We the Future...

I can't count the number of times someone has said to me lately: “You need to take care of yourself first and foremost.” I'm also sure you all have heard the old adage: “You have to put your mask on first before you can help someone else”, and while I understand the sentiment, I think in practice, it's one of our biggest problems.

I'd like to argue that whether you're suffering or not, you don't need to just “take care of yourself”, nor should you expect someone else to do it for you. What a person needs most in a time of struggle is OTHER people to help empower them to be the best versions of themselves.

People ask me all the time, “Courtney, why don't you run for office?” Or “How come you aren't using your political capital to propel yourself to the top of the food chain?” And my simple answer is, because I want to practice what I preach. I don't want to end up the gal who is 80 years old sending “strongly worded letters” to the White House all the while the POTUS is steam rolling over our country. We need leaders who have a vested interest in making a better future for America and the fight left in them to take a beating and recover. That is usually the most successful when those people plan to be present IN said future. For me, the best outcome of the work I do, is to show someone from a younger generation THEIR worth, not mine.

Which brings me to my next point that has been floating around political circles lately which is: “Where is the leader of the resistance??”. Again, I don't want to be argumentative here, but what do we need a leader for? Isn't that, in itself, one of our problems?? We keep amassing power and then handing it all to one dude (because clearly men have this American experiment licked 😂). I hear people in the resistance everyday who are just primed for an authoritarian of another form. That is illiberalism at its finest.

While I certainly can't speak FOR everyone else, I can (for now) still speak about what I see out there. I see a bunch of leaders in all of us. In “We The People”. Yet in our desperate attempt to get our power back I worry we are far too eager to hand our power to the dude on the blue team because he pinky swears he'll give us our power back just right after he wrangles it from the GOP. Yeah…OK, I've heard this before. Spoiler alert, they never do.

Furthermore, expecting a leader implies we think there is one person who can bear that mantle. Are you kidding me?? Did you read Project 2025?!? This is (at minimum) 50+ years worth of planning by those in power to absolutely assault our individual and fundamental rights!! People think there is ONE human being who can fight on all those fronts?? We can't even keep up with the news cycle daily, but we expect someone to execute a current job (maybe in government), fight back legislatively, legally and politically, reach voters AND run for President??! Not possible. Sorry not sorry. The way I see it, that is a GOOD thing! Each of us needs to take our power back and have agency over the decisions in this country that impact our everyday lives and communities.

Photo Credit: Jose Mejia/Owl Media

I have long said: “We the People are the last line of defense against those in power coming to strip us of ours.” - and I truly believe that. Not by taking violent, uncoordinated, unplanned action against the state that inevitably gets a bunch of people jailed or worse, but by resisting in massive numbers so they can't jail or kill us all. That definitely doesn't require a “dear leader”, conversely it requires all of us. The saying is “Out of many, one” not “Out of many, this one is the one.”

Add to that we don't need one person, we need millions more. We don't need one more voice who swears THEY are doing THE thing that caused, or will cause, X to stop. It didn't. It wasn't. It takes all the people working on all the things. The sooner we realize and accept that the sooner we can achieve the outcomes we want for the future as a collective. THAT, above all else, is the promise of America. A group of people who come together with different lived experiences and political views to make decisions that impact millions of people living inside our borders and in turn the world. Even when we disagree. Even when we won't get the credit or recognition. And especially when we don't politically align.

We also have a huge generational gap issue. Young and old people are becoming more and more segregated which has a negative impact on us all. When I hear a conviction filled young person demanding accountability from their government unapologetically it not only gives me hope and inspiration, but reminds me of the old me a little and I feel that spark again. When I see a young person with so much promise who is getting in their own way, I try to guide them so they can funnel that fire into positive change, not self destruction. The latter I know well, as I know many of us older folk do. Just like my younger friends today, I refused to listen once when older people tried to provide feedback - to my peril. Then, the other day, one of the women I cherish the most in the resistance who is in her 30's said to me:

“I try to listen. It may take awhile, but I do.”

So, my hope going forward is that we lean into our young people in the resistance who are fighting tooth and nail. That we continue to build that trust between young and old and empower our future generations. Young people keep us young, and us older folks have learned some tricks along the way that can help hold back the tide and light their way. I hope we see the leaders (plural) in “We the People”. Finally, if one day that mask does fall, I hope I can look to my younger friends and say: “Just give me a couple breaths and I can hold it until you return to save us all.”

And I will have put in the work and built the trust to know for certain, they will.