1 00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:11,760 Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to Okay f Daily with 2 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:15,560 Speaker 1: Meet your Girl. Danielle Moody recording once again from the 3 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:21,840 Speaker 1: Brooklyn Bunker. I cannot believe that it is Christmas Eve, 4 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 1: that we have almost made it to the end of 5 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:33,879 Speaker 1: yet another tumultuous year. Before I dive into all of 6 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:37,640 Speaker 1: the things that we have lived through and seen throughout 7 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:41,839 Speaker 1: this twelve months of twenty twenty one, or rather twenty 8 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:47,520 Speaker 1: twenty the sequel, I want us to give a lot 9 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:52,240 Speaker 1: of grace and gratitude to ourselves for where we are 10 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 1: at this point in the year. If you are feeling exhausted, 11 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:01,880 Speaker 1: if you are feeling deflated, if you are feeling weary, 12 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:05,679 Speaker 1: know that you are not alone. It has been a 13 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: very arduous year. It has been an arduous couple of 14 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:14,280 Speaker 1: years in America. You know, I have been doing a 15 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:19,240 Speaker 1: lot of reflection over the last couple of weeks. You know, 16 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:26,240 Speaker 1: I'm a person that believes in spiritual awakenings and renewals 17 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:29,759 Speaker 1: and the universe and that there are no coincidences, and 18 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:34,119 Speaker 1: you know, I realize that a lot of us, whether 19 00:01:34,319 --> 00:01:37,840 Speaker 1: you are a person that believes in, you know, the 20 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:41,600 Speaker 1: spiritual verse, or you are a person that subscribes to 21 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:45,440 Speaker 1: a form of religion that we do so we reach 22 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 1: out or look for connections because sometimes we feel just 23 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:55,000 Speaker 1: so very disconnected from what is happening in front of us. 24 00:01:55,880 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 1: And I realize lately that my weariness is coming from 25 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: a place of discontent and confusion about what forward looks 26 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:14,160 Speaker 1: like for twenty twenty two. Usually at the end of 27 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:20,320 Speaker 1: most years, right outside of you know, the last two 28 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:24,440 Speaker 1: usually at the end of the year, you kind of 29 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:28,520 Speaker 1: take stock on what some of your highlights were, what 30 00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:31,839 Speaker 1: some of your low lights were, and you know, you 31 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:36,560 Speaker 1: give gratitude, you create vision boards for what's next, and 32 00:02:36,639 --> 00:02:41,320 Speaker 1: you give gratitude for what has transpired. What I realize 33 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:45,240 Speaker 1: that I'm struggling with as we countdown the days to 34 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:49,240 Speaker 1: twenty twenty two on this Christmas Eve, what I'm struggling 35 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:54,760 Speaker 1: with is what to expect next. And this is where 36 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 1: I think faith, regardless of what you subscribe to, comes in. 37 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: I think that faith comes in because friends, we have 38 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:09,920 Speaker 1: no idea what to expect, and it's the uncertainty, the 39 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: instability of the times that we are living in that 40 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: I feel has us so weary and deflated and just tired. Frankly, right. 41 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:27,040 Speaker 1: It's because it's hard to create a vision board and 42 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:30,799 Speaker 1: to plan for the year ahead, right, or to think 43 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:34,399 Speaker 1: about what you want to manifest in terms of your 44 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:38,200 Speaker 1: goals when you have no idea what to expect from 45 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 1: one day to the next. You know, it was only 46 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:45,400 Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago, three in fact, that omicron 47 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: was discovered by scientists in South Africa, and in that 48 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:55,600 Speaker 1: span of time, that span of time, which is so short, 49 00:03:56,360 --> 00:04:00,680 Speaker 1: the world has turned upside down. Thing that we thought 50 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:03,800 Speaker 