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05/13/2025

Today’s blog

Lynn Murphy Mark

Changing the world

This morning I woke up thinking about Margaret Mead’s famous quote: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” I know this is a result of a dinner out last night with seven of us who have built a relationship with each other through our racial justice learning group. In our group there are people giving gifts of themselves to the world. There is a retired Counselor, a retired Attorney/Social Worker, a practicing Minister, a practicing Social Activist and Caregiver, and two Catholic sisters who apparently will never retire. It’s a nun thing. I’m at the tail end of the group, a retired nurse and practicing paralegal.

Our book group has disbanded, but the friendships remain. Being in the midst of these women is heartwarming and supportive. One of us said our group is a part of her mental health and wellness practice. We are like minded when it comes to current affairs. With the ending of our reading and discussing, we have now become seekers of ways to engage and protest what is going on in our country. We send each other information about happenings in town. 

Last Saturday, four of us joined a small group of protesters outside of Kirkwood’s city hall. We held up signs that pointed out all of the intimate parts of Democracy that 47 is trying to dismantle. TRUMP VS THE CONSTITUTION, TRUMP VS DUE PROCESS, TRUMP VS FREE SPEECH, are just a few examples of our signs. I held up one that asked people to SAVE OUR NATIONAL PARKS. This dedicated group is out there every Saturday from noon to one pm, exercising the right to free speech and orderly protest. I’ll be there as often as I can.

Last night on Rachel Maddow’s hour, she showed a bunch of clips of people protesting around the country. It appears that more and more people are speaking out about the gestapo tactics of police and ICE people arresting peaceful demonstrators, like the Mayor of Newark. There was a clip about HIS (Homeland Security Investigations) trying to manage a crowd around the Mayor. The most disturbing images came as Worcester MA police and ICE agents battled a young woman to the ground. Local community people soon gathered and tried to protect the women that were being manhandled. One brave woman was in the midst of the fray while holding a baby. 

Meanwhile at Newark’s Liberty airport, there was yet another outage of 90 seconds in length – time when air traffic controllers can’t see what is happening in the skies around them. I’ll bet 90 seconds is plenty of time for an air disaster to take place. Of course, this administration is blaming Joe Biden, and DEI policies, for an antiquated system in our nation’s airports. And, guess whose company is getting contracts to install Starlink, a satellite internet service developed by Space X, aka another Elon Musk company.

So, our conversations around last night’s table were lively and thought provoking. We spent an especially long time discussing the new Pope, Leo XIV. One of us read a quote he may or may not have said that encourages people to be “woke”, because “woke” is not an evil thing, “it is gospel”. And we were delighted to talk about the small group of European leaders who met with Volodimir Zelensky and gave Putin an ultimatum. They accomplished this without the involvement of the United States. We are no longer viewed as a leader in the free world.

All of this while 47 is crowing about being gifted with a half a billion dollar airplane by Qatar. What he neglected to say is how much it would cost and how long it would take to equip the airplane with all of the features of Air Force One. And he didn’t mention how accepting this is in direct defiance of the Emoluments Clause that specifically prohibits this kind of exchange without the consent of Congress. So, I think of this not as a “gift”, but as the perfect example of “grift”. 

Our little group decided to get together at least once a quarter. That prospect makes me happy.