Prepping For Chaos
Overnight rain greatly diminished the amount of snow coverage that has lingered over the past two weeks, but more snow is falling now (7:30 AM EST), and anything still liquid will start freezing soon as temperatures drop quickly. Of course, the kids and I are home for the day so there’s no worry there. Kat’s books are full, though, which could make her trip to Fishers a little treacherous this evening.
I feel as though I need to continuously remind people that driving on ice is not the same as driving on snow, even if you have snow tires. In fact, those studded snow tires make driving on ice all the more difficult. To drive on ice, one needs chains, and chains, by their nature, require driving slowly. Even with chains, however, sliding can occur, and stopping is difficult. One is far safer staying put someplace warm if at all possible.
Cold weather is especially challenging for unhoused people. Finding someplace safe and warm can be difficult. So, I was initially encouraged when local NBC affiliate WTHR posted a list of warming centers for Central Indiana. Then, I took a look at the list. Almost all of them are closed on Sunday and many are closed Monday as well, when temps are below 0F! Is a warming center still a warming center if it’s closed? In my mind, this is an excellent opportunity for houses of worship to open and welcome strangers from the cold. After all, that’s what their deities have instructed them to do. If any are doing that, though, they’re keeping that status secret. There are no worship facilities on the list of warming centers.
The situation for unhoused people is made increasingly difficult as many lack transportation as well. If we get as much as a quarter of an inch of ice on the roads, you don’t want to be on a city bus, either. This makes the need for frequent warming centers all the more critical. The community is better served by having many places helping a few people rather than fewer more disparate places trying to cram in as many as possible.
I don’t understand why more places aren’t opening their doors. This ‘not my problem’ attitude is contrary to how I was raised. Ice was an annual issue in Eastern Oklahoma. Tree limbs became brittle as ice accumulated on them, causing them to fall onto power lines. Power lines often snapped on their own if ice accumulated more than half an inch. The instant power started going out anywhere, my father was on the phone checking on people.
Homelessness wasn’t much of an issue in our small towns, but the number of elderly in houses with little or no insulation was a constant concern. Poppa saw it as part of his job as a pastor to proactively find those without power and get them somewhere safe. Usually, a nearby neighbor was happy to take someone in. If the storm was severe enough to make safe places scarce, Mother would start pulling out the dozens of blankets we kept on hand and make pallets across the floors. It was unconscionable to even consider knowingly leaving someone in the cold.
Now, once one starts mentioning taking care of people, politicians start talking about budgets and how cities don’t have the money to help. Excuse me, how much does it cost to simply unlock the damn doors? The Colts aren’t playing, so why isn’t Lucas Oil Stadium available? How much of the convention center is being used? People who are on the verge of freezing to death aren’t going to complain about the availability of a blanket on the floor of the city/county building or a school gym. There is not a city anywhere in the United States that does not have overwhelming options for keeping people warm. That anyone is at risk of freezing to death is inexcusable.
Compassion is not a weakness. Compassion is a muscle that needs frequent exercise for people to see its strength. There is strength in caring about people you don’t know. Helping those who struggle without expecting anything in return is a major flex. We have allowed lazy fools to control the narrative of being neighborly, helping other people, and caring about those at risk. There are no strong communities, there are no thriving cities where compassion is not at the core of their being.
Capitalism is an enemy here. If one is looking to find profit in helping people, that one is not compassionate but rather greedy. One of the issues plaguing LA in the wake of unfathomable destruction is that too many property owners have raised prices so severely that only the rich can afford safety. There is zero compassion when one attaches a price tag to keeping people alive and well. If we cannot set profit aside to help people in need, we are undeserving of any profit at all.
Chaos is coming. We know this because we’ve been through it before. This time, it comes at us with the forceful support of dozens of billionaires who mistakenly think they have the right to tell any of us what to do. They’re screaming, “We have a mandate!” when all they actually have is a gilded microphone. There is no mandate that does not involve compassion and without compassion, there is no true power to govern.
We can say ‘No.’ We must say ‘No.’ We have a moral obligation as humans to say ‘No’ to all the chaos, all the inhumanity, all the profiteering, all the greed, and all the corruption of the incoming administration. Remember, at all times, that there is no government without the consent of the governed. You are not required to consent. You have every right to dissent and the strongest dissent comes through action, not posting memes on social media.
