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Affordable Health Care Act 2010, Health

Why Complaining is Useless and Protest is Useful

Mona Alvarado Frazier
Injustice and Protest -quote by Elie Wiesel
Injustice and Protest -quote by Elie Wiesel, flickr.com cc

 

Life between the sheets (of paper) can be busy and distract especially in the post-election and pre-inauguration days.

Many people are frustrated and frightened with the PEOTUS rhetoric and impending changes. I know I am.

I haven’t written about my disappointment with the election except for a November post on hope and social activism. I don’t intend to re-hash why our president-elect is one scary person. You read Twitter and watch/read the news. You know.

The repeal of the Affordable Care Act will impact me and my family the most. I have a pre-existing condition and a kid under 26 years of age. I’ve witnessed what happened to people without insurance before the ACA came into existence; they lost everything and suffered significant health issues.

Complaining about the PEOTUS is futile. Hope and faith without action are fruitless.

My belief is if we want to make changes in our country we need to take peaceful action.

We need to get involved and go past the complaining.

 

 Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you. Thomas Jefferson

 

Actions don’t take a lot of time.

If you have two seconds, click and sign a petition. Retweet or post a positive message on change, healthcare, social justice or whatever issues are dear to your heart.

If you have one minute, dash off an email to your senator. Tell her/him to stand up for the issue.

If you have five minutes, call your senator. Google their name and you’ll get their phone number, email, and local office.

Writers, write about the issue. Tweeters, tweet about the issue. Facebooker’s post news on the issue. Use social media for social good.

To find out what writers can do, go over to Writers Resist #WriteOurDemocracy. They list events, author readings and will soon list writing prompts and opportunities for you to use the power of your pen to good influence.

Take a look at Maud Newton’s post on 2017 Resistance Actions: Week One for the specific actions she’s taking about issues.

Indivisible: A Practical Gude for Resisting the Trump Agenda is another site with resources for individuals and groups to utilize. This guide was written by former congressional staffers who reveal best practices for making Congress listen.

If you have a few hours you might attend one of the several protests around the country on January 21, 2017. A retiree was spurred to action after the election and organized the “Women’s March on Washington.”

These are only a few things on my mind as I head into the blogging year and I’m glad I wrote this off my chest.

Thanks for listening.

I’ll leave you with this quote from Dolores Huerta, a social justice activist:

“Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.”

See you next week.

 

 

 

 

Affirmations., Goals, Inspiration, New Year intentions

A New Year, A New Intention

Mona Alvarado Frazier

 

happy-new-year-by-edwin-flickr-com
Flickr photo by Edwin

 

Like many people, I don’t like ‘having’ to do anything. This is why I cringe when people ask me about my resolutions or goals for the new year.

“Goals,” “Resolutions,” the words sound so inflexible. I’m not a big fan of the word “resolution,” because there’s something rigid about it, and goal-setting in the usual sense can set you up for failure and frustration.This is not to say resolutions aren’t helpful, they just don’t interest me.

What I do look forward to is thinking about my intention for the new year. The word “Intention” is defined as “a course of action that one proposes to follow,” or “an aim that guides action.”

 

Deepak Chopra says:

“An intention is a directed impulse of consciousness that contains the seed form of that which you aim to create. Like real seeds, intentions can’t grow if you hold on to them. Only when you release your intentions into the fertile depths of your consciousness can they grow and flourish.”

This sounds much more self-directed, more purposeful. Like a journey, with lots of room for discovery along the way.

An intention is something I want to do. It’s a word which represents the type of year I desire.  The intention is my own touchstone word, a magical word that becomes an aim that guides my action. I speak my intention (has to be one word for me) and I feel good about all the possibilities surrounding or accompanying that one word.

I’ve chosen an intention for the last four years. One year the word was “Create.” Another year, “Move.” Last year my word was “Refine.”

I had fun writing the word down on a 3×5 index card, drawing the word on the first page of a new journal, adding photos around the word, making wheel spokes out of the center word. For example, with “Create” I attached each spoke to a word that follows ‘create.’ Create joy, create new stories, create gratefulness …and so forth into my own journey.

Last week I mulled over and meditated on a few words. If you’d like some direction on how to do this check out the post by Nicola Gulotta. Some of the words are:

Balance, Connect, Encourage, Release, Nurture, Surrender

My word for the year is “Breakthrough.” The definition is to advance, step forward, progress, and revolution. I like the sound of that last word, revolution.

Another alternative to making new year resolutions, besides an intention, is to make positive changes in a different way. Read this short article by Melissa Eisner. I chose two of the items to fulfill this year.

Whatever you do or don’t do intentions, spend time with yourself for at least 15 minutes and think about your own journey.

You don’t have to come up with a word. Sometimes enough is enough. And that’s fine.

See you all next year:

 

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Flickr photo by Anne Spratt, cc.