I've made it a habit to acknowledge cashiers, servers, any customer service rep. I always greet them, look them in the eye, and thank them by their name (if they have a name tag). It's just a little thing, but it's important to me to let them know they are seen and appreciated. And, I never talk on my cell phone while checking out at an establishment. Showing kindness on a regular basis keeps me feeling compassionate and human in these stressful times.
I agree, Andrea. I know doing things like you described are seemingly little things, but they truly do add up and make a difference. It's like dropping a pebble or stone in the water, and the concentric circles that radiate outward as a result. That's how Love wins. 💙🦋💙
Being visible should not make others visible. Today my devotional focused on putting down our phones and not just hit a like pick up the phone and call or visit that friend. And the second devotion spoke about building bridges not walls. Your words reinforce how we must be led by love and empathy and finding community. I recommend a book by Parker Palmer—Healing the heart of democracy:the courage to create a politics worthy of the human spirit.
One of the ways I deal with high levels of anxiety is walking. And when I'm out walking, I stop and talk to the people out walking as well and almost always end up recruiting the people I meet into the activist group that I started six years ago. Every walk is an opportunity to be in nature but it is also an opportunity to make a lasting connection with a stranger and offer them ways to be part of a larger resistance community.
My walks are like a sociological experiment. I live in a college town and walk on the many trails here. Many walkers are college students who mostly keep their heads down when passing. I always acknowledge with a nod, wave, or "hi". Most of the students ignore me but older walkers almost always wave back and say hi. It's my mission to make all feel comfortable in interacting with their fellow walkers, after all with share living in the same community and our love of walking. Come on younger folk, put down the phone.
Thank you , John , for your time this morning. I wake up enthusiastic about starting my day with you Substack podcast. I also end my day with your evening Substack. You are making a huge difference by focusing on community. Thanks from the depths of my heart.❤️❤️❤️❤️
As of yet, I see no way to bridge the gulf of different politics with 2 sisters and a brother. I don't know where to begin. I feel like we have nothing to say to each other. I will never understand their vote. They all profess to be Christians. I am putting my anger into activism.
I have a sister who has been a Trump supporter and still is. I do not understand that or how she reconciles love with the policies she supports. But, we still text and communicate about anything other than politics. I do not see a difference between sacred and secular, so not talking about politics seems a false divide for me. But, perhaps having this connection will allow for love to find a way. I don't know about your situation, but I will be praying that you find peace in whatever you decide.
Growing up as a multi-ethnic child in the Russian national-dominated Soviet Union, I learned very early about being isolated because of being different. Having been around for half a century now, it's not that I have trouble seeing other people as human beings - it's that I am tired to death of proving over and over that I am one.
Thanks for your thoughts and your book recommendation, Barbara. I love the idea of building bridges , not walls! Thanks for sharing! What are the two devotional books you are using? I have a few I am using too, and a note book I’m writing the highlights in.
I was reading over some old quotes I had gathered and was stopped immediately when I read this: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
(Margaret Mead) It was really encouraging to be reminded that all of us CAN make a difference, even when we feel like a tiny voice in the wilderness. I will try to remember that my voice, however tiny, does make a difference even when I don’t know it. I hope that will encourage all of you to lift your voices even when we feel alone.
A simple "Hi, How are you and Thank you" is always helpful. Attempt to make conversation whenever possible. People are now so used to sitting in silence with or even without their phone. I am joining the local Indivisible group.
We are spiritual refugees in our own families now, ghosted not by gods, but by Facebook feeds. You captured it, John: this isn’t just political division, it’s soul estrangement. “Fox News orphan” isn’t a punchline, it’s a diagnosis.
And yet, the loneliness cuts both ways. Even the ones we rage against are terrified of being alone. That woman who clutched your wrist? She wasn’t looking for a debate, she was looking for a tribe.
Empathy doesn’t excuse harm, but it reveals the fracture behind the fury. We don’t need to agree to see each other.
So build your ragtag circles. Be the cult of kindness. Be a holy nuisance of connection in a world hemorrhaging disconnection.
Because yes, no one escapes the collateral damage of being human. But together, we can soften the fall.
