This IS the Disaster

Some on social media today seem surprised or extra disheartened by the behavior of Senators in the Attorney General Sessions hearing regarding the Russia investigation and the Trump administration.

Maya Angelou said, "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."

We are in the midst of a shock; a disaster. There is a crisis in America.

Any catastrophe can bring denial. Nobody wants to be living in the middle of "the big one." Yet that's exactly where we are.

Not everyone sees this emergency; some are on very different chunks of rock following the fracture that was the 2016 election.

Some are in deep denial.

A person can be in denial of the scale and scope of the crisis, while still understanding that the fracture occurred.

If you do see the fracture, understand this. This crisis IS "the big one." This IS the catastrophe. What we don't know yet is how big it will be, how long it will last, or how much damage will occur in the meantime... and in the years to come. This is likely only the beginning.

The goal of countering fear here is to raise awareness of what's happening, so that we can be ready for what could be coming.

We have a US President - the most powerful man in the world - whose administration is embroiled in scandal, legal trouble, and ethics violations, and who is at war with his own intelligence community and primary investigative law enforcement agency.

This administration is under investigation for ties to a hostile foreign government which the US intelligence community has concluded attempted to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Here is the The New York Times on Russia's intention:

"This is part of what the Russians call ‘new generation warfare,' Heather A. Conley, a scholar at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) and an author of 'The Kremlin Playbook,' said Thursday. 'It’s a strategy of influence, not of brute force.'

"The strategy’s central concept, she said, refined in attacks on Eastern European countries, is that it is 'better to collapse a country from within.'"

That is the risk we face. Collapse of the United States.

Some in media sort of get that. A few lawmakers get it.

You may get it. Your friends and/or family may or may not. If YOU get it, though - that's a start. This post is in part to provide confirmation. It is as bad as it seems. It may actually be worse.

The goal here is NOT to cause fear.

We will be better able to deal with whatever is coming if we can accept the gravity of the time that's now. If we can really look at it, and see it for what it is.

This is not going to be easy. Signs are that it isn't going to be short.

Life will begin to change in the US. In the short term, when the new federal budget takes effect in October, and when shifts in an already-nervous health insurance market impact thousands in 2018. More will become clear as this crisis unfolds. We won't be going "back" to "normal." We will be different after this crisis. It is part of our job during the disaster the define what that will look like. Do we evolve?

Here's more risk: if the US is physically attacked or experiences a major physical disaster or military engagement, this will get more complicated.

Our challenge is to hold the line. It is to counter fear. To not panic. To help each other, and to find a way forward.

We cannot be effective when we do not see the risk. We cannot be effective if we remain in denial. Many will, but it may not be our job to change that. We may find that we have to move forward, whether everyone gets it or not.

In any disaster or shock, there is a natural human inclination to fight, flight, or freeze. I have seen it - on 9/11, in the 2003 southern California wildfire disaster, and in day-to-day emergencies.

The goal here today is to say this out loud: this IS the disaster we are afraid it is.

Doesn't mean we can't navigate it.

There is ALWAYS a way forward.

We can find teams, connection, solidarity, integrity, strength, leadership, resilience, love, action, and community in our great sea of humanity. This is the challenge of our time. It will be a reckoning for many.

What will it be for you?

#HoldTheLine
#Counterfear

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