Taking A Leap One of the toughest things about writing posts like this is the vulnerability. Not that I’m not decent at sharing stuff, but some things are harder to share than others. As far as the sharing goes, the background check investigator for my second clearance investigation when I was in government (they happen every five years) asked a friend of mine (that’s part of the process) if I had any big, deep secrets. “Nope,” my friend said, “She’ll tell you anything you want.” The background investigator laughed and said “Yeah, she’s the most open person I’ve ever investigated in over 20 years of this.” So there’s that.
First of all, Vanessa, thanks for sharing your "origin story." It's a powerful one. We tend not to do that often enough, so when people are vulnerable it makes a positive impact. There is so much truth, so much prescience in what you write. If we could just take the country by the "shoulders," shake it and scream, Wake up! Maybe we could get people out of their complacency. It's a scary world out there. Retreating into our corners makes us feel "safe." But that is false safety, at best, if we don't figure out how to take on--and take out--the demons that plague our society and our country. Perhaps that's why the story of the Ukrainians resonates: they have a tangible and definable enemy that threatens their very existence (and ours!). We, on the other hand, have a murky enemy from within. If we open our eyes, though (as you did those many years ago), we can see that enemy is every bit as tangible and definable as the Russians are for the Ukrainians. We must figure out how to connect the dots for the many Americans who think they are immune to the existential threats that we face. Nothing less than our democracy--and our way of life--depends on it. So again, thank you for illuminating how you got to where you are--and pointing us all in the direction of where we need to go.
There's also a push to default on the USD and take down our currency. The people pushing this idea are powerful, Elon Musk, Peter Theil, and others. Do you think they care what happens to the United States?
First of all, Vanessa, thanks for sharing your "origin story." It's a powerful one. We tend not to do that often enough, so when people are vulnerable it makes a positive impact. There is so much truth, so much prescience in what you write. If we could just take the country by the "shoulders," shake it and scream, Wake up! Maybe we could get people out of their complacency. It's a scary world out there. Retreating into our corners makes us feel "safe." But that is false safety, at best, if we don't figure out how to take on--and take out--the demons that plague our society and our country. Perhaps that's why the story of the Ukrainians resonates: they have a tangible and definable enemy that threatens their very existence (and ours!). We, on the other hand, have a murky enemy from within. If we open our eyes, though (as you did those many years ago), we can see that enemy is every bit as tangible and definable as the Russians are for the Ukrainians. We must figure out how to connect the dots for the many Americans who think they are immune to the existential threats that we face. Nothing less than our democracy--and our way of life--depends on it. So again, thank you for illuminating how you got to where you are--and pointing us all in the direction of where we need to go.
There's also a push to default on the USD and take down our currency. The people pushing this idea are powerful, Elon Musk, Peter Theil, and others. Do you think they care what happens to the United States?