I have a number of Asian friends, some Chinese. With the increased news of the Chinese tarriffs I hear too many people vilifying "the Chinese" without real substantiation of anything but a mimicing of what is on social media. The Chinese tradition, 2000 years long, has been one of trade - they have a rich trading history (silk road, maritime silk road) and, to my knowledge, have only fought when attacked so they are not the aggressors from a physical standpoint. As our trading doors close, they will open more other places in the world. The Chinese businesses are adept at training personnel to design new products and new manufacturing systems and that is a strength that is hard to duplicate in Western nations. I am tired, tired, tired of the "othering" to find someone to make our country the victim. We are no longer, as a nation, working to our strengths and losing, by the day much brainpower and manpower. This makes no sense to me, to become isolated and lose our voice on the world stage.
Thank you for bringing this up Mary. "us/them" is in our DNA. i wish we'd evolved to be better than that by now, alas we have not. This is all cyclical. I just fear that this cycle is going to be with us for the better part of the remainder of my life...
Every bit of it gets me down. And yet I persist by attending every rally I can, by volunteering for my local group that protects our undocumented community, by supporting THE RESISTANCE orgs like ACLU. Action battles my feelings of hopelessness, and yet I fear for my millennial kids and my very first, soon-to-arrive grandchild. SHE also gives me hope ❤️.
i LOVE that you're getting yourself to every rally you can and that you're volunteering to protect undocumented folks and supporting resistance orgs. i hear you that action battles hopelessness. amen to that! i've decided to double down on interpersonal interactions with strangers - support groups on various topics coming soon. it's my way to be of use, and to be very ME at the same time! congrats on soon-to-arrive-baby-Girl!
We are living under the very real possibility that our business, which is 40 years old and we have owned for at least 15, will go bankrupt as will our clients. It is our sole income source. Every morning my hubby wakes up with hopes of the trade war having ended. It’s scary and stressful as hell.
Where is the front line? I too feel,hopeless and depressed. Thousands show up for demonstrations…..to what end. Not even acknowledged by White House …which gets whiter everyday .
So many things...complete lack of due process, rounding up a US citizen in Florida (who has a valid U.S. Birth Certificate), cutting funding for actual scientific research and ushering in pseudo science in its place, removal of books from libraries of military academies, erasing public data on air quality, etc., basically the giant grab for power and control of information and complete disregard for civil rights, yet saying that the removal of any and all DEI is to "protect" civil rights. Then there's the trade war and the federal job cuts impacting so, so many. It's a lot.
I am also doubling down on the "be the change" philosophy and not giving up on doing what is right. Continuing to support educators who work so hard to teach our kids is part of that.
I have a number of Asian friends, some Chinese. With the increased news of the Chinese tarriffs I hear too many people vilifying "the Chinese" without real substantiation of anything but a mimicing of what is on social media. The Chinese tradition, 2000 years long, has been one of trade - they have a rich trading history (silk road, maritime silk road) and, to my knowledge, have only fought when attacked so they are not the aggressors from a physical standpoint. As our trading doors close, they will open more other places in the world. The Chinese businesses are adept at training personnel to design new products and new manufacturing systems and that is a strength that is hard to duplicate in Western nations. I am tired, tired, tired of the "othering" to find someone to make our country the victim. We are no longer, as a nation, working to our strengths and losing, by the day much brainpower and manpower. This makes no sense to me, to become isolated and lose our voice on the world stage.
Thank you for bringing this up Mary. "us/them" is in our DNA. i wish we'd evolved to be better than that by now, alas we have not. This is all cyclical. I just fear that this cycle is going to be with us for the better part of the remainder of my life...
Every bit of it gets me down. And yet I persist by attending every rally I can, by volunteering for my local group that protects our undocumented community, by supporting THE RESISTANCE orgs like ACLU. Action battles my feelings of hopelessness, and yet I fear for my millennial kids and my very first, soon-to-arrive grandchild. SHE also gives me hope ❤️.
i LOVE that you're getting yourself to every rally you can and that you're volunteering to protect undocumented folks and supporting resistance orgs. i hear you that action battles hopelessness. amen to that! i've decided to double down on interpersonal interactions with strangers - support groups on various topics coming soon. it's my way to be of use, and to be very ME at the same time! congrats on soon-to-arrive-baby-Girl!
We are living under the very real possibility that our business, which is 40 years old and we have owned for at least 15, will go bankrupt as will our clients. It is our sole income source. Every morning my hubby wakes up with hopes of the trade war having ended. It’s scary and stressful as hell.
That sounds so scary. I'm so sorry. Hang in there. Keep being yourselves.
Where is the front line? I too feel,hopeless and depressed. Thousands show up for demonstrations…..to what end. Not even acknowledged by White House …which gets whiter everyday .
So many things...complete lack of due process, rounding up a US citizen in Florida (who has a valid U.S. Birth Certificate), cutting funding for actual scientific research and ushering in pseudo science in its place, removal of books from libraries of military academies, erasing public data on air quality, etc., basically the giant grab for power and control of information and complete disregard for civil rights, yet saying that the removal of any and all DEI is to "protect" civil rights. Then there's the trade war and the federal job cuts impacting so, so many. It's a lot.
I am also doubling down on the "be the change" philosophy and not giving up on doing what is right. Continuing to support educators who work so hard to teach our kids is part of that.