I’ve hit the rage stage of sheltering in. I stomp around the neighborhood, my cheap, old scarf over my nose and mouth like some kind of demented outlaw from Forever 21, and think about how angry I am. I’m, first and foremost, angry that I live in a country that somehow elected such a wildly unfit, flawed human to be president. A man who has no clue about the limits of his own knowledge, and surrounds himself with other men who also appear to be
Thank you Courtney. I hold our children's longing for swinging and teeter totters and gravel pressed into their knees and skidding into home base in a cloud of dust that she wipes on her jeans and spits freely out of her grinning lips. I hold hands and hands of hands and those short pudgy reaching hands. xoS
Dear Courtney: This morning I posted about you, your newsletter, and my own rage on my FB Author page at http://www.facebook.com/parkerjpalmer. Once again you give voice to something so many feel but have felt unable to express. Lead on, dear friend and mentor, lead on! Lots of love to you and your wonderful family, Parker
Thank you so much, dear friend. Importantly, I was sort of beating myself up for feeling the anger and on a 6 foot apart walk with a friend and said, "It feels so unenlightened. None of my heroes are like this." And then in the next breath I said, "Actually, that's not true. Parker is angry. He sometimes knows the power of anger. The thing is not to let it break me a part, but open." So you, without knowing it, coached me into letting myself feel these feelings and write about them. Easiest coaching job you ever did, huh?
Ah, Courtney, true intergenerational friendship is a wondrous thing! And of course, I’m ever-grateful to you for introducing me to your friends, some of the most amazing members of your generation. Speaking of coaching, I still laugh over the onstage “coaching" you did for me with Krista at PopTech when I asked, “What’s hacking?” If I had a makeover on that gig, I’d do exactly the same thing! Thank you for your newsletter and the latest issue, which is clearly speaking to a lot of people. Lots of love to you and John and the girls...
I hit this head on yesterday. I'm openly wishing for his death so they we can stop him from causing more deaths. It's a dark place to be. Thank you for showing me I'm not alone. I think this is part of the grieving process..
Listen to Your words. Just listen! What you said has given others permission to wish the same on the person you would choose to lead, or on your neighbor, or on your family! Do you have proof that your choice in leaders would have done anything different? Is it more evil to make a decision than to wish death on a person? Have we not all made decisions that on hindsight could be questioned? Is putting all our hope in any human wise? Or, in doing so do we unwittingly put the impossible weight of the world on them? Above all, my heart grieves that wishing death appears to be a justified morality.
I have to agree with you, Deb, even though, to be completely honest, I've also wished for his death. I remember how disgusted I was when Obama was President and so many people hated him and wished him to die. Now I'm doing the same thing. It's not right.
Thank-you. . . so much more nourishing than the "keep positive" messages. I'm constantly told it's only temporary. But losses are real, every hug I don't get from a granddaughter is missed and and gone forever. The poorest and weakest and disenfranchised are suffering the most and it costs ALL of us, even the people who aren't conscious of it, because living in a system that systematically grinds some people down creates an emotional and cognitive dissonance that is damaging.
Thank you, Courtney, thank you for your courage.. for putting into words what I am feeling but am almost too numb to say.. thank you for allowing my own rage to surface.. thank you for helping us heal and for YOUR leadership.
Absolutely the truth and nothing but the truth .. so help me God ..xx This business man should never be a president this is what happens when you vote for a business man instead of a politician. Please God don’t make this man have anymore power . He is a narcissistic racist thing more concerned to be telling ppl his hair is real . I just don’t have any more words for him .
I'm gratified and inspired by Courtney's opportunity to comment on her outstanding initiative. I'd like to support her sense of outrage toward the political system in America that has been responsible for the virus that now threatens the lives, and impairs our quality of life, among those to whom Courtney addresses her eloquent call for attention. My own family here in Portland, OR., as well as in Phoenix, towns in PA., and close friends in NYC, are feeling to a greater or lesser degree the awful effects of this disease. At same time, I'm grateful for the widening circle of connections from former students like Courtney, who have reached out to me with concern through email. Such exchanges have long served as verification of E.M. Forster's well known maxim that the imperative of the modern age is "Only Connect," so despite the terrible disconnections that Courtney's heartfelt writing conveys, there remains a steadfast will to reach out with empathy across thousands of miles.
