OF FEAR & FREEDOM
Democracy, Coutsey of Shutter Stock
Of Fear & Freedom
Empathy, Gen Z & Winning
Contrary to what the empathy-deniers had in mind for the 2022 mid-terms, as it turns out America is not only paying attention, has a conscience, but it appears our majority vote decries empathy which bodes well for a those of us willing to resurrect some semblance of trust. Could it be that the fearmongering has reached a tipping point, whereby the Gen Z’s who showed up to the tune of nearly 65% of the vote in Nevada, who grew up with active shooter drills from elementary school and on through high school are able to discern real-time encompassing physical fear from promoted fear for the sake of oh, I dunno know, a twisted power over them?
It's apparent that what our children are learning and voting against is the false republican, evangelical hierarchy of punishing gods and fear-based thinking. The slanted republican fear creates an expansive disconnection (as fear generally does) from what matters most---our deep connection to each other. From Gen Z’s outcries totheir determination to get out the vote, it seems to me they have reconciled with a solid universal truth: this truth being that what happens to one happens to us all. These young survivors who witnessed their schoolmates and teachers senselessly being slaughtered in front of their very eyes have had their gestalt moment, realizing that this massive republican lie, (and marketing tool) that we are somehow separate from each other, for all exhausting purposes, is false. Our children are breeding a contagious empathy. They don’t have time to listen to fearmongering campaigns as these campaigns are not in alignment with the greater good -- something Gen Z has notably pointed out, and, I might add have made this successfully clear to their constituents. The republicans cannot seem to figure out what a greater good looks like, much less center a policy around, which kind of transfers to an apparent lack of, well, empathy.
Hooray for Gen Z’s voting to honor their feelings and steer the vote away from harmful, bizarre spatial thoughts. Let there be no mistake they are not fooled by the talk of “losing their freedoms.” Their fears lie with those who justify their judgements, their dysfunctions, their hypocrisy in the name of god, power, and greed. They have no time to debate the fact that a young child smeared blood all over her body to fool her captors into thinking she is long dead. That a mother had to identify her child with DNA from her child’s sneakers. No, they no longer have the time to listen to broken rhetoric, there is a transcendent quality about our young voters when they attend youth voting summits, fundraise and march for safer communities, replacing worn out fearmongering with hope and joy. Their message is clear; electing empathetic leaders can help save lives. Energy- Shift! And we, who have come before, thank you.
Stay true,
MGH