Dissent. Help someone in need. It really is that easy.
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
What Would Batman Do?
For a long time, there have been people, almost smart individuals, who are convinced that we live in either a computer simulation or some other type of alternative reality. Most days, I roll my eyes at such ideas. How can we discern a fake reality when we don’t have a grip on true reality? But then, I started looking through the news this morning and I have to admit that something feels off. There’s snow on the water tower at Pensacola Beach. New Orleans’ Bourbon Street is covered in a white powder that didn’t come from Mexico. The first headline I see? ‘[Felonious Punk] pardons founder of Silk Road website.’ Just down the page from that was ‘Punk fires heads of TSA, Coast Guard and guts key aviation safety advisory committee.’
I think I have it figured out: we’re not in a simulation or alternative reality, we’re in a DC Comics’ Batman episode. The Penguin has managed to become president of Gotham, which is not just a city now but an entire country and his first act was to pardon all the other criminals sitting in Arkham. He then gets rid of law enforcement officials so that he and his friends can’t be arrested again. Drugs and weapons can freely enter the country and can even be ordered directly through the dark web! He sits on his throne and refers to this as the ‘Golden Age of Evil’ while dangerously playing with the Sword of Damocles.
Just like in the hit spinoff series, ‘The Penguin,’ Batman is nowhere to be found. Disappointing, isn’t it? We grew up thinking that a rich heir to his billionaire daddy’s fortune would become the dark-winged vigilante that brought justice to the world. Instead, the billionaires are all over in Davos slapping each other on the back. Has DC Comics been lying to us this entire time or did they just hire a new set of writers?
In this episode, the Felonious Punk Penguin, like any comic book villain, is testing his powers to see how much he can get away with. He starts by removing the Constitution and other founding documents as well as information about preceding presidents from the White House website. A handful of people grumble online, but not enough to bother him. Next, he eliminates traditional places of sanctuary such as churches and schools, opening the door to anyone being arrested anywhere. His administration directs all federal diversity, equity, and inclusion staff to be put on leave, making sure marginalized people stay marginalized. Police investigate whether foreign actors are paying for antisemitic crimes in Australia. Could this be the work of the Felon’s henchmen?
The truth is that no billionaire is coming to save us. Billionaires are how Felonious Punk made this rise to power in the first place. There’s no Alfred pulling strings down in the Batcave. Lucious Fox isn’t tinkering around with interesting gadgets that manage to stun but not kill anyone. If we’re going to get out of this mess, we have to do it ourselves and we can’t expect the police, the Justice Department, or anyone else in government to help us. This is all up to you and me. The gloves have to come off. There are no rules.
One of the first questions we have to ask ourselves is, “Who’s going to save Anne Frank?” White America has been fascinated with the story of the Jewish family hidden by friends and ultimately murdered by Nazis for nearly a century. What we’ve never dealt with, however, is how we would respond to a similar situation. It’s time to have that conversation. If ICE comes into your church building, are you going to stand in their way? If they come to your child’s school and interrupt their class to take away their best friend, will you intervene? If your next-door neighbors are targeted, will you hide them?
If you say you would help the Frank family but won’t lift a finger for an immigrant family now, you’re a fucking hypocrite and a bad person. I don’t want to know you. I don’t want to see you. Go away. Do we not have a moral responsibility to humanity to protect those prosecuted by evil? Or are we too fucking blind to see the evil standing right before us?
Dear citizens of Gotham, the time has come to write your part. What are you going to do? Are you going to linger in the shadows, a faceless part of the crowd? Are you going to huddle around your fire and deny access to anyone else who’s shivering in the cold? Or are you going to help those who are targeted, give voice to the marginalized, and do what you can to foil the plans of Felonious Punk and his henchmen?
Temps are cold enough this morning that the kids’ school has declared this an e-learning day. The whole concept of e-learning is that you don’t have to be physically present to learn and do something positive. Dear US citizens: this is your e-learning day. Login. Take a good look at the assignment, and then get it done. You already have everything you need.
And if you need one, coffee is the universal antidote for everything.
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