Pat Taub
A dear friend bolted through my front door on Sunday morning, distraught, blurting out, “I have this awful knot in my stomach. Two mass shootings in 24 hours with 29 dead! If I hear one more official respond to the tune of ‘you’re in our thoughts and prayers,’ I think I’ll lose it.”
I tried to console her but I was as shell-shocked as she was. Over coffee and scrambled eggs we railed at the gun lobby and at Congress for repeatedly failing to pass strict gun laws while worrying anew for our grandchildren’s safety. We felt powerless and depressed, wondering if we should pack our bags for Iceland or New Zealand.
A meal with close friends in happier times
Later when I was alone I went online to learn how others were responding, hoping to find some inspiration to lift me out of my powerlessness. My search led me to the grassroots organization, “Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense” with a story that the Moms were in D.C for their annual meeting when news broke about Saturday’s shooting in El Paso. Without thinking twice the Moms put their gathering on hold and rushed to the White House to protest for gun safety. Moved by their passion and commitment, I signed up for their email action list and sent along a small donation. I was starting to feel a little less powerless.
Moms Demand Action protesting for gun control in front of the While House last Saturday
The Dali Lama’s has famously said, “The world will be saved by Western women.” This strikes me as a no-brainer considering the mess our male leaders have made of this country (and the globe) through their unbridled appetite for money and wars and their disregard for the environment, the poor and minorities.
It was largely women who stood as witnesses day after day at the Homestead Detention Center in Florida where migrant kids were living on top of one another, deprived of beds, adequate diets and fresh air. After months of non-violent protests, which eventually attracted the press and members of Congress, the truth about Homestead became public. Representatives who visited Homestead, like Elisabeth Warren were visibly upset as they described seeing young children traumatized, unwashed, cold and hungry.
Protesters outside Homestead Detention Center calling for it to be shut down
Last week, succumbing to public pressure the evil Trump administration closed Homestead reporting that most of the children were reunited with family members and sponsors: a women’s victory to celebrate!
Women are fighting back against feeling powerless on the peace front. Codepink, the national peace and justice group, fights the good fight through their appearances at Congressional hearings where they frequently get arrested for interrupting the hearings to call out the hypocrisy of government officials.
Codepink members protesting Session’s racial policies at a Congressional hearing
The Women’s March, formed after the 2017 women’s march on Washington, and the new women’s organization, “Supermajority,” which includes Cecile Richards, the former Planned Parenthood president as a founder, are reviving up to get more women elected to office to topple the patriarchy.
Three of the founders of the Supermajority, Alicia Garza, Cecile Richards and Al-Jen Poo
The #metoo movement is responsible for outing high profile men who sexually abused scores of women over the years, empowering women to speak out when abused.
The more I can keep these women-led grass roots efforts on my horizon and the more I can join with them the less powerless I will feel. Being part of a like-minded community working for a better world is the best antidote to powerlessness I can think of. But there are days when I dream of climbing into a time machine to travel back to ancient Crete where women ruled, where the goddess was supreme and where violence was almost non-existent . . .
