I am 69 years old now and I will never recover the family and friends I have lost . Even if we decide to move on I will never ever forget the cruelty of these people. I will never recover. I just will not.
I feel you, Brenda. I will never have the relationship with my two siblings, that have supported this man from the time he slithered down that escalator, that I had prior to that orange ghoul appearing on the political national stage.. and I will mourn that till the day I die.😞
I think we would all implode if we didn’t have an outlet where we could voice our concerns, our shared experiences, our beliefs, hopes and our common goals. And yes, it’s all in the vein of trying to find and create a better tomorrow, for everyone.
B. you are such a kind soul. Thank you, It’s been one of the most heartbreaking times in my life to realize that I have very little in common with two people that I share blood with. And sadly, I know I’m not alone in that. But again, thank you for your kind words🙏🏻💕
OK, I don’t know why that photograph keeps disappearing. I tried to post it twice now and it said it was posted, but I don’t see it anywhere. I guess the Internet gremlins have shown up and won’t let it appear. I get up.😅
On the cusp of 67, I don't know that I'll see the recovery. But I do know we must continue the fight for course correction one footstep, one word, one kindness at a time. Thanks for these truths, John!
I'm about a year ahead of you. I don't think that I will live to see the recovery either. It took them a good forty years to prepare this nightmare. It may well take that long to recover.
Absolutely! I remember when I was still in high school and my dad mentioned this precise thing would be forthcoming. It happened as Reagan became president. I should have listened better, but my focus was he won't be president forever and dad's being alarmist. My focus was completing high school and going to college. Now it gives me palpitations and angst.
I am 72 & I also don't know that I will see the recovery. We DO need to continue the fight. My children who are in their 50's & my 4 grandchildren who are in their 20's & late teens are also fighting the good fight. However, I am so very exhausted by everything. There are so many injustices to tackle. Everyday there is something new that disgusts me & I have difficulty deciding which one I should tackle. I hope I can hang on long enough to at least see a glimmer of hope. I am continuing to practice kindness & peace and steer clear of the toxic.
I hear you sister. Each day I wake with hope only to be challenged by the regime. So many wrongs. It is mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting.
I am 50 - and even I have doubts. There is just.... so much wrong, so much broken, even if we started fixing it TODAY it would take decades. And we know it's not starting today.
There are good, dedicated defenders—the Cory Bookers, Adam Schiffs, Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Letitia James, Jasmine Crockett—to name some of the many politicians who are courageously speaking out in defense of what we hold dear. For a Columbia cave-in, there is a Harvard hold out, for CBS capitulation, there is PBS resolve. They and their colleagues should give us hope. One of my mother’s mantras was “You can put up with anything as long as you know how long it will last”: I believe the tenure of this ungodly regime will be more limited than we suspect, more by the weight of atrocities than by the tally of months.
What’s the expression—you can get down so far that the bottom looks like up? But then these awful people win. Participating in the national demonstrations helps connect with like-minded patriots: try joining…
Should listen to the Uban View on Sirius XM. POC are sitting this one out for now having done all the fighting the last 100 plus years for Civil Rights that helped white people especially white women have equality. Concentrate on community, stay engaged, have hope. POC do not want NAZI KKK ICE creating violence in their communities but if they bring it, the blow back will destroy the country. POC have economic power now. More POC than Nazi's. Jamaican's were the first to drive their white masters out.
They need to sit it out while they can. It’s too dangerous. Let the white people do this. Their vote is vital though. Vital. And what an impact on places like Target! Yippee!
I am 80 years old and know I will not see a full recovery in my lifetime. I don’t have children - I do however have nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews, and 4 year old great great nephews with a great great niece coming in September. In these next generations I have hope. I have hope in the people who are doing good things great and small. It takes some kind of hope for me to do anything at all - and I do. And I have hope in the fact that my Creator permeates every cell and fiber of my being and is guiding me in the direction They want me to go. I am not naive; I am hopeful.
