Okay, we’ve seen enough. In less than two weeks we’ve seen how things will go for four more years: poorly. How quickly he made America the world’s enemy with his threats intended to terrorize and intimidate. How deftly he became Executioner-in-Chief choking life from infants deprived of formula funded by USAID.

His regime is beyond callous. A parade of supposedly powerful “leaders” rush in to kiss the boots of an unworthy, vindictive man. Their only qualification is loyalty to him. Their only goal is his depraved approval. He’s grabbed the levers of government whether legally or illegally; time, and a few courts, will tell.

Meanwhile, the daily news lands on the floor like shards of broken glass. Nothing is redemptive, hopeful, encouraging. He manipulates the media into chasing whatever crazy declaration was issued last. I’m left to wonder: What to do? How to fight? Who to follow? Here I am, and “who am I to say these things?” Truth is, I was raised to say nothing.

“Good girls are quiet girls. We don’t speak too boldly, too loudly, too brashly. We’re discreet (read: silent). That said, my soul has become unhappy in my silence. The truth is not that hard to discern. Silence is troubling in the face of bloody wars, the threat of global environmental collapse, the certainty that there will be another virus, and the uncertainty of the democracy that I previously assumed to be immortal.

I’m convinced that it’s time to move out of my uneasy silence and into a public expression of my soul’s desire. If this comes with risk, let the risks be built on truth. I don’t need more than that.

I don’t want to embarrass my children or, at some future reading, trouble my grandchildren. But the reasons not to speak out have faded. I long to speak the truth as nearly as I can understand it. I’ve arrived at the point where my silence isn’t discretion. It’s complicity.”

Would someone kindly direct me to The Resistance?

— Excerpt from my forthcoming book, Uneasy Silence – coming soon

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