We Can Help
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Hello friends, This week, fires rage in the Los Angeles basin while other parts of the US are freezing. War continues elsewhere across the globe. It’s easy to give up, wondering what in the world we can do. When the world feels overwhelming, any of our efforts can seem like a drop in a bottomless bucket. But as organizer and writer Mariame Kaba has said, “Let this radicalize you rather than lead you to despair.” A bucket, no matter how large, is still filled one drop at a time. And then a bucket brigade can be organized. Help begins with that single drop of water. Another way of thinking about it is that we can’t save everyone, but we can help at least a few. Pick one to three things you can offer that might feel helpful to the world right now. Then do those things. Sure, we’re going up against greedy oil companies and billionaires and corrupt politicians and all the rest. But that does not mean we are without power. Collectively, we are a force to be reckoned with. All we have to do—today—is choose to claim the power we have. If you are a person in need of help right now, I hope you are getting some assistance. As for the rest of us? Let’s keep finding ways to choose, and ways to help. When things seem bleak and it is hard to go on, the offer of a single cup of water just might change the course of someone’s life. I’m offering a few resource and donation options for Southern California below. Best wishes - Thorn Mutual Aid Los Angeles Network made a spreadsheet of Resources, Volunteering Opportunities, etc World Central Kitchen is feeding people in Los Angeles (and around the globe). Direct Relief Los Angeles is providing medical equipment, respirators etc
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T. Thorn Coyle
Hello friends, On one of my recent walks, I saw a sign stapled to the utility pole which read: “This is not a time for disbelief. This is a time for new beliefs, a time to remake the impossible.” Yes, indeed. It is also a time to take stock of what we do believe. What are our ethics? What are our core values? How do we wish to live? When we focus only on what we do not want, we tilt the world in that direction. Our thoughts and emotions become consumed, our bodies and actions dragged into the...
Hello friends, When I was a teen, one of my favorite films was Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi. With a score by Philip Glass, it portrayed a world that moved too quickly, a human made world that had become too mechanized, too out of control. The title was said to mean “life out of balance” from a compound Hopi word that roughly translates—or so my research shows—corrupted or chaotic life or existence. That film made a powerful impression on my young self. I sat in the dark theater as the...
Hello friends, As I write this, cold, hard rains have returned after a brief false spring. The tulip magnolia buds that were just beginning to bloom lay in husks on damp sidewalks. Pink camellias lay in slick heaps, a danger to those without sturdy shoes. There’s a lot of danger in the world right now, for far too many of us. One thing that is getting me through is gratitude. In the wash of bad news, I see people showing up for one another. I see communities rallying to protect themselves and...