The Call of Now

[Written for the NO KINGS protest on 10/18/2025] 

 

What an honor to be alive at this moment!

To be called to serve at this moment!

Our oldest enemy faces us with 21st Century tools, so our generation is called to serve in a way only our generation could. 

What an honor to fight for THE IDEA and THE SPIRIT that has endured for generations!

Of course, our country has never had ANY claim to be perfect. Not even close. The irony of a nation of slaveholders who wanted to be free is a part of our legacy we cannot shy away from. 

But the idea of America has endured because IT is perfect. And while each country has its own spirit, there's something uniquely powerful and resilient in the American spirit. 

When we decide together, nothing stops us. Ever. 

Our institutions are failing because we put our faith, resources, and expectations into those institutions - instead of in the people who run them!

We salute the flag, and not the folks who carry what that flag means in their hearts every minute of every day.

Real history isn't a list of dates and places; it's choices. We learn about July 4, 1776, not because the day itself was somehow special, but because of the choices people made that day. 

A country can be greater than the sum of its individual citizens. But it is not the buildings or the hierarchies or the bicameral legislatures that make it great. 

It is our choice to stand together that makes us great. The power is in knowing we can't do this alone. 

That's the REAL patriotism. Believing in the people. Supporting the people. 

As we go forward, our path may not be clear, but OUR MAP IS!

First, act in good faith. When you argue, let it be to find the best answer for everyone. Not to win for the sake of winning, or to serve yourself at the cost of others. Speak the truth, be open to correction, mean what you say, and let even your humor be done with compassion and sincerity. 

Second, educate yourself, and each other. Then you will know how to help, and how to evaluate the actions of others who are claiming to help. 

Third, empathize with everyone. Feel their suffering as your own and you will be compelled to alleviate that suffering.  

When you see an unhoused individual, remember what it's like to go days without a shower; how the cold is always so much colder when you're wearing dirty clothes. 

Then you will know what to do. 

Feel their pangs of hunger. Remember the lightheadedness, the inability to focus when you haven't eaten. 

Then you will know what to do.

Act like each person is part of your family. Because you can't live without them. And then you will know what to do.  

And finally, DO those things. Participate, whenever and however you can. Rhetorically, some will be on the front lines of the fight; others will be cleaning the bathrooms of the people who feed the people who make the tools we send to the front. Everyone has a role they can play, and the only shame is in dropping your section of the chain that links us together. In the theater, they say there are no small roles, only small actors. The same is true of patriots. 

Always remember, there are NOT two sides to this fight. There is only ONE side, the side of patriots. Every American is on that side, so the question for ourselves and our fellow citizens is not which side we are on, but whether we accept the burden or not. Whether we live up to the responsibility or not.

Will we - each of us - fight for us? Or are we just in it for ourselves? 

Will I put profit over patriotism? Will I horde or will I share? Will I see the inherent value of my fellow human beings, or in building my towering fortress, try to place myself above them?

The American Revolution didn't appear out of nothing. Our Founders took the lessons of the English Constitution, improved and adapted it. 

Just as we can take the American Constitution, improve and adapt it, for a better tomorrow.

They built a better future. And we have the same opportunity.

They didn't fight the constitution; they fought those who would pervert it.  So must we. 

Fate is calling. America needs you. But more importantly, America needs US. 

We've all heard the Spider-Man quote about power and responsibility. 

But there's a better one years later in the comics. I leave you now with the words of a much older, and hopefully wiser Spider-Man, who said:

"All these years I thought it was power that brought responsibility. It’s not. I was wrong.  It’s responsibility that brings power. It’s knowing what needs to be done that brings strength and courage.” 

Go forward with love and hope for the people around you, and you will know what to do.