I really want to believe that this horrific period in our lives really means these old ways of thinking really will be transfigured. However, between the corruption in the Supreme Court & the billionaires feeling like they still don't have enough, I suspect it will be a recovery with be a long time coming. 😤
In addition, some things cannot be unfone...the trauma of people picked up & treated as criminals by ICE & their families will not be easily erased. 💔
Nor will the stain of "Alligator Alcatraz" be easily removed from our country's history, contrary to what this Regime thinks about it.
Those of us who may not live to see the return of our stolen rights and freedoms can still do whatever we can, in our own large or small ways, to help get them restored. We must not despair. We outnumber the MAGATs. Together, we can start to undo their evil cruelty and make America kind again. Let us join hands and link arms and empower goodness. It may take longer than some of have left, but We Shall Overcome.
It’s encounters with more like-minded people than not, on a daily basis, that share the same pain and the hopes, for a better, more inclusive tomorrow, that gives me strength and optimism that this global nightmare, because Trump‘s ascension has not just been a national nightmare, it has affected and destroyed lives across the globe, is coming to ahead. And it is up to us like-minded people, to continue the fight and not give in to the overwhelming sense of loss and hopelessness/helplessness we are feeling. We cannot give up… it’s a long steep hill we are climbing, but we will get to the top…. together.🙏🏻❤️
At the outset of this nightmare when Substack became my only trusted daily reading, I promised myself that I would only subscribe to those written by people in the communities this regime was marginalizing. I've just made an exception because John's is the only voice I am listening to daily and this particular post both soothes and validates my pain as nothing else has. Also, I was raised Jewish and have been an avowed atheist for over 50 years, but am proud to call John my pastor!
John is one of my favorite Substacks, a quick read or listen to daily. Substack and Bluesky are my news sources now with all the legacy MSM being State run propaganda, no credibility with all their blatant lies.
Maybe folks this needed to happen so that we would truly know about the people who once surrounded us, and those that still do. As MAGA people departed, new kinder, gentler and loving people filled their places. All of us here are lead by a truly wonderful person John, who has opened our eyes and our hearts. I am on the older side…but my hope is that I will live to see the beginning of change for all of you and all of those that I hold dear.
I still care for every immigrant that is so horribly being mistreated. I want to be that person that has empathy. Would you trade you? I hope not. So every day get up, put a smile on your face…you are alive and still be able to look in the mirror and see a really…really good person. How lucky we all are. Love you all.
Approaching 85, the recovery is unlikely to occur in my lifetime. And I know that the "friendships" affected will never recover. They have shown me who they are. How could I have not been aware for all these years? 💔
Some days I find no hope, but when I do, it’s in the kindnesses I see being done by both strangers and friends. I see hope every time I see people speaking out and fighting against the cruelty and inhumanity. I see hope in myself when I speak out both in words and in artwork and fight against the cruelty and inhumanity. I find hope the times I spend with people I love who are caring, loving decent human beings. I find hope the times I experience empathy from another. I find hope in the flowers, plants, trees, earth, air, birds and other animals that surround me. I find hope when I explore what else I can do to help. It’s not easy finding these moments and times of hope with the daily onslaught of horrific news, but when I reflect, I find there are many things that give me hope.
Those of us who are able to, we must continue fighting, in whatever ways, big or small, that we can. As John wrote, we can still be beautiful in the face of all the ugliness. That, too, gives me hope.
Thank you to all who responded and shared words of support, positiveness along the journey. Not long ago I easily recall a "hit-n -run" at the dog park with four med to lrg canine souls that were having the best time in figure 8s, in tag-you're-it, a beautiful day with best buds and then 'surprise' to the human, ME!.. The four kissed my face like 'we're so very sorry'! I was in conversation over Thanksgiving weekend with 5 college students who had stayed in town over the long holiday weekend. Why all the details? Because they deeply elevated my awareness of the upcoming, insightful wonderful generation that will help lead us all in the very near future. They took care to ask all the right questions, "911, yes!, husband, yes, then someone watched over my dog without me worrying, ParaFFs were there in minutes and someone took my dog home. I will never forget their kindnesses, their carring faces, their quickness to all the immediate details and seeing them weeks later and their Qs as what had transpired. They absolutely kept my anxiety down, positiveness in healing and encouraging all ages to "hug a fence" when the friendly pack is on the race track with friends. I'll never forget the hugs of the wonderful youger generation nor the 'I'm so sorry for throwing you through the air" canine kisses.
