Four Questions

Mah neesh tah nah
Ha lie la ha zeh..........

Ooooooops.......wrong four questions and in Hebrew.  Just a little Jewish humor.  This is the beginning of the four questions asked by the youngest at a Passover Sedar.  But seriously folks, I find myself asking four questions of myself every day.  I want to share those questions with you and my answer to those questions.

Fired up?

You're damn right I am.  Every day when I look at the news or listen to NPR I get fired up for the day.  I first became fired up two days after the election in November.  I had a great deal of energy invested in fear and depression, and I made a conscious decision to use that energy in constructive ways.  The great thing was that instead of remaining depressed and afraid, I became energized and had a definite feeling of hope.  I could see how the decent people in our country had become energized also.  It was very obvious, immediately.  I felt like I was not alone (I knew it, but now I felt it).

Since that day, I have remained fired up and each blog post that I make keeps me fired up, along with what is happening in our country on a daily basis.  Each time I go to a protest  or an event, my energy becomes rejuvenated,  and again, this keeps me fired up.

Ready to go?

Yup!  Each morning, I listen to NPR to get a read on what has occurred since the evening before.  I check my phone for messages from news outlets and activist organizations like MoveOn.org, Creedo, Change.org and others.  When I'm out on my evening walk, I'm letting ideas bubble up.  These ideas aren't just for what to write about.  I also end up having ideas about activities I can perform that hopefully will be useful.

I learned the above two questions from President Obama.  They come from a story that he tells about  when he was in the primary process in 2008 and went to some small gathering of about 30 people in South Caroline on a rainy day.  That is the day that he learned these two questions from a woman at that gathering.  Since then, I have added two questions of my own.

Keep the pressure up?

Not only is this a question I ask myself, it's also a directive to myself.  Am I keeping the pressure up?  The first person that I have to keep the pressure on is me.  This has not been an issue.  I have been and remain highly motivated to do everything that I can do to remove trump and those that surround him from being in positions of power.  A day does not go by when I'm not applying some sort of pressure.  Some days it's only the blog post.  Other days I apply pressure in other ways including the post.   Writing emails to Senators and Representatives.  Writing hard copy letters to Senators and Representatives.  Making phone calls to Senators and Representatives.  Not limiting myself to only my Senators and representative.  Sending certified mail to majority and minority leaders of both houses of Congress.  Attending protests and town hall meetings.  Attending local Democratic committee meetings.  Emailing all of my district's Democratic committees with ideas.  Making videos. Creating power points that I want to take to church groups.  Letters to Editors.  All of these things, and more, are a result of me keeping the pressure up on me and in turn keeping the pressure up on all of these 'pressure points'.

Turn up the heat?

Again, not only a question, but a directive.  Am I finding new ways to approach placing pressure, while maintaining the pressure I am already applying?  This is not something that I can do on an everyday basis.  I may come up with ideas regularly, many times a week, but I am not able to implement them as quickly as I would like.  I write them down and keep working on adding new initiatives as time allows.  It;s not ideal, but life isn't ideal.  I end up feeling some guilt and disappointment, but then take a realistic view at what I do and I'm ok.

I do see the heat being turned up every week by all of us.  I see the petitions that are circulated, the town halls, the protests, the consequences that trump and his brood experience.  I see the press turning up the heat and not being intimidated by trump.  Quite the contrary, I see the press intimidating trump et. al.

I'm glad i have shared this with you all today.  It helps me to clarify what I'm seeing and doing.  It helps me stay fired up, it keeps me ready to go, it gives me a clear perspective on what the pressure looks like and with that view of what pressure looks like it enables me to see and take the next steps to turn up the heat.