Resilience

Against the constant Depredations of Dragons and Nazis

Believe me, I understand your frustration, fear, rage and exhaustion. In only a few months, Nazis and Dragons have done great harm to our nation, our world and our sense of reality. Whether you are a veteran, activist, queer person, in public health or service or just a citizen; you are right to be VERY worried. I am not in any way trying to minimize ANY of that.

When I chose to start writing this Substack, I chose the title as a more combative version of the classic: “This is a Marathon, not a Sprint.” This will be a long, hard fight against Zealots, the Obscenely Rich with no concept of how the world or people work and Sheer Malignant Arrogance. They will do tremendous harm and massive collateral damage through ignorance, spite and fear. People have already died for their stupidity, and will again. The tallies will likely be in the millions, again. Sometimes it will be intentional and other times, not. These are cruel, anti-science and anti-education people with no concept of the harm they do and no concern when it is pointed out to them, unless by a bank or corporation and sometimes not even then.

That they have done so much harm in such a short time also adds to the despair of those of us who have seen this since 2016 or earlier. It can feel like you shouted into the wind and no one listened. As Russell Vought put it about federal workers: “We want to put them in trauma.” At a larger level, this is true for any of us not part of their alliance. Trauma and cruelty are what they are deliberately trying to do and they have freely said so in many places. They do not hide this.

I feel that I have written on some of these topics already so here are a few things so as not to repeat them and to give you a chance to find them:

Rage:

https://substack.com/@15rounds/note/p-158059138

You’ve Just Been Hit:

https://substack.com/@15rounds/note/p-157636585

Rest:

https://substack.com/@15rounds/note/p-157111927

Hospitality as a Tool and Weapon:

https://substack.com/@15rounds/note/p-156601531

I originally planned to finish with quotes from Sun Tzu, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius and the Havamal but I feel portions of that are in what I have already written. Instead, I will give you a prayer and a song.

The Prayer:

Hail Hermod, in these dark times where we feel we all ride in Darkness, remind us that you once rode Nine Days and Nights to Hel as an ambassador and Inspire us to be ready to also do the hard things that no one else wants to do.

Hail Heimdall, the hardest thing sometimes is just to Keep the Watch. Now the Dragons and Nazis have come but you and we are still needed for the fight now and to watch after, for they will always be there. Inspire us to Continue the Mission. Charlie Mike.

A Song for Determination:

I have found this to be a good one for Resistance and easy to sing and play compared to others. As always, find the song that works best for you.

(I almost have this down on ukulele for protests.)