When all this negativity meanders through the weeks at times, I smile & think of all that loving kindness that day that carried forward throughout the holidays, surgery and healing. I bless them all and many got their graduate degrees and moved on to their amazing lives sharing similar kindnesses and being part of their new communities near & far. I'm so grateful for several staying in contact through milestones in their lives too. Yea for the youth with thoughtfulness, wonderful split second decision making capabilities.
I am 69 years old now and I will never recover the family and friends I have lost . Even if we decide to move on I will never ever forget the cruelty of these people. I will never recover. I just will not.
I feel you, Brenda. I will never have the relationship with my two siblings, that have supported this man from the time he slithered down that escalator, that I had prior to that orange ghoul appearing on the political national stage.. and I will mourn that till the day I die.😞
😞Very saddened but understand fully. I’m sorry for what is to come Brenda & JP. The lessons will be difficult.
Thanks for us having one another.
We know what lessons history has taught and what true goodness is!
I think we would all implode if we didn’t have an outlet where we could voice our concerns, our shared experiences, our beliefs, hopes and our common goals. And yes, it’s all in the vein of trying to find and create a better tomorrow, for everyone.
B. you are such a kind soul. Thank you, It’s been one of the most heartbreaking times in my life to realize that I have very little in common with two people that I share blood with. And sadly, I know I’m not alone in that. But again, thank you for your kind words🙏🏻💕
It’s been a difficult “family dynamic” for years for me.
We must hold fast and it’s okay to have hope.
Hard to believe some don’t view a Hitler repeat, very hurtful.
I’m so happy to have family HERE!!❤️
😞
Thank you for your very open, kind soul, JP!! You are a leader for all of us!
🥺🙏🏻
I made this a few years ago with some leaves that were on our walkway. A sentiment, that has no expiration date.
I guess the photograph didn’t show up. Let me see if I can try again.
OK, I don’t know why that photograph keeps disappearing. I tried to post it twice now and it said it was posted, but I don’t see it anywhere. I guess the Internet gremlins have shown up and won’t let it appear. I get up.😅
It’s not you, rather a glitch!
Here it is! I don’t know why it didn’t go through the last time. 🤷🏼♀️
Yes, indeed.
I truly believe there is more good, and commonality for survival and cooperation than is communicated in our general sphere-😘
I feel exactly the same way you do. I’ve seen their moral rot. I know what they are capable of. I’ve lost a brother and a sister.
I’m m so so sorry, Ron. 😔
On the cusp of 67, I don't know that I'll see the recovery. But I do know we must continue the fight for course correction one footstep, one word, one kindness at a time. Thanks for these truths, John!
I'm about a year ahead of you. I don't think that I will live to see the recovery either. It took them a good forty years to prepare this nightmare. It may well take that long to recover.
Absolutely! I remember when I was still in high school and my dad mentioned this precise thing would be forthcoming. It happened as Reagan became president. I should have listened better, but my focus was he won't be president forever and dad's being alarmist. My focus was completing high school and going to college. Now it gives me palpitations and angst.
I'll be happy dancing if he at least gets his comeuppance on one atrocious thing he has done!
I am 72 & I also don't know that I will see the recovery. We DO need to continue the fight. My children who are in their 50's & my 4 grandchildren who are in their 20's & late teens are also fighting the good fight. However, I am so very exhausted by everything. There are so many injustices to tackle. Everyday there is something new that disgusts me & I have difficulty deciding which one I should tackle. I hope I can hang on long enough to at least see a glimmer of hope. I am continuing to practice kindness & peace and steer clear of the toxic.
I hear you sister. Each day I wake with hope only to be challenged by the regime. So many wrongs. It is mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting.
