Swan Tower

We made it through 2017. Now begins 2018.

Things have been harder for me lately. This is the point at which it really starts to hit home that this isn't a short-term challenge; it goes on and on and on. Taking tikkun olam in its proper sense, repairing the world is a task that goes on more or less forever, because there are always ways to make things better. But the amount of repair it needs right now is huge, and many of our victories amount to maintaining the status quo, rather than letting it get worse.

But 2018 does offer a chance to turn things in at least a little bit of a new direction, via the midterm elections in the U.S. If I have one resolution this year, it is to make sure the Republican Party reaps what it has sowed. They've been given their head, and they've used it to screw the American middle class, benefit the wealthy, strip protections from the environment, lash out at Latinos and Muslims and women, hand the Internet over to corporations, try repeatedly to gut health insurance, and generally piss on everything I care about. They've made it clear that they don't really give two shits about democracy or the will of the people.

So it's time for us to speak all the louder.

If you are not registered to vote, then register. If you are registered, make sure that's still valid. And then vote. Same goes for anyobody living in another country, because your politics matter, too. Don't listen to the voices that tell you that you don't matter. You do.

You can change the world. One bit at a time.

The election is in November, but the work begins now. Share here anything you've done to repair the world: donations, volunteer work, good deeds, changes in your own life to be a better citizen and friend and neighbor. No effort is too small to be worth mentioning. We'll need every straw if we're going to break this camel's back.

My apologies to those of you who read this blog on Dreamwidth; I didn't realize for some time that the plugin which crossposts from my site to DW had broken, so last month's tikkun olam post didn't appear there. But I haven't given up on these: far from it, in fact.

Every month I invite you all to share news of what you've been doing to repair the world, to help other people and make yourself a better part of it. That's true this month, too, but to the usual call I'll add a specific recommendation:

Vote.

If you live in the United States and you're registered to vote, please do so. Don't dismiss it as an "off year," as if the presidential election is the only one that matters. There are local offices to fill, local measures to approve or reject. Maybe you live in a state that always goes blue or red, so you feel like your vote doesn't matter -- well, the more local you get, the more effect you can have. Take just a few minutes to research what's going on in your state, your city, your school district. Download the EveryElection app. Make your voice heard. The presidency is important, but it's the keystone of an arch built from many different stones, and right now we can go to work on the foundations.

Of course, also keep working at the things that aren't overtly political. Volunteer your time, donate money or goods, be there for a friend in need. No effort too small to be worth mentioning here. Share what you've been doing and what you hope to do, so we can all take heart from one another.

And if you can: vote.

Another month, another tikkun olam post. Because while we can make the world a better place, there is always more to be done. Especially these days.

The usual guidelines apply. Share any good that you’ve done: volunteering, donations in money or supplies, changes toward a more sustainable lifestyle, random good deeds for neighbors or strangers. If you find yourself thinking “that isn’t big enough to count,” share it anyway. Every bit helps; every bit tells others that they’re not working alone.

Originally published at Swan Tower. You can comment here or there.

I’ve been making these tikkun olam posts for about half a year now, and responses to them have been slowing down, which I suspect is in part a sign of fatigue. It’s hard to keep on working to repair the world when so many people seem determined to break it, and when it’s hard to see any result for your effort.

But sometimes you can make a very real difference to a very specific person. Chaz Brenchley has put out a call raising funds to treat his wife’s multiple sclerosis. If we lived in a country where this was covered by insurance, they wouldn’t have to worry; instead we live in a country where Republicans are trying to take away even the insurance we already have. Karen is the primary earner in their family, and she doesn’t know how soon she’ll be able to return to work. Helping out, either by donating directly, or by subscribing to Chaz’s Patreon, can make all the difference in the world to these two people, and to their friends and family.

And while you’re at it, call your senators and beg them to oppose Trumpcare. Because I’d like to live in a world where things ranging from anxiety to surviving sexual assault don’t count as “pre-existing conditions,” and where health insurance companies are required to cover things like doctor’s visits.

Originally published at Swan Tower. You can comment here or there.

