Every morning I wake up with a gut-wrenching, sick feeling in my stomach. It isn’t the flu, or the day-old Chinese food I ate the night before, or even the sense of dread for the fast-approaching tax day and the check I’ll be balling up in a fist before I send it off. I’m not thinking about how in the heck I’m going to pay for a new set of tires for the car, the serious drainage problem in my backyard, and it isn’t even the feeling of déjà vu at the prospect of yet another day in the office where I’m overworked and undervalued because I’m just so darn grateful to even have a job that pays for a house with a drainage-challenged backyard in the first place. Most importantly, it isn’t even the cancer that’s both a mental and physical challenge to the most precious thing in the world to me - my mother.
No, each morning I wake up to this alternate reality we are all living in and wonder if today’s the day that the Medicare my mother relies on will be weakened or taken away. Many will say that’s months or years off, that it probably won’t affect those already on Medicare, or perhaps it won’t be touched at all…but are you sure about that? Are you willing to bet your mothers life on that? I’m not.
And it certainly isn’t all about me, or her; though she asks me every day if there’s anything so egregious that could happen that might give rise to any semblance of conscience in Republicans. How much more power will be seized by thugs in my state of North Carolina? How much more oil will spill, and how many more man-made earthquakes will there be? Will the Oroville Dam break in California today and displace hundreds of thousands? Will North Korea test another missile, and will Iran escalate hostilities and draw these sociopaths into war? Will any of my coworkers be hauled off to detention, separated from their families and cruelly deported? Will any more children suffer the harsh elements as they flee this country in fear to cross the border into Canada? Is today the day that millions will lose their healthcare while Congress prepares to spend billions of our tax dollars on a ridiculous wall? Oh, I’m sorry…a ridiculous fence?
I wake up every morning and I don’t recognize this place anymore. I don’t recognize some of my coworkers who gather in the break room during lunch to watch Fox News and cheer every time someone says “Fake News” to factual stories, and who seem to believe that willful ignorance is some kind of badge of honor. I don’t recognize some distant family members in Alabama whose reason for dismissing Russian interference in our election is because they can’t see Russia from their house, and so therefore it can’t possibly be real. I don’t recognize some family friends who think that deploying the National Guard as a deportation force doesn’t seem like such a bad idea and that we should all just give Agent Orange a chance. And for all this and more I resent that the precious time my mother has left in this world is spent desperately worrying about the future of her grandchildren and whether or not the country and democracy will survive these dangerous times.
Like many here I’ve been heartened by the flurry of activity around the country through marches, spontaneous protests, and the swarming of political offices everywhere to make our voices heard. The ACLU certainly has their work cut out for them, but the sharp rise in donations eases my worries that they’ll be overwhelmed. The bystander training, the Indivisible groups, and the outpouring of solidarity with Muslims and immigrants across the country makes me know that I am not alone. I am comforted that the majority still believe in democracy, and that whatever happens to the least of us, happens to all of us.
The prose of John Donne in “Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions” feels so relevant today even though it dates back to 1623:
“No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
But now we have Republican elected officials who are hiding from us. Too afraid to pick up the phone, read their mail or hold a town hall and face the music for their inexcusable willingness to accept voter suppression, intolerance, ignorance, blatant greed, hateful rhetoric, major conflicts of interest, outright lying, foreign collusion and authoritarianism. Too ignorant to listen to reason, and too gutless to own up to the fact that they have and continue to betray the promise of America. They are complicit, and they are not worthy of the offices they hold. None of them.
I am not and never have been an “activist”, and no one is paying me to care about my country. I desperately want to preserve our democracy and return sanity to government. I want them to hear my voice, and all those like me every.single.day. I want their ears to burn with the sound of our dissent, and I want them to continue feeling the strength and resolve of our resistance. I want them to know that this is not just a short-term outcry, but a movement for democracy by the masses. And so I have an idea that everyone, wherever they are can participate in…
30 @ 5:30 — Bell Toll for Republicans
I propose that for 30 seconds every day at 5:30PM Eastern, we all let them know for whom the bell tolls. Honk your horn if you’re in your car, ring a bell out the window if you’re at home, set your cell phone alarm if you’re at your office desk, or squeeze the handle on that air horn if you’re at an event. They will hear us and feel our determination. We will hear each other and know we’re not alone. We will be their daily reminder that democracy will not go quietly.
Tomorrow I will be in evening traffic on my way home from work, but at 5:30PM I am prepared to reach out and connect with my fellow Americans by honking my horn for 30 seconds. What do you think?