Good morning! On Saturday, April 19th protests are once again being held all over the U.S. You can find an event to join here:
Over 5 million activists participated in the April 5th protests. This weekend there will be many other events, religious, athletic and patriotic that can either compete or complement our beliefs. We can choose to focus on our private or political lives, or both. Any of these choices will be the right one for you. I share what I have chosen for me and hope that this will help you.
Every day I wake up I wonder—what new Armageddon are we facing today. I become easily discouraged when I think about the daily destruction of non-citizens and their families, our democracy, our rights, our culture, so I do what I can. Like the Boston Marathon that will take place this coming Monday we have a long road ahead of us. There are days when I rest, days when I push myself, days when I just go through the political paces of phone calls. I protect my psyche. As my friends know, I’ve never been a TV watcher, so cutting out that medium was easy for me. I subscribe to at least a dozen activist newsletters but don’t read all of them every day. I remove traumatizing triggers and temporarily block friends on Facebook who post disturbing videos of immigrants being attacked and detained. I go to the piano almost every day to remind myself that yes, there is beauty in this world. And when I question what good will it do to protest, I only have one answer—what good will it do to remain silent? I draw inspiration from the power of the peaceful protesters that brought down dictators in Poland, Estonia and other countries. What if they had stayed home?
I have to hope that we will prevail. I feed that hope by being a part of communities like this one, where we support, inspire and motivate each other. Being one of the 100,000 marchers in Boston on April 5th raised my spirits. We are not alone. We are growing in numbers. Experiment. Make a phone call; write a postcard; join a small or a big protest; write a letter of thanks to people who have integrity (looking at you Harvard University.) Do whatever fuels your hope, because hope is what fuels power. Peace, Betty
And now the music:
In 1987 Estonians, known for their huge choral gatherings and festivals, began to sing patriotic songs that were banned by the Russians. “Mu isamaa on minu arm” (melody written by Gustav Ernesaks) was one of the songs that imbued Estonians with hope and the strength to gather again and again and sing their opposition until they gained their freedom from the Soviet Union in 1991.