I am 50 - and even I have doubts. There is just.... so much wrong, so much broken, even if we started fixing it TODAY it would take decades. And we know it's not starting today.
Absolutely 💯! What has been destroyed and undone cannot be repaired. Much will have to be done on new scaffolding.
It's a challenge to be sure. One foot in front of the other onl. This lonely road of democracy.
So well said Thanks
I find hope in knowing that good people eventually realize how bad bad people can be, and good people prevail over bad people.
I fine hope in every decent person I allow into my life to replace every hideous, vile, fascist person I jettisoned.
I find hope in my husband.
I find hope in my soul and my marrow and my bones and my blood and my brain and my fingers and my ideas and my voice.
Never, ever stop hoping, decent humans everywhere.
Yes.
There are good, dedicated defenders—the Cory Bookers, Adam Schiffs, Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Letitia James, Jasmine Crockett—to name some of the many politicians who are courageously speaking out in defense of what we hold dear. For a Columbia cave-in, there is a Harvard hold out, for CBS capitulation, there is PBS resolve. They and their colleagues should give us hope. One of my mother’s mantras was “You can put up with anything as long as you know how long it will last”: I believe the tenure of this ungodly regime will be more limited than we suspect, more by the weight of atrocities than by the tally of months.
Lin, I don't share your optimism but I wish I did. Be well.
What’s the expression—you can get down so far that the bottom looks like up? But then these awful people win. Participating in the national demonstrations helps connect with like-minded patriots: try joining…
Should listen to the Uban View on Sirius XM. POC are sitting this one out for now having done all the fighting the last 100 plus years for Civil Rights that helped white people especially white women have equality. Concentrate on community, stay engaged, have hope. POC do not want NAZI KKK ICE creating violence in their communities but if they bring it, the blow back will destroy the country. POC have economic power now. More POC than Nazi's. Jamaican's were the first to drive their white masters out.
They need to sit it out while they can. It’s too dangerous. Let the white people do this. Their vote is vital though. Vital. And what an impact on places like Target! Yippee!
I am 80 years old and know I will not see a full recovery in my lifetime. I don’t have children - I do however have nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews, and 4 year old great great nephews with a great great niece coming in September. In these next generations I have hope. I have hope in the people who are doing good things great and small. It takes some kind of hope for me to do anything at all - and I do. And I have hope in the fact that my Creator permeates every cell and fiber of my being and is guiding me in the direction They want me to go. I am not naive; I am hopeful.
There’s no going back to who we were before this fire.
But maybe the point was never return—it was transfiguration.
Some things were always meant to burn:
false peace, passive faith, polite bigotry dressed in scripture.
The grief is holy. So is the rage.
But beneath them both is a deeper current—a longing to belong to something beautiful again.
Not the old America.
Not the sanitized nostalgia or the flag-draped myths.
But a nation that remembers how to kneel before justice,
and rise for each other.
We’re not just losing innocence—we’re gaining clarity.
Wow David, wonderful stuff 🤩
I really want to believe that this horrific period in our lives really means these old ways of thinking really will be transfigured. However, between the corruption in the Supreme Court & the billionaires feeling like they still don't have enough, I suspect it will be a recovery with be a long time coming. 😤
In addition, some things cannot be unfone...the trauma of people picked up & treated as criminals by ICE & their families will not be easily erased. 💔
Nor will the stain of "Alligator Alcatraz" be easily removed from our country's history, contrary to what this Regime thinks about it.
Heart wrenching truth.
Those of us who may not live to see the return of our stolen rights and freedoms can still do whatever we can, in our own large or small ways, to help get them restored. We must not despair. We outnumber the MAGATs. Together, we can start to undo their evil cruelty and make America kind again. Let us join hands and link arms and empower goodness. It may take longer than some of have left, but We Shall Overcome.
I wish there were easy answers, but I know that the day that Justice shines again in our country will be a holy day.
I am 75. I hope I live to see the day when this country recovers its sanity.