I'd like to suggest that we extend both the outrage and empathy to include others as far away as Afghanistan, in an effort to sympathize with the immense suffering caused by the endless war there. Buried among the articles in the media today about the virus, is a single piece on the predictable breakdown of the so-called "peace talks" in Kabul (N.Y. Times, 4/8, p. A. 19). Since the U.S. began the invasion of Afghanistan immediately following 9/11, civilians have been among the foremost casualties. It's noteworthy that both Republican and Democratic administrations have furthered this war and while the present policy of Trump pretends to favor withdrawal, the devastating American drone strikes continue, thus inflicting pain on innocent Afghans that should provoke outrage among those of us indirectly responsible.
The best book that I've read recently is Judith Butler's "The Force of Nonviolence" (2020). Following her earlier expositions about war, including the "Critically Thinking About War" project at Berkeley and "Frames of War," (2009), Butler expands on her key theory of "grievability", perhaps the most original contribution to nonviolent theory since the classic ideas from Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Butler has long called out American government attacks on Afghanistan in terms of an inability to grieve for afflicted civilians there. (see Carol Ness, "Judith Butler:Thinking Critically About War" in UC Berkeley News, 4/2/09). Her creative thinking about violence and nonviolence deserves the highest commendation so I'd like to use this space to applaud her work. During this period of enforced isolation that allows us to focus on the invigorating writings of Courtney Martin, I urge also reading Butler's last book. Dennis Dalton, Prof. of Pol. Science Emeritus, Barnard College, NYC
Thank you for writing, DD. I always love learning from you. All these years later! I hadn't heard this term, "grievability," and it is so important. Wow. "An inability to grieve for afflicted civilians." There is so much we are not sufficiently grieving, and haven't for decades and decades. Where to start? It's overwhelming. Love you.
My heart is simultaneously broken and full with your post here. Thank you for speaking so eloquently thoughts in my own jumbled mind.
As my mentor Parker says, break open, not apart. That's the key.
Bravo! And after a week of stomping and wanting to kick someone in the shin, I thank you for admitting to the rage. Thank you thank you!
Right there with you, sister.
Thank you Courtney. I hold our children's longing for swinging and teeter totters and gravel pressed into their knees and skidding into home base in a cloud of dust that she wipes on her jeans and spits freely out of her grinning lips. I hold hands and hands of hands and those short pudgy reaching hands. xoS
LOVE THIS.
Dear Courtney: This morning I posted about you, your newsletter, and my own rage on my FB Author page at http://www.facebook.com/parkerjpalmer. Once again you give voice to something so many feel but have felt unable to express. Lead on, dear friend and mentor, lead on! Lots of love to you and your wonderful family, Parker
Thank you so much, dear friend. Importantly, I was sort of beating myself up for feeling the anger and on a 6 foot apart walk with a friend and said, "It feels so unenlightened. None of my heroes are like this." And then in the next breath I said, "Actually, that's not true. Parker is angry. He sometimes knows the power of anger. The thing is not to let it break me a part, but open." So you, without knowing it, coached me into letting myself feel these feelings and write about them. Easiest coaching job you ever did, huh?
Ah, Courtney, true intergenerational friendship is a wondrous thing! And of course, I’m ever-grateful to you for introducing me to your friends, some of the most amazing members of your generation. Speaking of coaching, I still laugh over the onstage “coaching" you did for me with Krista at PopTech when I asked, “What’s hacking?” If I had a makeover on that gig, I’d do exactly the same thing! Thank you for your newsletter and the latest issue, which is clearly speaking to a lot of people. Lots of love to you and John and the girls...
Spot on. We share the same truth. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you.
Thank you for voicing so eloquently the way I feel. It helps
You are so welcome. Makes me feel less helpless hearing this.
I hit this head on yesterday. I'm openly wishing for his death so they we can stop him from causing more deaths. It's a dark place to be. Thank you for showing me I'm not alone. I think this is part of the grieving process..
Listen to Your words. Just listen! What you said has given others permission to wish the same on the person you would choose to lead, or on your neighbor, or on your family! Do you have proof that your choice in leaders would have done anything different? Is it more evil to make a decision than to wish death on a person? Have we not all made decisions that on hindsight could be questioned? Is putting all our hope in any human wise? Or, in doing so do we unwittingly put the impossible weight of the world on them? Above all, my heart grieves that wishing death appears to be a justified morality.
