As a teacher I often hung inspirational posters in my classroom. In my travels I purchased magnets to place on my refrigerator with sayings that struck me as being important ideas to remember. While such things sometimes border on being trite, they can also help to create a kind of moral vision or at least represent one’s beliefs. 

I never harped on the posters in my classroom. I put them on the walls and left it for my students to read or not. My magnets, on the other hand, are quite personal and so I look at them regularly to remind myself of the importance of thinking beyond my own needs. I have far too many quotes that guide me to present them all, but here are a few of my favorites. 

From Franklin Delano Roosevelt”

“Repetition does not transform lie into a truth”

“The truth is found when men are free to pursue it.”

“Rules are not necessarily sacred; principles are.”

The youth of today are our sole investment in tomorrow.”

From Eleanor Roosevelt:

“Do one thing every day that scares you.”

From John F. Kennedy:

“One person can make a difference and everyone should try.”

From Thoreau:

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.”

From Gandhi

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

From Pastor Martin Niemoller:

“First they came for the socialists and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.

They they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

The they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.”

I am not a particularly courageous person but I would like to be. I write blogs that openly assert my political views, but in the back of my mind I am often quite frightened that I will lose the goodwill of friends or relatives who do not agree with me. I have to force myself to stand up for what I believe and all too often I water down what I really want to say even as I realize that nobody who disagrees with me reads my thoughts anymore. 

I have wondered for all of my life how good people were conned into believing in the world vision of Adolf Hitler. I have discussed such things with my daughters and my adult grandchildren, always naively believing that our democracy would protect us from authoritarian regimes. It never occurred to me that a politician repeating lies over and over again would fool the American people. I always thought that our system of government was ironclad and would protect the least among us from danger. What a fool I have been!

In only two months of the Trump presidency I have been stunned each and every day not just by his boldly unconstitutional actions but more so by the seeming complacency by so many of my fellow citizens. Perhaps some of them have been programmed to believe his lies or maybe they do not belong to the groups that are being attacked and do not see him as a threat to themselves. Worst of all is the possibility that they are unaware of the damage that he is inflicting on our nation and blithely insistent that this too shall pass. 

People like me have been spoiled by our freedoms. I have never endured subjugation or segregation like my fellow Black citizens and their ancestors. I have not had rocks thrown at me simply for being a hated immigrant like my mother did when she was a child. Nobody has knocked on my door in the middle of the night and sent me away without a hearing like is happening to individuals right now in my country. I have never been afraid of losing my freedoms until now when the man chosen to protect our Constitution is daring Congress and judges to stop him from flaunting the laws and seemingly getting away with destroying the separation of powers by seizing control of everything through executive orders. He is operating like a king or a dictator and little has been done to check and balance his total disregard for rules that were once sacred.

I know I have to keep protesting and resisting for the sake of the young and for the preservation of my country. I know that there are very good people who still do not seem to understand the danger we are in. They truly believe that Donald Trump wants to make our country great again, but I have no doubt that Trump is only interested in preserving his personal wealth and power. His changes will ultimately hurt many of the very people who voted for him along with innocents who are being used as pawns to stir up fears.

I must not be afraid nor should any of us. When we only fight for our own personal needs and look away when others are being hurt, we chip away at all that has ever been good about our nation. We must correct the lies and misinformation. We must demand that our Congress and our judiciary exercise their rights. We must move quickly before the destruction is so massive that there will be little left to save. We each must do something every single day even if it scares us.