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This is a great example of seeing what I needed to see today. I biked past this yesterday without noticing it (unless someone painted it overnight, or moved this block here overnight, both of which seem pretty unlikely). It was like the universe knew to save it for me, that I would need it more today.
It’s been a heavy week, with many of my Forest Service colleagues losing their jobs, and the ones left behind having to take up even more impossible slack, to do jobs that were already hard when four or five or six people did them. I’ve been having a hard time feeling like our national government, rather than trying to create security or anything good for anyone, actively seems to want to sow chaos, disorder, and fear. It’s been hard to feel like I am but a very small person in a very big system that seems to want to trample everything.
So this reminder was particularly timely for me today. There are indeed many things I feel helpless to tackle. BUT. I can water the flowers. I can tend to the things within my purview, and stretch to the things that feel far.
I have emailed all my Representatives — even though I frequently feel like whatever, my Congresspeople already largely agree with me so it’s not like I’m convincing anyone of anything, I can thank them for when they’re already doing and try to give them a base of support and courage to stay the course. I can smile at the people I bike past and wait for pedestrians trying to cross the street; I can be part of and actively help create a world in which we still look out for each other. I can still assume positive intent. I can buy the guy outside the grocery store with a cardboard sign that says “struggling” a hot dinner when I get my own groceries. I can donate as much as I can to environmental, equal rights, climate-focused, immigrant-supporting, any manner of organizations who need as much help as they can get.
James waters the flowers in his own way with his involvement in local politics, something I personally cannot stomach but I admire him greatly for. Some folks water the flowers by organizing, mutual aid, legal challenges, all sorts of things.
We all have our own flowers to water, and damn is it the time to water them. Let’s grow a beautiful garden as best we can <3