“Can’t believe that there are consequences to my actions and that there is law and order even for rich people (who steal and break that law).”

This is Energy the United States of America Needs, right now.

America is now, like many nations, a ship in a tumultuous sea, beset by two forces. One is a friendly wind of caring love, of responsibility for climate crisis and our future generations, of equal rights for all peoples, of social safety nets including healthcare and mental health, of…fun in community (lest we forget joy).

The other is that age-old tide of angry hate and fear—against trans, against immigrant, for Nationalism, against voting, against other.

It is not divisive to call out hate. It is not divisive to call in compassion and healing. It is not divisive to care—but if it is, it’s the division that caring discernment cuts between aggression and empathy.

This is the Energy that our dear America needs, right now.

We face a rising tide of out-in-the-open anti-democracy, pro-Church-but-without-love, a co-opting of religion and school boards and education (in Texas they now want to replace counselors with chaplains, and post the 10 Commandments everywhere), bigotry, sexism, anti-womanism, anti-immigrant, killing our planet so we can eat a burger, prioritizing parking spots over bike lanes, poison over good food, profits over responsible businesses.

Then, on the other side, there’s hard work and opportunity: change taxes so the very, very, very, very, very rich pay more, so the middle class can afford homes and groceries and healthcare, reasonable gun safety reforms (I’ve listed them on Elephant many times), addressing climate crisis, supporting local shops instead of, say, Amazon, investing in trains and busses and EVs instead of princess pickup trucks and interstates and flying everywhere pretending we love the world while we burn it up.

I’m with active love, going forward. I’m willing to educate myself around racism and others and colonialism and burning up this precious planet. I’m with fighting and calling out division while protecting something called community. That may feel divisive, but it’s no more divisive than a mother or father protecting their young.

Tolerating intolerance is not love.

That’s the energy we all need: save this earth for our next generations, and ease hatred with peace and education and, yeah, law and order over power and money. ~ Waylon

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