Taking Care of Yourself!

If you have been rugged and read the first three of this series, I hope you have decided to resist the current regime.

But if you do that there can be little doubt that the road will be long and difficult. You will have to be strong and possessed of great courage. As in most important tasks, dogged persistence will be a necessity.

Self-care over this long haul will have to be a priority.

Obviously, you know to eat right, get good rest and practice good health habits like exercise. But there are some additional things this situation makes appropriate.

I recommend you change your reading habits. Read American History, especially books about the Revolutionary War. (I am planning a series called “What a Patriot Reads,” that will be later.)

And, of course, there are those great patriots, the “muckrakers,” Ida Tarbell, Upton Sinclair, Sinclair Lewis, Lincoln Steffens, Ray Stannard Baker, Nellie Bly and Julius Chambers. All of their works are available for free on Project Gutenberg (almost my favorite web site in the world – that is Wikipedia).

But above all read the stories of the American sagas, those terrible times in American history like this one where everything was at stake and yet victory came to those who believed in the future and promise of democracy. There were times like the Civil War where everything was at stake. The Great Depression called into question whether democracy was fit for the economics of the 20^th Century. Read the stories of those Americans who faced the test and succeeded in continuing the dream, the quest of representative government.

What will be most difficult will be dealing with the “followers” of our current regime. They are inclined to violence, insults and trolling.

If they are members of your extended family, I am very sorry. But it is necessary to remove them from your social media and your life for your wellbeing in particular your mental health. They are continuously updating their propaganda commands from the various web sites they find compelling. Their childlike, cultish devotion to the latest internet outrage is pitiful and a sure sign of their lack of judgment.

Don’t let them afflict you with their nonsense. Protect your mind from those who tell you that lies are truth and above all that free speech means allowing people the freedom to spread lies and slander. Defend yourself at all times from these people. Cut them off and move on. There are American patriots willing to be your friends. You have only to seek them out.

Find web sites and news sources you can trust, friends you can count on and causes that impress you with their morality and righteousness. Remember that the Christian message found in the New Testament is the basis of much that is good and compelling in our lives, and that the distorted teachings of many evangelicals are just nonsense. Read the book your self and delight in the nobility and kindness of Christ and notice how little of what is claimed by so many to be part and parcel of Christian belief simply isn’t there.

It speaks well of you and your character, that you are willing to act on behalf of democracy, your nation and like-minded patriots all over the world. God bless you.