1: that we were passed, or at least had hoped, had 51 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:06,960 Speaker 1: hoped that we were passed. We had seen in New 52 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 1: York Broadway reopened, We saw restaurants reopen and filled to 53 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:16,520 Speaker 1: the brim with excited customers, you know, ready to return 54 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 1: and leave the confines of their homes. We were able 55 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:24,960 Speaker 1: to get through a summer, right that was filled with 56 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 1: warm sunshine and hopefully beach trips and outdoor gatherings and 57 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:36,360 Speaker 1: backyard gatherings and rooftops, and so we felt that, you know, 58 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:41,120 Speaker 1: as a as a nation, as a people, that we 59 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:45,440 Speaker 1: were adapting well to our new normal. I think that 60 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:48,840 Speaker 1: all of us had slowly begun to recognize that we 61 00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:51,840 Speaker 1: were never going to go back to before, Right, we 62 00:04:51,839 --> 00:04:55,760 Speaker 1: were never going to be back to that PC place, 63 00:04:56,080 --> 00:05:02,280 Speaker 1: pre COVID, before COVID, that the those days twenty nineteen 64 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:07,760 Speaker 1: and all that came before, we're just going to be memories. 65 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:11,080 Speaker 1: There wasn't going to be a time when you would 66 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,360 Speaker 1: be in supermarkets or walking on the street and not 67 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:18,920 Speaker 1: see people with mass of course, unless you lived in 68 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:24,040 Speaker 1: Tennessee or Texas or out east on Long Island where 69 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:27,640 Speaker 1: my parents are, where it seemed that, as many Republicans 70 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:32,880 Speaker 1: had said, real America was done with COVID, whatever that meant, 71 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:38,479 Speaker 1: because a virus doesn't know what political affiliation you have, 72 00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:44,600 Speaker 1: let alone your geography. Nonetheless, we'd all kind of moved 73 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:49,200 Speaker 1: into this space where we believed that for those of 74 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:51,800 Speaker 1: us that had been following the rules and had done 75 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:56,240 Speaker 1: the right things and followed the CDC guidelines, that we 76 00:05:56,279 --> 00:06:01,000 Speaker 1: had adapted and we lived to see a fight another day, 77 00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:06,560 Speaker 1: which sadly, over eight hundred thousand Americans would not. And 78 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:14,080 Speaker 1: then omicron. On the side of good news, we are 79 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:20,200 Speaker 1: seeing signs in South Africa where scientists discovered the variant 80 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:24,839 Speaker 1: that it seems as if they have peeped we can't 81 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:29,479 Speaker 1: really use South Africa though as our guide, because they 82 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:35,640 Speaker 1: had very low vaccination rates but very high COVID rates, 83 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:38,960 Speaker 1: so meaning that a lot of these people who had 84 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:45,240 Speaker 1: contracted the omicron variant had already had delta or alpha. 85 00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 1: So while we're trying to understand this virus and use 86 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:56,760 Speaker 1: different cities and countries as models for what we can anticipate, 87 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:01,120 Speaker 1: nothing is one hundred percent. We live in a country 88 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:06,000 Speaker 1: where only sixty percent of the population is vaccinated. Millions 89 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:10,280 Speaker 1: have contracted COVID, but millions have not. Some are boosted, 90 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:15,320 Speaker 1: some are not. Right. It's an entirely different climate, it's 91 00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:21,000 Speaker 1: an entirely different geography, and so we unfortunately will have 92 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:25,560 Speaker 1: to see, as doctor Jonathan Metzel told us, over the 93 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:29,240 Speaker 1: next four to six weeks, what COVID looks like in 94 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:32,520 Speaker 1: the United States. What we know right now is that 95 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:36,160 Speaker 1: we are seeing record breaking numbers that we haven't seen 96 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 1: since twenty twenty two the UK, I means, excuse me, 97 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:44,200 Speaker 1: since twenty twenty the UK is reporting for the first 98 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 1: time one hundred