—Virgin Monk Boy
Still hugging ideological outcasts and awkward uncles since the last supper went off-script
My heart has been breaking for a long time. I had the unique experience of being raised by a wonderful, funny woman and a man who had a highly diversified professional life: pastor, politician and college president. Forty years after his terms as state treasurer of MO a group of 40ish former staffers gathered from across the country to express their love, admiration and appreciation for the ways their lives were impacted. I was a teenager during those years, but I was not wholly aware of the impact my mom and dad had on these very young, like-minded people.
Shortly after that reunion, Dad was diagnosed with Parkinson’s with Lewy Body dementia. He was slipping away from us day by day. On his 92nd birthday, a dozen of those same staffers traveled to my mom and dad’s retirement community. He cried the whole time, overwhelmed by the dedication of these men and women.
He passed away in 2018, Mom in 2020.
Politics today bears no resemblance to what is being played out in our country, day after day. I find myself retreating to those days when being a politician meant having a commitment to work for constituents, adhering to a high moral standard and having unwavering integrity.
While I miss my parents every day, I’m glad they are not here to witness the hijacking of the constitution and the undeniably fractured country.
I have hope. It’s tenuous and sometimes wavering, but I know the way we were, and I pray that we can persevere to regain peace, unity and restore our country’s purposeful place on the world stage.
My comment on this thoughtful and provocative (as always from John) post comes from a different angle.
We can blame a lot on Donald Trump, but he didn't create evil (the absence of empathy) in this world. He did unleash a storm of it, but it was there already. And it was there before social media.
In my novel ("Hanna's Ascent") I write about a world where a young girl who knows who she is but knows she'll never be accepted is disowned by just those people who now are captivated by Fox News. (Hint: today it's Lauren Boebert country.) That was in the 1950s.
I don't think empathy is waiting to be uncovered and released in everyone. For many it has to grow from a seed. We can put our emotional yearnings out there, but unless those people accept them, they won't propagate.
I've made it a habit to acknowledge cashiers, servers, any customer service rep. I always greet them, look them in the eye, and thank them by their name (if they have a name tag). It's just a little thing, but it's important to me to let them know they are seen and appreciated. And, I never talk on my cell phone while checking out at an establishment. Showing kindness on a regular basis keeps me feeling compassionate and human in these stressful times.
I agree, Andrea. I know doing things like you described are seemingly little things, but they truly do add up and make a difference. It's like dropping a pebble or stone in the water, and the concentric circles that radiate outward as a result. That's how Love wins. 💙🦋💙
Being visible should not make others visible. Today my devotional focused on putting down our phones and not just hit a like pick up the phone and call or visit that friend. And the second devotion spoke about building bridges not walls. Your words reinforce how we must be led by love and empathy and finding community. I recommend a book by Parker Palmer—Healing the heart of democracy:the courage to create a politics worthy of the human spirit.
One of the ways I deal with high levels of anxiety is walking. And when I'm out walking, I stop and talk to the people out walking as well and almost always end up recruiting the people I meet into the activist group that I started six years ago. Every walk is an opportunity to be in nature but it is also an opportunity to make a lasting connection with a stranger and offer them ways to be part of a larger resistance community.
My walks are like a sociological experiment. I live in a college town and walk on the many trails here. Many walkers are college students who mostly keep their heads down when passing. I always acknowledge with a nod, wave, or "hi". Most of the students ignore me but older walkers almost always wave back and say hi. It's my mission to make all feel comfortable in interacting with their fellow walkers, after all with share living in the same community and our love of walking. Come on younger folk, put down the phone.
Thank you , John , for your time this morning. I wake up enthusiastic about starting my day with you Substack podcast. I also end my day with your evening Substack. You are making a huge difference by focusing on community. Thanks from the depths of my heart.❤️❤️❤️❤️
As of yet, I see no way to bridge the gulf of different politics with 2 sisters and a brother. I don't know where to begin. I feel like we have nothing to say to each other. I will never understand their vote. They all profess to be Christians. I am putting my anger into activism.
I have a sister who has been a Trump supporter and still is. I do not understand that or how she reconciles love with the policies she supports. But, we still text and communicate about anything other than politics. I do not see a difference between sacred and secular, so not talking about politics seems a false divide for me. But, perhaps having this connection will allow for love to find a way. I don't know about your situation, but I will be praying that you find peace in whatever you decide.
