(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Don't Be Afraid [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-11-14 I’ve never written on here, only responded to articles, but this has been on my mind for awhile and I think it’s time I spoke up. I just ask that you have patience with me as to where I am going. There’s a song by Chet Powers, aka Dino Valente called “Lets Get Together” it’s one of my top ten favorite songs since I first heard it way back when I was a child. I’m 54 now. This song is more relevant today then ever before. It’s not just a throwback to some period when young people were trying to change the world. It’s lyrics stand strong today and need to be listened to. I grew up in western Massachusetts under the tutelage of my aunt and uncle who were liberal. My uncle read three news papers every day. The New York Times, The Boston Globe and the local paper the Greenfield Recorder. He was very much on being informed. Understandable considering in the 60’s and 70’s he was an editor for the CBS nightly news during the days of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite. I quickly learned in that household you didn’t open your mouth unless you had something important to say and knew what you were talking about. I respect that. It’s important. It’s something that our news media needs to remember. They fill the airwaves with trash, garbage, distracting the people, and more often than not telling lies, or half truths. We allow it. We give them the power to control the conversation because we tune in every day, on the TV, online, on our phones, Tuning in to see what filth they are propagating every hour of every day. We allow it. We encourage it. It’s entertainment. WE ALL KNOW THIS. I was very liberal, hating Bush W, and his cabal, ranting against the right, and the wars in Iraq, and Afghanistan, tuning in to CNN, and MSNBC, reading the Smirking Chimp, and then on here. every day reading, and ranting and raving, driving my family nuts. Getting into arguments with my son who is now in the navy. Oh the arguments we would have with him pleading with me not to be SO LIBERAL. How I loved to talk about Donald Trump. Scratching my head, bemoaning the stupidity of people who could vote for him, and support him after he would lie, and lie and lie, with his hateful rhetoric. Asking why can’t they see who this guy is? Just recently it was this site, an article on this site that helped me understand it. I’m not saying the article was some positive piece. It was just more of the same. Full of fear and hatred. That’s what all this is about FEAR and HATRED. So let me get back to the song Lets Get Together and why it is so important today. The first stanza of the song: Love is but a song we sing Fear's the way we die You can make the mountains ring Or make the angels cry Though the bird is on the wing And you may not know why Think about that first line: Love is but a song we sing Fear’s the way we die What is fear? Fear is of course being afraid. Why are we afraid? Because we don’t know. We are afraid of what is in the dark that we can’t see. We are afraid to die. Fear is ignorance. It’s easier to be afraid, shield ourselves, tell ourselves lies so we don’t have to see the truth that is in us. So much easier to use that fear, and hate others. and blame others for what we think is the problem. Isolate ourselves so others can’t hurt us. Seek others of like mindedness to make us feel safe in our delusions. The 24hr news cycle and social media work very well at this. Politically both the left and the right do this. We allow ourselves to identify by our political stance, like it’s a badge we wear. It’s not sane. It’s not healthy. For 40,000 years our species has been walking this earth and we still divide ourselves, separate ourselves, define ourselves as being different from them, better than them. We are all the same. We can’t, we won’t see that because we allow others to tell us how to think. I’ll admit. I hated Donald Trump. I couldn’t say anything good or positive about him. I don’t even know him. I only know what the media tells me. Is that who he is? I don’t know. From what I have seen though, my hate is turned now to sympathy, and compassion. I don’t envy him. He is a small, a very small person. Small minded, full of fear, and with that fear hatred. He is a small, lonely fearful man. He has nothing to offer. Nothing positive. He is only concerned with himself. That is what I know about Donald Trump. He is no one to be afraid of. He offers the people nothing. So many of us now are SO AFRAID of him winning re-election. Afraid that our friends and family members who support him will vote for him again. WE ARE AFRAID. Afraid of the repercussions of his re election. It’s absurd. Do you see it? We turn to darkness, sitting alone in our homes reading the news, and listening to what these pollsters are saying, and allowing them to decide the conversation. We are allowing ourselves to give in to fear. “Love is but a song we sing, Fear’s the way we die” When you give in to fear, you die inside, you let the darkness win. You forget the truth, the hope, the beauty, the love. So you ask “Yeah so what, how does this change anything?” This is what I learned about myself. I was afraid that people wouldn’t love me, or accept me if they knew the truth about me. I felt that they would judge me as they have in the past for things I’ve done in my life. I closed myself off, from others. I turned away from family and friends, left a path of broken discarded relationships in my past because I was afraid. I’m not afraid anymore because I realized that the shame, regret, that I held in myself was mine and nobody else. Whatever I had done in my past was mine nobody else’s. People could judge me for what I’ve done, there is nothing I could do about that. That was theirs. Instead of turning away, and hiding away I decided to turn around open myself to others and let them see me for who I am. Yeah it’s scary, but the love I received in return was everything I needed. It made me realize how so many of us do this to ourselves. “Cmon people now, smile on your brother, lets get together and try to love one another” Don’t turn away. Don’t let politics decide your relationship to another. See them for who they are. Love them. If you want to change and not be afraid and have hope and see your neighbor as another person, another human being, then turn off the news, don’t read your social media. Don’t let others decide for you what you must think. Open yourself to others, share with others, and if they turn away, or laugh at you, well they don’t understand, and rather than be angry and hurt, feel sympathy and compassion for their ignorance. Don’t hate. Don’t turn away. This is my favorite verse of Let’s Get Together. Dino Valenti was wise. If you hear the song I sing You will understand, listen You hold the key to love and fear All in your trembling hand Just one key unlocks them both It's there at your command We hold the key. We decide which to use. One key has been used too often, used to separate us and divide us, turn us against one another. We decide. I’m just an old hippie. An idealist. We can change the world around us a little bit every day by deciding how we treat others. When you see someone on the street, in the supermarket. Look at them, look them in the eye and say hello with a smile. These interactions can have positive effects on people who are so weighed down by the cares of the world, expecting hatred and anger at every turn. Just smile and share yourself. Don’t be afraid. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope it helps. Peace. D. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/11/14/2205800/-Don-t-Be-Afraid?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/