YES. Yesterday in this stupid city I call home, there was a "freedom rally" full of people supporting Putin, carrying guns, and screaming about how LGBTQ communities don't deserve rights. Fucking ridiculous.
Great podcast! OK here's the scoop just a little background born in a fairly liberal province and family we were taught people are people we treat them with respect end of story. My grandson is gay , nephew Trans with alot of friends loving anyone they want being anything they want feeling anything they feel. With all that said yes stand up for what you believe be passionate about your cause yes!!!! I live in a small community and feel this is where I make changes through love. I support soldiers with PTSD because without them we would not have rights! They have an art therapy program and their art tells NOT a pretty story which people need to see. I appreciate your compassion not being pessimistic how can you change an inbedded thought . Yes talk yes throw your voice etc.. .someone said to me NOT too long ago everyone has a category AND wants a category that's why the LBGQ needs theirs I said why I'm more than just an artist a jeweler and a woman I hope I'm more complex than that??? I get we all need to fit ( although I never have and I'm ok ) maybe there are too many labels BE NICE BOTTOM LINE!
Reminds me of years ago, I was working in hospice and had heard many stories from patients and families of their lives and things they wished they had done or regrets they took to their graves.
I hung up a small sheet of paper in my cubicles that in bold large print said:
“NO REGRETS!”
Our spiritual care coordinator came by one day and saw it and said “I like your sign but it could be much better.”
I didn’t understand until he told me it was “passive”…
“What is Adam going to do in his life to have ‘NO REGRETS!’ ?”, he said.
I changed the sign that day to say:
“DEFY REGRETS!”
Then and especially now, we have to be about action. The conversations that need to be had with family and friends, making a change from that job that is robbing you of who you were created to be, taking a day just for you to be and dwell and enjoy…and reaching out to our siblings near and far in communities that don’t look like us, smell like us, speak the same languages as us, pray like us…this is a call to action!
Tyler, I was not aware of you donating sperm for that family…my brother that is ACTION!
That is not just attending a parade and handing out cotton candy and saying we support you kind of ally (nothing wrong in that, by the way) - but yours is next level commitment that blows my mind and stirs me up to much more!
Your Sunday morning rants (as I appreciatively call them )are infinite times better than any Sunday sermon I have ever heard in my past lives. Thank you! I’m with you!
I love this. Thank you for your URGE for ACTION!!! I have been a social worker working with kids and families in a variety of ways for 30+ years in my town. I also have adult kids with co-occurring disorders (brain disease and substance use as a way to try to self medicate). This is the world I am now trying to make a difference in, since my kids are in it. It's a hell realm for sure, and the countless ways we as a culture abandon care for people with brain disorders crushes me every day. This is why I will be putting your haiku on my fridge this morning, bc I need the encouragement. I'm in the thick of it right now. Friendly reminder: if you are sitting comfortably and well fed in your home pondering how you would like to help, you have immense privilege. Pick a passion and be a resource. Give as much as you can. And if you're not, reach out and get yourself resourced. Being strong as a community is where it's at! Thank you so much for this beautiful post.
I think we can start by engaging the people who have a different opinion from our own. We should try to understand why they hold those beliefs. Once that attempt is made, we can respectfully tell our own story. It helps when people feel like they've been heard. This takes courage but I'm trying to do that and hopefully change a few hearts and minds out there. Who said, "Be the change you want to see in the world."?