thousand new cases in a day. Again, 99 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:51,880 Speaker 1: those numbers have not been seen since the beginning of 100 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:56,320 Speaker 1: this global health pandemic in twenty twenty. So far we 101 00:07:56,400 --> 00:08:00,440 Speaker 1: can say that the symptoms seem to be the same, 102 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:05,520 Speaker 1: while hospitals are still at reaching their breaking point in 103 00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:10,320 Speaker 1: many different regions that those that were vaccinated and were boosted, 104 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:14,040 Speaker 1: they may fall sick. But again, what was the goal 105 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: of the vaccine that you don't die? Right? We all 106 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:22,000 Speaker 1: forget that. We think that the goal of the vaccine 107 00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:25,120 Speaker 1: was to go back to to go back to twenty nineteen. 108 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:28,240 Speaker 1: We thought that the goal of the vaccine was to 109 00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:32,720 Speaker 1: turn the clock back. It's never going to do that, folks. 110 00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:36,720 Speaker 1: And there's a reason why we have these vaccines because 111 00:08:36,800 --> 00:08:39,679 Speaker 1: they've been working on them for years, because there were 112 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:45,280 Speaker 1: people in labs around the world that we're anticipating some 113 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:49,479 Speaker 1: type of global outbreak and so had been positioning themselves 114 00:08:49,559 --> 00:08:53,320 Speaker 1: and using technology to be able to give to the 115 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:58,200 Speaker 1: world the gift that we received back in June of 116 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:05,240 Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. Right, But what we didn't anticipate while 117 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:10,160 Speaker 1: we were all, you know, praying, manifesting, meditating, and hoping 118 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 1: to see brighter days, what we didn't anticipate was that 119 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:18,240 Speaker 1: the damage that the Trump administration had already done to 120 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:23,760 Speaker 1: whip up, you know, Trump Americans into believing that this 121 00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:26,800 Speaker 1: was all a hoax into believing that public health was 122 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:32,160 Speaker 1: nothing but you know, and something to encumber their idea 123 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:36,560 Speaker 1: of liberty and freedom, that taking care of thy neighbor 124 00:09:36,679 --> 00:09:39,280 Speaker 1: was no longer a tenant of any Bible that they 125 00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:42,160 Speaker 1: ever picked up, and that it was just, you know, 126 00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:49,320 Speaker 1: lord of the flies in this country. We thought, and 127 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:52,880 Speaker 1: we're sadly mistaken, that once a new administration had come in, 128 00:09:53,559 --> 00:09:56,840 Speaker 1: that they would be able to wipe clean with claros 129 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:02,240 Speaker 1: all of the grift and the damage and the soils 130 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:07,880 Speaker 1: that the Trump administration had created over the last four years. 131 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:11,880 Speaker 1: But alas what we are seeing is that that is 132 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:17,079 Speaker 1: far from the truth. But as James Baldwin once clearly 133 00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:20,120 Speaker 1: stated and said, is that you can't change things that 134 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:25,160 Speaker 1: you refuse to face. My problem with COVID nineteen is 135 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:29,760 Speaker 1: not just around the exhaustion, the collective exhaustion that we 136 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:33,000 Speaker 1: are feeling, right, and also the thing that we're not 137 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:39,280 Speaker 1: talking about is what collective trauma looks like living with 138 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:45,920 Speaker 1: this sense of anxiety and fear, and how depression is 139 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:49,880 Speaker 1: kind of going back and forth like a seesaw in 140 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:54,040 Speaker 1: our lives, and what that does right, how it impacts 141 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:56,120 Speaker 1: the way that we show up in our families and 142 00:10:56,200 --> 00:11:02,679 Speaker 1: our friends and our communities at our job. It's real. 143 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:09,640 Speaker 1: I am very vocal about the fact that I go 144 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:14,800 Speaker 1: through in any given day sometimes waves of emotions where 145 00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:20,000 Speaker 1: I am grounded in deep gratitude but then almost feel 146 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:26,040 Speaker 1: paralyzed with fear about what's to