It’s encounters with more like-minded people than not, on a daily basis, that share the same pain and the hopes, for a better, more inclusive tomorrow, that gives me strength and optimism that this global nightmare, because Trump‘s ascension has not just been a national nightmare, it has affected and destroyed lives across the globe, is coming to ahead. And it is up to us like-minded people, to continue the fight and not give in to the overwhelming sense of loss and hopelessness/helplessness we are feeling. We cannot give up… it’s a long steep hill we are climbing, but we will get to the top…. together.🙏🏻❤️
At the outset of this nightmare when Substack became my only trusted daily reading, I promised myself that I would only subscribe to those written by people in the communities this regime was marginalizing. I've just made an exception because John's is the only voice I am listening to daily and this particular post both soothes and validates my pain as nothing else has. Also, I was raised Jewish and have been an avowed atheist for over 50 years, but am proud to call John my pastor!
John is one of my favorite Substacks, a quick read or listen to daily. Substack and Bluesky are my news sources now with all the legacy MSM being State run propaganda, no credibility with all their blatant lies.
Beautiful Suzy!
Maybe folks this needed to happen so that we would truly know about the people who once surrounded us, and those that still do. As MAGA people departed, new kinder, gentler and loving people filled their places. All of us here are lead by a truly wonderful person John, who has opened our eyes and our hearts. I am on the older side…but my hope is that I will live to see the beginning of change for all of you and all of those that I hold dear.
I still care for every immigrant that is so horribly being mistreated. I want to be that person that has empathy. Would you trade you? I hope not. So every day get up, put a smile on your face…you are alive and still be able to look in the mirror and see a really…really good person. How lucky we all are. Love you all.
Approaching 85, the recovery is unlikely to occur in my lifetime. And I know that the "friendships" affected will never recover. They have shown me who they are. How could I have not been aware for all these years? 💔
Some days I find no hope, but when I do, it’s in the kindnesses I see being done by both strangers and friends. I see hope every time I see people speaking out and fighting against the cruelty and inhumanity. I see hope in myself when I speak out both in words and in artwork and fight against the cruelty and inhumanity. I find hope the times I spend with people I love who are caring, loving decent human beings. I find hope the times I experience empathy from another. I find hope in the flowers, plants, trees, earth, air, birds and other animals that surround me. I find hope when I explore what else I can do to help. It’s not easy finding these moments and times of hope with the daily onslaught of horrific news, but when I reflect, I find there are many things that give me hope.
Those of us who are able to, we must continue fighting, in whatever ways, big or small, that we can. As John wrote, we can still be beautiful in the face of all the ugliness. That, too, gives me hope.
Thank you to all who responded and shared words of support, positiveness along the journey. Not long ago I easily recall a "hit-n -run" at the dog park with four med to lrg canine souls that were having the best time in figure 8s, in tag-you're-it, a beautiful day with best buds and then 'surprise' to the human, ME!.. The four kissed my face like 'we're so very sorry'! I was in conversation over Thanksgiving weekend with 5 college students who had stayed in town over the long holiday weekend. Why all the details? Because they deeply elevated my awareness of the upcoming, insightful wonderful generation that will help lead us all in the very near future. They took care to ask all the right questions, "911, yes!, husband, yes, then someone watched over my dog without me worrying, ParaFFs were there in minutes and someone took my dog home. I will never forget their kindnesses, their carring faces, their quickness to all the immediate details and seeing them weeks later and their Qs as what had transpired. They absolutely kept my anxiety down, positiveness in healing and encouraging all ages to "hug a fence" when the friendly pack is on the race track with friends. I'll never forget the hugs of the wonderful youger generation nor the 'I'm so sorry for throwing you through the air" canine kisses.
When all this negativity meanders through the weeks at times, I smile & think of all that loving kindness that day that carried forward throughout the holidays, surgery and healing. I bless them all and many got their graduate degrees and moved on to their amazing lives sharing similar kindnesses and being part of their new communities near & far. I'm so grateful for several staying in contact through milestones in their lives too. Yea for the youth with thoughtfulness, wonderful split second decision making capabilities.
"Bless your hearts!"