legal aid clinic serving immigrants and vulnerable women and children.
My mom is 85 years old and worked her tail off her whole life, most of it as a single mom, to make it; she shouldn’t be scared that the benefits she earned might be stripped.
One of my sons is now an incredible and passionate DEI professional deeply dedicated to belonging and the kind of change we desperately need (and no amount of executive orders can extinguish).
I’ve also watched narcissistic abusive male leaders do their thing for the past 20+ years in ministry and in marriage to my friends and know first hand what the deep grooves of patriarchy perpetuates. Witnessing blatant misogyny, broligarchy-bestowed power, and abusive leadership practices that harm but are praised is hard on the soul. Chain saws?
But beyond my immediate family are my friends, The Refuge, and the wider community we’re connected to.
In my circle, no one is untouched.
Many of our friends are LGBTQ+ or have kids who are. We’ve got parents who rely on Medicaid and Medicare to get the resources they deserve in aging. They are kids and grownups with disabilities, medical realities, and mental health challenges that require the social safety net. We are connected to friends, neighbors, and co-workers who are immigrants at risk or have dedicated their careers to equity, justice, serving the community, and the environment. We have friends who are federal workers who have no idea what will happen. And so many are healing from Christian religious trauma and whoa, this Project 2025 stuff is definitely touching wounds.
The Refuge is also a community with many who are unhoused, single moms, kids and grownups with significant disabilities, seniors with no safety nets, veterans with mental and physical challenges, immigrants and refugees at risk, and friends without financial resources. Losing Medicaid, housing support, food assistance, and crucial resources isn’t a blip or a little squeeze, it’s devastation.
Despite all our love, care, community, support, and connection, The Refuge is squeaking by as it is and will not be able to meet the financial needs that will be required if the social net is ravaged with the false and dangerous assumption “people can get to work if they want to.”
So what do we do?
Keep making it personal.
~ Tell our own personal stories, the stories of our kids, our families, our friends, our students, our people, our communities.
~ When we call our representatives, share real stories about how we and the people we love are being affected. For me, this week, I’ve got my friend who is a senior, single, and disabled facing needed surgery but panicking if she should even do it if she’s losing her benefits that she needs to survive, a mom who has lived here for over 20 years, owns her home and pays taxes, worried about getting pulled over on her way home from work and ending up in ICE detention and not making it back to her kids, transgender friends needing to fill out forms and finding their identity is no longer listed and what that means as citizens of this country. These are the stories we need to tell.
~ Refuse to let Christian pastors off the hook who are supporting this unholy alliance with king-making and worship of golden calves; and, whatever you do, stop giving them money.
~ Vote with our buying if we are able to–refusing to give money to those aligned with this madness. I miss Amazon, but there has been a freedom in separating from them, too.
~ Encourage non-profit leaders, federal workers, our local representatives who are representing our values, community organizers, and those who are leading courageously despite the costs.
~ And if we are able to, find ways individually and in our communities to cultivate light, joy, tenderness, connection, and support whenever we can, wherever we can, however we can.
Let’s keep remembering to make it personal, together.
PS: Remember, today is Economic Blackout Day if you’re able. Unfortunately and sadly, money does talk. While it may seem like a small thing, every small thing is something.
With you from Colorado,
