Transcription
I would like to do an update to the video that I made yesterday about an elderly woman that I'm calling Rosemary. First, let me read this comment on that video.
"The fact that a very elderly, frail woman has to collect cans to survive is gut-wrenching. I'm in Canada, but is there a way for us to help Rosemary? Thank you, Sonic Pics."
I got lots of comments like this on TikTok and on YouTube. I know I have like a love-hate relationship with social media, but one of the things I love about it is the way that people are moved so quickly to compassion. And yes, unfortunately, they also very quickly can be moved in the opposite direction. People have very strong emotional responses to emotional pleas that they hear on TikTok. But I do think that social media is really good at showing us the way that we can be compassionate toward total strangers. The way people will just right off the bat, "How can I help? I don't know this person. I will never meet them. I'll never interact with them. I am moved by their story and I want to donate. I want to help. I want to support them." Right? That shows the best of us, the best of what we're capable of.
So, I just want to make something really clear here. People said, "Does she have a Venmo? Can you do a GoFundMe for her?" But no and no. I view this woman as a member of my community, as a friend. Now, we had a good long talk on the phone earlier today. I'm going to make sure that our family helps her get her needs met. Out of respect for her privacy, I don't think she would want anything like a GoFundMe. The fact that I am trying to offer financial assistance and she said, "Could you just bring me some cans instead?"
When we spoke on the phone earlier today, she's struggling to buy groceries and she still framed it as, "I have a roof over my head. So many Americans are worse off than I am, but if people have extra cans, I will take them in for a deposit." Right? I asked her, "Do you need a ride to the grocery store?" Of course, I'm trying to be a little sneaky and like, "Oh, I'll take you to the grocery store and then we'll get to the checkout line and I'll just pay for it." And she said, "No, no, no. I prefer to ride the bus. I like to be independent as much as possible," which I, I totally have mad respect for. I'm gonna make sure that I can help her in whatever way she needs help. People who live in my neighborhood are going to make sure that we help her. But thank you to all of the people who had this immediate response of, "How can I help?" What I would suggest for you is to try and find the Rosemary who lives in your neighborhood. And I don't necessarily mean just some elderly widow who lives alone who is trying to get by on social security. I mean, what about the homeless person who lives in your neighborhood? What about the immigrant family who now is afraid to go to the food bank and yet they need assistance? What about the kids who are losing their SNAP benefits? How do we learn how to be neighborly again and take care of each other?
Because all of the kind of government framework policies, programs that were meant to help care for vulnerable people in our community, right? We were supposed to be caring for the vulnerable where we live via our tax dollars. I think that's a good and worthy use of tax money. That's what taxes should go toward, helping create efficient, organized systems to care for each other. All of that is completely gone, fallen apart. So now it's up to us. It's up to us to take care of each other. It's up to us to identify the Rosemaries who live around us and ask what we can do to help them, right? And make sure, I think too, make sure that we get their consent. You know, because talking with Rosemary this morning, right, she had a certain amount of pride, a certain amount of dignity that she felt like she was trying to maintain. Most people, especially older folks, I think don't want to just take what they see as a handout, especially, right? Like she's speaking from a place of deep empathy and compassion and saying like, "Our veterans are worse off. Our homeless folks are worse off." She was talking to me about the children, how many kids are struggling in America right now. And I'm like, "Please, please let me help you with your rent. Let me help you." And she said, "No, no, no, no. Think about all of the funding for environmental causes. Think about all of the animals in nature that are no longer protected." Actually quoted her during our conversation. Let me read it to you.
Cuz this is a woman who is living on the edge of poverty. This is a woman with extremely limited means, a fixed income at a time when grocery prices are up 38%, when housing is, you know, costing, rent goes up 10% a year. And I'm asking her, "Can I help you?" And she's thinking of other people. Let me read this real quick. Okay, here's what she said. She was talking about Republicans in Congress and the president. She said, "They're elected by the people, for the people, for the country. They shouldn't disconnect from us." Right? I think her perspective was one of kind of like bewilderment. How can they not care? How can they be so disconnected from the suffering of their own people, the people that elected them, the people that entrusted them to run the government? How can they not understand the harm that they're causing? I don't—I didn't want to talk with her about how, well, I think they're causing the harm on purpose. They enjoy the harm that they cause.
Anyway, she went on to say, "It's not right. The children are losing out. They're taking good things from the children. They're cutting Meals on Wheels and education and protection for the wildlife and research to find out cures for disease. They're taking everything away from the American people. They're hurting our immigrants and our veterans." This is a woman whose hardship has been increased significantly by the regime, who is still thinking of others.
So, let me just say one more time, thank you. Thank you to the folks who their first impulse was like, "How can I help this woman?" I guess my request would be, can you take that energy and turn it and put it where you live? Right. There are people like this everywhere. There are Rosemaries everywhere in the United States right now. She's absolutely right. She said, "They're taking everything away from the American people." There's no part of this country that is not being wrecked. There is no person in America except the super, super rich who is not being harmed, whether they realize they are being harmed yet or not.
In permaculture, we're always talking about those slow, small solutions. How your small contributions really matter. Those acts of care and support right now that people will never know about, they're never going to get splashed in the headlines. Acts that may seem small and insignificant in the scheme of, "How do we stop the fascists?" Well, those are actually key components. Those are key acts of resistance. Number one rule of effective resistance is that you do not abandon the most vulnerable. You do not abandon those that are targeted by the regime. How do we care for those folks? How do we protect them? How do we help make sure we get each other's needs met? Those are small everyday acts, but they, repeated, multiplied all across the country, will help us reestablish community bonds that have been so eroded by COVID and by also, I think, the way that our culture operates in general. We are stronger when we focus on each other, when we work together, when we build the support networks that we need right now. The most vulnerable people in our communities need those support networks right now. But they also are an important foundation for the future work that we have to do. That's the scaffolding that we have to build in order to pull off things like a general strike, right? Like if there's a Rosemary in your neighborhood who is struggling financially now, is struggling to pay her rent now, you want to love on her and care for her and help get her needs met. That's teaching us all patterns of how to care for each other in a situation where maybe people need to get their, you know, rent paid and need help with their groceries because they have decided to withdraw their labor from the economy as part of a larger organized resistance movement, a direct action of engaging in a strike, right? So, I know that Leah from Indivisible talks about how we got to build those muscles so that ultimately we can flex them. These small acts of caring for people in our community, in and of themselves, are complete, worthy all on their own.
In permaculture, we say stacking functions. That's where one element of your system or one action gets you multiple yields, multiple results, get more bang for your buck. I just want to encourage you if you are thinking about caring for somebody in your community and you're like, "This is a small, insignificant thing in the greater scheme of fighting fascism." No, no, no, no. It's not. Because you and millions of other people are engaged in that work, and together we're helping millions of people. Also, we are laying that foundation. We are building that scaffolding. We are learning those skills and we are forging those connections. We are, you know, building that muscle that we're going to need to flex down the road.
So, thank you. Thank you to everybody who's concerned about Rosemary. Thanks for letting me get like a little emotional about it, a lot emotional about it. I'm in contact with her. We're friends now. I'm going to make sure that she gets her needs met. I would just ask that you try and do the same for somebody who lives near you.