Tag Archives: peaceful protest

When People Try to Tell Me What I Believe

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Here’s one of the things that really toasts my cookies: When other people want to tell ME what I believe and why I do what I do.

Classic example: Several years ago, I was trying to share my spiritual beliefs with someone else, and instead of listening and learning more about what I believed right from the source (me), this person actually told me that he’d gone to Wikipedia to find out what I believed, and that I should go there, too, to find out what I believed. Which. What?!! Here I am, right in front of you, sharing my thoughts and feelings and beliefs, and you’re telling me to find out what I REALLY believe in Wikipedia?!! Sheesh.

And lately, I’ve experienced a lot of this nonsense when it comes to politics, too. There are folks out there eager to let me know why I stand on street corners with my TRUTH JUSTICE KINDNESS sign, rather than actually listening to what I have to say about it. In fact, they’re not really interested in what I have to say. Maybe what I have to say would make them uncomfortable. They’d rather affix motivations and motives to me that have nothing to do with me, than try to understand where I’m coming from.

If you’re actually interested in why I stand with my sign, here it is, right from the “horse’s mouth”: I’m heartbroken by what I see happening to my country – the bullying, bigotry, and hate, the violence and corruption, that seem to be running rampant and unchecked. What I witnessed on my television on January 6, 2021, was shocking and inexcusable. What I’ve witnessed since then continues to run counter to everything I believe in: Victims of sex trafficking being brushed aside by government officials as if they don’t matter so that rapists with political clout can walk free; the hate and divisiveness that has led to the assassinations of Charlie Kirk, Rep. Hortman, and her husband, and violent attacks on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, and Sen. John Hoffman and his wife; our nation’s participation in wars that have killed thousands of innocent children; the government knowingly detaining citizens and people who are in this country LEGALLY because they happen to have the “wrong” last name or skin color; and government agents ignoring the laws set down in our Constitution that protect ALL people (both those here legally, and those not) from being beaten, slammed against walls, thrown to the ground, shot in the back, shot in the face, sent to facilities where their medical needs are ignored, and deported to prisons of torture in foreign countries without any due process or a public trial.

Are you okay with all of this? Because I am not. And I believe we need to let the world know that we are not okay with this. Hence, my TRUTH JUSTICE KINDNESS sign and my time spent with friends on street corners. Holding a sign on a street corner isn’t the ONLY way to stand up for what’s right, but it’s one way. I appreciate anyone who takes the time to participate in non-violent resistance against cruelty, racism, sexism, and bullying – even if it just means holding a sign for an hour.

I am not standing on a corner holding my sign because some gazillionaire is paying me to do it. I’m dong it because I couldn’t live with myself if I did nothing.

“Of the People, By the People, For the People”

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As Abraham Lincoln said in his Gettysburg Address – our government is “of the people, by the people, for the people.” It’s not meant to dictate to us. We are meant to dictate to it.

I have recently been involved in some interesting discussions about our Bill of Rights and what it means – particularly the provision in the First Amendment for peaceful protest.

I think there are things that should be considered non-partisan: decency, fairness, equity, kindness, wisdom, honesty. And there are certain things that no party should tolerate: cruelty, inhumanity, bigotry, racism, misogyny, dishonesty.

In a thread on a friend’s FB wall, one poster pointed out that 56-67 ICE detainees died during the time of the Obama administration. (Note that according to The Guardian, “Thirty-two people died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] custody in 2025 – making it the agency’s deadliest year in more than two decades, as the Trump administration moved to detain a record number of people.”)

In a comment to another poster, I wrote: “…thank you for reminding us all that this is a non-partisan issue, and whenever our Bill of Rights is ignored – no matter what administration is in charge – it is our duty to protest to make sure we keep our rights.”

To which, that poster replied, “…well the left treats it like Its (sic) a partisan issue and only sends (sic) to have a problem because trump is doing it. If you’re gonna protest then you need to protest when the left does it or allow when the right does it too. Its (sic) not rules for thee and not for me.”

To which, I posted the photo below – of me marching in a local migrant farmworkers’ march in 2012, during the Obama administration.

And no, I certainly don’t think any of us should EVER “allow” cruelty, injustice, inhumanity – regardless of which party is sitting in the White House. Activism – fighting for the rights of others, and for our own rights – doesn’t begin when one party gets in office, and end when another party gets in office. It should be, I think, a lifelong commitment to our country, and our world.

Another poster posted a response that gave me my first laugh out loud of the day. I’m still cracking up. 😀 Here’s a screenshot of that conversation…

I’m finding a sense of humor is essential to keeping one’s sanity in these interesting times. 😀

Do we really want four more years of THIS?!

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This morning’s rant. I apologize in advance for any offense this may give, but…

IS THERE ANYONE WHO REALLY WANTS ANOTHER FOUR YEARS IN THIS COUNTRY LIKE THE LAST FOUR?!!! Holy crap. It’s not just about what’s happened since COVID-19 – it’s all the other !@#$ leading up to COVID-19: Environmental protections squashed; the planet, literally, on fire; the seas rising, along with the deficit; big corporations and the CEOs who run them getting subsidized, while the poor keep getting poorer; the rise of hate crimes and racism (and all other brands of hate-ism); NAZI flags and Confederate flags in our streets; our elections tampered with by a foreign power; long-time alliances lost; treaties ended; foreign service employees and the FBI under attack by our/their own president.

And last week this happened: Our president ordered police officers to tear gas peaceful protesters and clergy so that he could stand in front of a church, holding the Bible, for a photo opportunity.

Is anybody really enjoying the path our country is currently on?!!!

Karen Molenaar Terrell

“The powers of this world will fight, and will command their sentinels not to let truth pass the guard until it subscribes to their systems; but Science, heeding not the pointed bayonet, marches on. There is always some tumult, but there is a rallying to truth’s standard. Love is the liberator.”
– Mary Baker Eddy