Growing up as a multi-ethnic child in the Russian national-dominated Soviet Union, I learned very early about being isolated because of being different. Having been around for half a century now, it's not that I have trouble seeing other people as human beings - it's that I am tired to death of proving over and over that I am one.
Thanks for your thoughts and your book recommendation, Barbara. I love the idea of building bridges , not walls! Thanks for sharing! What are the two devotional books you are using? I have a few I am using too, and a note book I’m writing the highlights in.
I was reading over some old quotes I had gathered and was stopped immediately when I read this: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
(Margaret Mead) It was really encouraging to be reminded that all of us CAN make a difference, even when we feel like a tiny voice in the wilderness. I will try to remember that my voice, however tiny, does make a difference even when I don’t know it. I hope that will encourage all of you to lift your voices even when we feel alone.
A simple "Hi, How are you and Thank you" is always helpful. Attempt to make conversation whenever possible. People are now so used to sitting in silence with or even without their phone. I am joining the local Indivisible group.
John! I really appreciate what you're doing. Today, a friend forwarded an article I from a source with which I was unfamiliar, but you and others might find it helpful to add to things already in the pot, stewing: https://fakti.bg/en/mnenia/953178-the-word-that-describes-trump#google_vignette
We are spiritual refugees in our own families now, ghosted not by gods, but by Facebook feeds. You captured it, John: this isn’t just political division, it’s soul estrangement. “Fox News orphan” isn’t a punchline, it’s a diagnosis.
And yet, the loneliness cuts both ways. Even the ones we rage against are terrified of being alone. That woman who clutched your wrist? She wasn’t looking for a debate, she was looking for a tribe.
Empathy doesn’t excuse harm, but it reveals the fracture behind the fury. We don’t need to agree to see each other.
So build your ragtag circles. Be the cult of kindness. Be a holy nuisance of connection in a world hemorrhaging disconnection.
Because yes, no one escapes the collateral damage of being human. But together, we can soften the fall.
—Virgin Monk Boy
Still hugging ideological outcasts and awkward uncles since the last supper went off-script
My heart has been breaking for a long time. I had the unique experience of being raised by a wonderful, funny woman and a man who had a highly diversified professional life: pastor, politician and college president. Forty years after his terms as state treasurer of MO a group of 40ish former staffers gathered from across the country to express their love, admiration and appreciation for the ways their lives were impacted. I was a teenager during those years, but I was not wholly aware of the impact my mom and dad had on these very young, like-minded people.
Shortly after that reunion, Dad was diagnosed with Parkinson’s with Lewy Body dementia. He was slipping away from us day by day. On his 92nd birthday, a dozen of those same staffers traveled to my mom and dad’s retirement community. He cried the whole time, overwhelmed by the dedication of these men and women.
He passed away in 2018, Mom in 2020.
Politics today bears no resemblance to what is being played out in our country, day after day. I find myself retreating to those days when being a politician meant having a commitment to work for constituents, adhering to a high moral standard and having unwavering integrity.
While I miss my parents every day, I’m glad they are not here to witness the hijacking of the constitution and the undeniably fractured country.
I have hope. It’s tenuous and sometimes wavering, but I know the way we were, and I pray that we can persevere to regain peace, unity and restore our country’s purposeful place on the world stage.
My comment on this thoughtful and provocative (as always from John) post comes from a different angle.
We can blame a lot on Donald Trump, but he didn't create evil (the absence of empathy) in this world. He did unleash a storm of it, but it was there already. And it was there before social media.
In my novel ("Hanna's Ascent") I write about a world where a young girl who knows who she is but knows she'll never be accepted is disowned by just those people who now are captivated by Fox News. (Hint: today it's Lauren Boebert country.) That was in the 1950s.
I don't think empathy is waiting to be uncovered and released in everyone. For many it has to grow from a seed. We can put our emotional yearnings out there, but unless those people accept them, they won't propagate.
https://www.bedazzledink.com/hannas-ascent.html#/
how do we get on Sunday's 8 PM live session?
Is there a way to watch the 8p.m. sessions?