I have a back-burner project about a group of people involved in a really big movement. The project needs a lot more development, but I know their three tenets:

1. You can’t do it all by yourself. We have to do it together.
2. You can’t do it all at once. We have to do it bit by bit.
3. Just because something is small, doesn’t make it not worth doing.

Welcome to this month’s tikkun olam open thread. Share with us all the things you’ve done to repair the world. If you’ve helped out with a cause or an individual person, if you’ve donated money or goods, if you’ve improved your own life in a way that will rebound on others, or if you’re planning on doing those things in the upcoming weeks, please tell us about it.

And remember tenet #3 above. Even small deeds are worth doing, and worth sharing.

Originally published at Swan Tower. You can comment here or there.

During the event I went to at a local mosque a few months ago, one of the visiting religious leaders recited a poem that, upon googling, I find attributed to Edwin Markham:

He drew a circle to shut me out,
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win
We made a circle that drew him in.

It’s a sentiment to keep in mind these days: solidarity, inclusiveness, answering condemnation with love.

This is our monthly tikkun olam post, a place to share your efforts to repair the world and take heart from the efforts of others. The usual principles apply: nothing is too small to share. Ongoing things are good, too; don’t feel like everything you say here has to be some new undertaking. If you’ve made donations of money or supplies, volunteered your time somewhere, helped out a neighbor, changed your life to be better for those around you, or otherwise done something to make the world a better place and counteract the forces pushing it in the other direction, share it here. It reminds you of the good you’ve done, gives you a chance to see the good of others, and may inspire you to new efforts you hadn’t thought of before.

Originally published at Swan Tower. You can comment here or there.

It is the first of the month, and the first of the year. 2017 seems likely to be difficult, so let’s talk about tikkun olam.

The comment thread is open for your news of repairing the world. Have you made a donation lately? Have you given your time and effort to help out somewhere? Have you found a way to be a better citizen of the world? If so, please tell us about it. And if you have plans to do something along those lines in the coming weeks, tell us about that, too. Even if it’s a little thing. Even if it’s tiny. This is a time to share good things; good does not stop being good because it is small.

Originally published at Swan Tower. You can comment here or there.

More knowledgeable readers please correct me if I’m using this wrong, but I think the Jewish concept of tikkun olam may be the most succinct way of describing what I’m thinking about these days.

When I try to think about the situation of the world at large, I despair, because opportunities to make a large-scale difference don’t come along very often. We just had one; it went the wrong way. Many people have been saying we therefore need to look for other ways to improve the world, or at least to hold it together against the forces trying to crack it. Tikkun olam: repair of the world. Good deeds, acts of kindness, all the little ways we can each do our part, and maybe no single one of those things is that epic, but just because a good is small doesn’t mean it isn’t worth doing.

For the foreseeable future, my intent is to make an open thread on the first of the month, inviting people to talk about the things they’ve done to repair the world and the things they intend to do. Anything good is worth mentioning: most of us can’t give a thousand dollars to an important charity every month (or even once), but helping your elderly neighbor with a strenuous bit of yardwork is more within reach. Donations, volunteering, even changes in your own life that aren’t so much about reaching out as about making yourself a better citizen of the world. I think it might be a comfort to read about the good things other people are doing, and maybe even an inspiration — “oh, huh, I never thought about doing X myself, but that’s a great idea” — plus, for myself at least, it’ll be a reminder to not just wish the world were in a better state, but to get off my duff and do something about it.

So consider this the first of those posts. My husband and I made two donations the other day, to the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Natural Resources Defense Council (we’re already members of the ACLU). I bought a Black Lives Matter t-shirt, not just as a public statement, and not just as a reminder to myself, but because the place I bought it from makes donations to some good charities. We also just had solar panels installed on our roof, doing our own itty-bitty part to move society toward renewable energy. In the upcoming weeks I’m intending to supply something to a local food drive and to ask around about volunteering for some kind of literacy or English proficiency program. Please use the comments on any iteration of this post to share your own efforts and to talk about what you might do going forward. Remember: nothing is too small. Anything you did to improve the world around you, I would be delighted to hear it.

Right now, we need those points of light in the darkness.

Originally published at Swan Tower. You can comment here or there.