I have to agree with you, Deb, even though, to be completely honest, I've also wished for his death. I remember how disgusted I was when Obama was President and so many people hated him and wished him to die. Now I'm doing the same thing. It's not right.
Exactly where I have been. Yesterday I crawled into a ball and just laid there. It was what I needed. Today, I am breathing again.
Thank-you. . . so much more nourishing than the "keep positive" messages. I'm constantly told it's only temporary. But losses are real, every hug I don't get from a granddaughter is missed and and gone forever. The poorest and weakest and disenfranchised are suffering the most and it costs ALL of us, even the people who aren't conscious of it, because living in a system that systematically grinds some people down creates an emotional and cognitive dissonance that is damaging.
I too have hit the rage stage. And I notice how hard it is for anyone to be with me in this place. Thank you for speaking it so beautifully.
You touched on some very important information “ morally bankrupt “ Excellent
This is truth. Thank you for writing so well.
Thank you, Courtney, thank you for your courage.. for putting into words what I am feeling but am almost too numb to say.. thank you for allowing my own rage to surface.. thank you for helping us heal and for YOUR leadership.
Absolutely the truth and nothing but the truth .. so help me God ..xx This business man should never be a president this is what happens when you vote for a business man instead of a politician. Please God don’t make this man have anymore power . He is a narcissistic racist thing more concerned to be telling ppl his hair is real . I just don’t have any more words for him .
I'm gratified and inspired by Courtney's opportunity to comment on her outstanding initiative. I'd like to support her sense of outrage toward the political system in America that has been responsible for the virus that now threatens the lives, and impairs our quality of life, among those to whom Courtney addresses her eloquent call for attention. My own family here in Portland, OR., as well as in Phoenix, towns in PA., and close friends in NYC, are feeling to a greater or lesser degree the awful effects of this disease. At same time, I'm grateful for the widening circle of connections from former students like Courtney, who have reached out to me with concern through email. Such exchanges have long served as verification of E.M. Forster's well known maxim that the imperative of the modern age is "Only Connect," so despite the terrible disconnections that Courtney's heartfelt writing conveys, there remains a steadfast will to reach out with empathy across thousands of miles.
I'd like to suggest that we extend both the outrage and empathy to include others as far away as Afghanistan, in an effort to sympathize with the immense suffering caused by the endless war there. Buried among the articles in the media today about the virus, is a single piece on the predictable breakdown of the so-called "peace talks" in Kabul (N.Y. Times, 4/8, p. A. 19). Since the U.S. began the invasion of Afghanistan immediately following 9/11, civilians have been among the foremost casualties. It's noteworthy that both Republican and Democratic administrations have furthered this war and while the present policy of Trump pretends to favor withdrawal, the devastating American drone strikes continue, thus inflicting pain on innocent Afghans that should provoke outrage among those of us indirectly responsible.
The best book that I've read recently is Judith Butler's "The Force of Nonviolence" (2020). Following her earlier expositions about war, including the "Critically Thinking About War" project at Berkeley and "Frames of War," (2009), Butler expands on her key theory of "grievability", perhaps the most original contribution to nonviolent theory since the classic ideas from Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Butler has long called out American government attacks on Afghanistan in terms of an inability to grieve for afflicted civilians there. (see Carol Ness, "Judith Butler:Thinking Critically About War" in UC Berkeley News, 4/2/09). Her creative thinking about violence and nonviolence deserves the highest commendation so I'd like to use this space to applaud her work. During this period of enforced isolation that allows us to focus on the invigorating writings of Courtney Martin, I urge also reading Butler's last book. Dennis Dalton, Prof. of Pol. Science Emeritus, Barnard College, NYC
Thank you for writing, DD. I always love learning from you. All these years later! I hadn't heard this term, "grievability," and it is so important. Wow. "An inability to grieve for afflicted civilians." There is so much we are not sufficiently grieving, and haven't for decades and decades. Where to start? It's overwhelming. Love you.
Same. I feel that dust settling, feel myself seeing things more for what they are. I'm so angry.
"Dust settling." Such a good way to put it, that's exactly how it feels.