After almost six weeks off travelling throughout Southeast Asia and then moving with my wife from Seattle to Bellingham, I’m back and ready to go. I’m excited to continue Kindling’s work of shedding light on the tangible progress and possibility in our world.
I’ll be honest – we definitely had an incredible time abroad – but it was tough. It was difficult to be in remote Laos as our new president was inaugurated. How can we enjoy this other world when our home is getting thrown upside down? How can we sit here eating pad thai, getting massages, and enjoying Lao cocktails as our friends and family are joining the Women’s March and protesting at the airport?
I for one definitely had a sense of guilt, helplessness, and serious FOMO that were hard to shake.
So now that we’re back, I’m ready to get to work.
I find the time off gave me a chance to think about how Kindling will change given our new reality, what it will do to contribute to the resistance. For one, you’ll see in every newsletter for the foreseeable future we’ll have a “This Week’s #Resistance” entry that shares one, simple thing you can do to create a better world and protect ourselves and our communities.
But beyond that, Kindling won’t change much.
Yes, the #resist movement is critical and I for one will be doing my part for as long as it takes. But I also feel that we can’t let the new administration distract us from the work we were already doing to create a better world. My biggest concern with even the concept of “resisting” is that it basically comes down to fighting for the status quo. To “resist” Trump is to simply make sure he doesn’t make things worse.
That’s not enough. We can do better. Let’s continue envisioning a new way of doing and being and actively making it a reality. This is not only what’s best for us in the long-term; I think it will be the best way to undermine the GOP’s agenda. Instead of reacting, let’s give him something to react to. Let’s show him that we will continue moving forward.