As I was listening to the podcast I kept nodding my head and thinking of the expression "Think globally, act locally". Especially regarding the imposing size of so many concerns and the seeming paralysis it causes to see them as so big while we are so small. It really is the collective energy that we need...not for one person to save the world by themselves. That said, I'm a big fan of looking at scope and locality of a problem and boots on the ground nature of the situation. In my local community I feel good about helping small but effective non profits like local homeless shelters (Schenectady City Mission... I work with the director's brother) or the one that provides clothes and necessaries to foster kids (Things of My Very Own - the founder/Director Rayn Bonnie was once a foster child herself and began the nonprofit as a fulfillment of a promise to her foster sister to help kids like them) because it helps the community I live in quite directly and I can donate needed materials and time to address the need right down the road. If every community met local needs with local resources, no one would do without. And for larger world events like diaster relief and the war in Ukraine, I lean towards supporting organizations like Together Rising (Glennon Doyle: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=513667800117206&id=100044219719980) , as they're quick to mobilize funds into action on the larger scale necessary to help with those big situations so far from where I am.
I also think "small things" like wearing a visible rainbow pin or adding pronouns to email do a lot of shift the needle of our inhospitable culture for LGBTQIA+. On a personal level, I make sure I'm raising my kids to not be bigots and to understand that people are going to be who they are and we love them for their authenticity, not their similarity to us. We meet them with curiosity and nonjudgment.
So not to provide a list like this for any other reason than to say if we all pick some things that matter and find who is already doing the work and support them, or find a need not being met YET and start small....all of those overwhelming things would get the attention they need. And we have to stop voting for inhospitable humans because policy matters.
That said, I think we have to start with lists. List what you care about. List what you have to offer (Money, time, donations) and then list the groups and places that can take what you have to give. That's literally it. Local organizers exist in every community....so we need to seek them out and just go do what needs doing. Less thinking, more feeling and doing.
Like Melyssa said, I just needed to go do it and stop talking about it. So, I signed up to volunteer at 3 local organizations that help the homeless. I’ve been in quite the funk lately and nothing is going to pull me out faster than helping others. I’ve also decided that my tax return is going to Ukraine. What else can I do? Bring it on!
Beautifully said, Tyler. We have to do something. WE. Not just a few people in some other state. All of us. Everywhere.
YES. Yesterday in this stupid city I call home, there was a "freedom rally" full of people supporting Putin, carrying guns, and screaming about how LGBTQ communities don't deserve rights. Fucking ridiculous.
You can’t be serious 😭
How did the war in Ukraine become a political stance for the GOP extremists..? I don’t understand…
Great podcast! OK here's the scoop just a little background born in a fairly liberal province and family we were taught people are people we treat them with respect end of story. My grandson is gay , nephew Trans with alot of friends loving anyone they want being anything they want feeling anything they feel. With all that said yes stand up for what you believe be passionate about your cause yes!!!! I live in a small community and feel this is where I make changes through love. I support soldiers with PTSD because without them we would not have rights! They have an art therapy program and their art tells NOT a pretty story which people need to see. I appreciate your compassion not being pessimistic how can you change an inbedded thought . Yes talk yes throw your voice etc.. .someone said to me NOT too long ago everyone has a category AND wants a category that's why the LBGQ needs theirs I said why I'm more than just an artist a jeweler and a woman I hope I'm more complex than that??? I get we all need to fit ( although I never have and I'm ok ) maybe there are too many labels BE NICE BOTTOM LINE!
Thank you for this insight!
“…defy that silence.”
Reminds me of years ago, I was working in hospice and had heard many stories from patients and families of their lives and things they wished they had done or regrets they took to their graves.
I hung up a small sheet of paper in my cubicles that in bold large print said:
“NO REGRETS!”
Our spiritual care coordinator came by one day and saw it and said “I like your sign but it could be much better.”
I didn’t understand until he told me it was “passive”…
“What is Adam going to do in his life to have ‘NO REGRETS!’ ?”, he said.
I changed the sign that day to say:
“DEFY REGRETS!”
Then and especially now, we have to be about action. The conversations that need to be had with family and friends, making a change from that job that is robbing you of who you were created to be, taking a day just for you to be and dwell and enjoy…and reaching out to our siblings near and far in communities that don’t look like us, smell like us, speak the same languages as us, pray like us…this is a call to action!
Tyler, I was not aware of you donating sperm for that family…my brother that is ACTION!
