Weekend self-care open thread: I'm in no ways tired

I have said this before and I'll say it again: My role in this brief life I have, as much as it is, is tikkun olam, healing the world.

We are now in the first weekend of the new regime. It has thrown everything at us in an effort to shock and awe. They want to frighten us, to overwhelm us. They want us to give up on the first barrage of their evil.

I think back to the first days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Everyone was confident that Kyiv would fall and Volodomyr Zelenskyy deposed—at best—or killed. Ukraine would either be placed under a puppet regime, or swallowed whole into Russia.

But Ukraine fought back and drove back the Russian Nazis. It didn't accept that its fate was to curl up and die.

We must have the same resolve. We must have the same determination. We must have the same gumption.

I'm already, in the back of my head, making plans to bring my wife's family out here if the need arises. Finding a house big enough, getting my niece work in healthcare, finding a good school for my grand-niece, and saving my sister-in-law and her ex-husband. Indiana is no place for a "race-traitor" like my sister-in-law, or our mixed-race niece and grandniece and their Black father and grandfather. We must all do what we can in these times to help each other. We must be a community which shines a light against the dark.

So, no, my friends. I'm exhausted. But I'm in no ways tired.

I’m not tired. 

I’m in no ways tired. 

My eyes may droop and head bow, 

but I’m in no ways tired. 

My muscles groan and my bones creak, 

but I’m in no ways tired. 

I’m in no ways tired 

because my mother worked to the bone. 

I’m in no ways tired 

because my father raised this son. 

I’m in no ways tired 

because the ghosts of this nation stand with me. 

We can’t be tired 

because the work is never done. 

We can’t be tired 

because if not us, then who? 

We can’t be tired 

because the children of our children look at us. 

I’m not tired. I’m in no ways tired. 

If my body breaks and my breath comes ragged, 

if my heart cries and my soul weeps, 

this is why I am here, today, now. 

I’m not tired. 

In no way am I tired.

As always, dear friends, be ever kind, gentle, and joyful with yourselves and those around you. And care for them and yourselves.