"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow." - Helen Keller

In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision." --Dalai Lama


Positives. Yes, there are positives!  Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to focus on the positives. I'm a happy, optimistic person and try to always look for the bright side! Now, even though we are distressed and anxious about the state of the Union, we have got to stay optimistic so that we may continue our journey and have POSITIVE action and a POSTIVE outcome.  

So, Little Sister, tell us: what positives have emerged from this fiasco?

"Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." --Thomas Jefferson

Journalism has seen a resurgence.  After years in which print journalism has seen a dwindling of subsciptions and readers, readership is increasing (The New York Times doubled its subscriptions in 2016!) and  people are clamboring for unbiased journalism.   This is a huge positive!  I love reading the newspaper --paper, in my hand-- every day, and I was sad that print news was going away. The fact that more of us are aware of "fake news" and the bias that many "news" websites have are leading us to dig a little deeper and find the truth. At least it has led me personally on that path. Though I have been a "Card-carrying member of the ACLU and a bleeding heart liberal" for years, I now try to be wary of the left-leaning websites and go to a more unbiased source for my news. 

A free press is a requirement for our Democracy. There will be a spark for many young people to be inspired to become journalists, and a new type of information age will be born. I know it!

“The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself.” -- Plato

Politics will have a new face.  Or, at least some new faces.  This age of resistance and activism is inspiring many to get informed and get involved, and some of the best of us are becoming inspired to enter the world of politics.  Great minds are coming up!  This article from The Atlantic talks about how scientists are starting to eye local and national seats and 314 Action, a group that is aiming to help them. The Right's disdain for science --somehow making it a Liberal Conspiracy-- has confounded and dismayed me.  But this very disdain has inspired many to pursue office.  This can only benefit our country.  I'm hoping that more women and minorities will also be inspired to run for office.  We need representation from all corners of our society.


"There can be no daily democracy without daily citizenship." -- Ralph Nader

Citizenship is becoming invigorated and redefined. Woooo-hoooo!  This is the most exciting, most positive Positive of all!  Millions of us suddenly know the names of our representatives, what the Ways and Means Committee actually does, and how a bill becomes a law. We know who to call and why to call, and we are calling, and writing, and calling again to demand that the people who represent us WORK for us and do our bidding.  We are attending Town Hall meetings; we are attending resistance meetings; we are taking to the streets.  What energy! A bolt of civic duty has hit a million souls, and those millions have banded together into something big!  It is a force that is inspiring and awesome (in the true sense of the word), and it works. **We killed the healthcare bill!!** 

Citizen democracy is becoming a force that will be impossible to stop. Even when SCROTUS is impeached, this tide of activism will continue. It really is an exciting time to be an American. 

"No one has ever become poor by giving." -- Anne Frank

Charitable organizations are receiving a windfall. In the days following the first Muslim ban, the ACLU received $24 million in donations -- SIX TIMES its yearly average!  Starting before the inauguration, Planned Parenthood had a surge in donations -- many hilariously in Mike Pence's name!  (By the way, PP needs our help more than ever.  That same Mike Pence who "donated" 82,000 times was the tie-breaking vote today on a Senate bill that aims to defund Planned Parenthood. Follow this link to donate to PP!)

Other charities have benefitted, from legal entities to environmental protectors and civll rights organizations.  There are lists of worthy causes that are working hard in the resistance. Here are some:

From The Advocate
From Time/Money
From Bustle

As always, do some due diligence and research an organization before turning over your hard-earned cash!  


"There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt." --Erma Bombeck

Comedians have been handed a pot o' gold. Alec Baldwin, Melissa McCarthy. Stephen Colbert. Seth Myers. Jimmy Fallon. Samantha Bee. Kate McKinnon. They are helping us laugh through the pain. 'Nuff said. Here are some favorites.

"The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon." --George Washington

The System works.  America has always been great! Checks and balances!  Listening to constituents! Trying to garner support for your bill--and failing! We are still a nation of laws, laws that must pass votes.  That won't change. 


On election day, before the polls had closed and the returns started coming in, I posted a photo of my American Flag to Facebook with the caption, "I refuse to be pessimistic about the USA."  I still refuse.  I believe, at his base, this system works well and for the greater good. There is a LOT to improve (like #1 priority: getting big business out of the pockets of our legislators!), but Citizen Democracy is our country's lifeblood, and it is working. Bigly!

Now go, Sisters and Brothers of the Resistance.  Get out there and keep your face to the sunshine!