That is not just attending a parade and handing out cotton candy and saying we support you kind of ally (nothing wrong in that, by the way) - but yours is next level commitment that blows my mind and stirs me up to much more!
Today struck a nerve in a good way…
Jumper cables to battery leads…
Kickstart my heart… (thanx Mötley Crüe 😄)
DEFY THAT SILENCE!!!
I am so glad for you Adam. So glad you're here. Thank you my man. DEFY THAT SILENCE!
Your Sunday morning rants (as I appreciatively call them )are infinite times better than any Sunday sermon I have ever heard in my past lives. Thank you! I’m with you!
I love this. Thank you for your URGE for ACTION!!! I have been a social worker working with kids and families in a variety of ways for 30+ years in my town. I also have adult kids with co-occurring disorders (brain disease and substance use as a way to try to self medicate). This is the world I am now trying to make a difference in, since my kids are in it. It's a hell realm for sure, and the countless ways we as a culture abandon care for people with brain disorders crushes me every day. This is why I will be putting your haiku on my fridge this morning, bc I need the encouragement. I'm in the thick of it right now. Friendly reminder: if you are sitting comfortably and well fed in your home pondering how you would like to help, you have immense privilege. Pick a passion and be a resource. Give as much as you can. And if you're not, reach out and get yourself resourced. Being strong as a community is where it's at! Thank you so much for this beautiful post.
I think we can start by engaging the people who have a different opinion from our own. We should try to understand why they hold those beliefs. Once that attempt is made, we can respectfully tell our own story. It helps when people feel like they've been heard. This takes courage but I'm trying to do that and hopefully change a few hearts and minds out there. Who said, "Be the change you want to see in the world."?
As I was listening to the podcast I kept nodding my head and thinking of the expression "Think globally, act locally". Especially regarding the imposing size of so many concerns and the seeming paralysis it causes to see them as so big while we are so small. It really is the collective energy that we need...not for one person to save the world by themselves. That said, I'm a big fan of looking at scope and locality of a problem and boots on the ground nature of the situation. In my local community I feel good about helping small but effective non profits like local homeless shelters (Schenectady City Mission... I work with the director's brother) or the one that provides clothes and necessaries to foster kids (Things of My Very Own - the founder/Director Rayn Bonnie was once a foster child herself and began the nonprofit as a fulfillment of a promise to her foster sister to help kids like them) because it helps the community I live in quite directly and I can donate needed materials and time to address the need right down the road. If every community met local needs with local resources, no one would do without. And for larger world events like diaster relief and the war in Ukraine, I lean towards supporting organizations like Together Rising (Glennon Doyle: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=513667800117206&id=100044219719980) , as they're quick to mobilize funds into action on the larger scale necessary to help with those big situations so far from where I am.
I also think "small things" like wearing a visible rainbow pin or adding pronouns to email do a lot of shift the needle of our inhospitable culture for LGBTQIA+. On a personal level, I make sure I'm raising my kids to not be bigots and to understand that people are going to be who they are and we love them for their authenticity, not their similarity to us. We meet them with curiosity and nonjudgment.
So not to provide a list like this for any other reason than to say if we all pick some things that matter and find who is already doing the work and support them, or find a need not being met YET and start small....all of those overwhelming things would get the attention they need. And we have to stop voting for inhospitable humans because policy matters.
That said, I think we have to start with lists. List what you care about. List what you have to offer (Money, time, donations) and then list the groups and places that can take what you have to give. That's literally it. Local organizers exist in every community....so we need to seek them out and just go do what needs doing. Less thinking, more feeling and doing.
Go, go, GO!!!! ☺️
Like Melyssa said, I just needed to go do it and stop talking about it. So, I signed up to volunteer at 3 local organizations that help the homeless. I’ve been in quite the funk lately and nothing is going to pull me out faster than helping others. I’ve also decided that my tax return is going to Ukraine. What else can I do? Bring it on!