Page 11 - Sonoma County Gazette January 2017

Reasons to be Optimistic in 2017
By Jim Corbett
Optimistic! Are you kidding me?
This is the biggest and best awakening that I have seen in my lifetime. The election of Donald Trump as POTUS was, I admit, a huge shock to my system and made me shut out news reports for the next week. But as the dust settled, I realized that this was a great gift to all of us, because it finally reawakened
a movement that has been dormant since the late 60s and early 70s. In that
era, the young came together to oppose and stop a war, to enact civil rights legislation, to speak up for women, the environment and liberty and justice for all. In the years since, all of these causes have been slowly eroded away, while we as a population went on with our lives in a stupor of apathy thinking that these causes were safe. We all fell asleep at the switch.
I believe we are awake now, and ready, willing and able to come to the defense of the causes that “Make America Great” already. We began this quest in the 60s as young idealistic “Hippies” that believed there was a better way
of living, and indeed we were able at achieve many of those goals in that era. But naturally, we got busy raising families and doing our own thing, and we forgot that the strength of these ideas was in the strength of numbers that joined together. Now all the Hippies have awakened and it is time to rejoin the movement. Be Here Now!
There is often grousing about “The 1%” and how ‘they’ have all the money and all the influence in the country. While it is true, that wealth buys access, it is also true that 1% of a population united behind a cause will move the needle significantly in the direction of that cause. The important part of this equation is 1% ‘joined together”. If we all attempt to individually shake our fist at the government, Donald Trump, haters and bigots, we have no chance of changing anything. If we come together to co-create the world we want, nothing can stop us from achieving our goals. After the results of the election there are more than 50% who have been awakened by this monumental election. We are awake, we are alert and we are ready to build the world we want; a world that is kind and compassionate, considerate of all races, creeds and sexual flavors, committed to environmental protection and equal justice for all. The job is not done. Let’s get back to work.
When we unite as a group with a common goal we call on the Divine impulse within each of us, and when we are united in that higher frequency, we are unstoppable. I am more optimistic than I have been in years, because we are now awake and ready to join together to create the world of our choosing. I look forward to BEING with you in Peacetown.
How to Survive 2017 (and 2018, 2019 and 2020)
By Bob Engel
Many of us experienced a wrenching of expectations and a dislocation of
hopes on the evening of Tuesday November 8th. A man who we considered manifestly unfit to be president was elected. It was totally without irony that colleagues in the mental health profession referred to post-election trauma syndrome.
My emotions in the months following the election have run from despair to indignation, leavened with gallows humor. So how to avoid outrage burnout? Where do we find optimism? I am afraid that ire and indignation, like fossil fuels, will burn themselves out and leave pollution in their wake. Satire will distract, but not improve us.
So optimism will have to be made, not found. Many have wisely advised that we keep taking actions, small and large. Take them close to home with friends, family, and community as well as nationally and patriotically. In the last two months I’ve searched for actions with better chances of affecting change – how to contact Congress members, which organizations carefully vet their interven- tions, etc. - something beyond feel-good petitions and venting. I’m sometimes dissatisfied with my actions, sometimes my good intentions have chased a viral media meme – but incrementally these efforts are what may restore the country to political sanity, while protecting our personal sanity, and at the same time creating optimism, a renewable resource.
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OPTIMISM cont’d on page 12