come. Get so paralyzed, 147 00:11:26,040 --> 00:11:28,920 Speaker 1: in fact, I sink myself into my couch, I wrap 148 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:33,720 Speaker 1: myself in a blanket, and I numb myself with any 149 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:38,200 Speaker 1: stupid Netflix series or Amazon Prime or whatever the fuck 150 00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:43,040 Speaker 1: is streaming, just as a way to suspend thought for 151 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 1: just a little bit, because I realized that my mind, 152 00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:54,480 Speaker 1: my body, my nerves need a break. But what pains 153 00:11:54,559 --> 00:11:58,360 Speaker 1: me is that Democrats on a daily basis missed the 154 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:04,200 Speaker 1: opportunity to tell the truth. That is what Representative Jamal 155 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:08,880 Speaker 1: Bowman said yesterday. It shouldn't be this hard to tell 156 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:13,679 Speaker 1: the truth, to say we're here because we have an 157 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:18,240 Speaker 1: entire Republican Party that has turned themselves into a death cult. 158 00:12:19,240 --> 00:12:23,280 Speaker 1: That we are here because they continue to go on 159 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:28,600 Speaker 1: a news station that lies to the American people about 160 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:33,480 Speaker 1: how dangerous this virus is and lies to them about 161 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:37,680 Speaker 1: the ways that they can protect themselves. Why they themselves 162 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:42,360 Speaker 1: follow protocols and vaccines and get boosters and wear masks. 163 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:52,240 Speaker 1: You know, I worry, and I think that that's what's 164 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:56,280 Speaker 1: making this transition into a new year so hard, is 165 00:12:56,360 --> 00:13:00,640 Speaker 1: that I don't know what to expect. Act none of 166 00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:04,760 Speaker 1: us do, you know, Normally as a new year would 167 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:07,160 Speaker 1: come around, we never know what to expect. Right. We 168 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:10,920 Speaker 1: love to say things like it's a clean slate, Right, 169 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:13,440 Speaker 1: we had three hundred and sixty five days in front 170 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:17,520 Speaker 1: of us to write a different story, and in many 171 00:13:17,559 --> 00:13:21,880 Speaker 1: ways that is still completely true. But I think that 172 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:24,520 Speaker 1: we also need to afford ourselves with a level of 173 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:28,280 Speaker 1: nimbleness and the word that I've used, the word that 174 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:30,440 Speaker 1: I guess if I had to say, what was my 175 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:37,040 Speaker 1: word of twenty twenty one, it would be grace. It 176 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:42,800 Speaker 1: would be to give ourselves a level of grace and 177 00:13:42,920 --> 00:13:48,920 Speaker 1: those around us for having gotten this goddamn far. To 178 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:52,559 Speaker 1: be proud, frankly of the journey that we've been on, 179 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:58,079 Speaker 1: because it's been a roller coaster and on some days 180 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:01,400 Speaker 1: it felt like we were headed towards the light, and 181 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:03,520 Speaker 1: in other days it felt like the light that was 182 00:14:03,559 --> 00:14:08,400 Speaker 1: in front of us was an oncoming train. I think 183 00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:11,920 Speaker 1: what we all need to adapt to is the reality 184 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:19,760 Speaker 1: that as the seasons get colder, right as years go on, 185 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:26,440 Speaker 1: that we're going to have to self quarantine, that there 186 00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:30,640 Speaker 1: will always be pop ups of new variants, but God 187 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:36,120 Speaker 1: willing that the boosters and the vaccines continue to work, 188 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:43,080 Speaker 1: and that if we recognize that the holiday seasons moving 189 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:48,360 Speaker 1: forward may be marred continually with anxiety and stress and 190 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:52,160 Speaker 1: not just about what to get your significant other or 191 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:54,520 Speaker 1: you know, whether or not you can stretch a dollar 192 00:14:54,600 --> 00:14:57,960 Speaker 1: farther farther enough to get your kids the gifts that 193 00:14:58,040 --> 00:15:01,400 Speaker 1: they want, or you know, things under your tree or 194 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:09,040 Speaker 1: what have you. That it's going to look different, and 195 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:11,960 Speaker 1: maybe we need to figure out the ways in which 196 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:15,920 Speaker 1: to adapt to that. You know, part of the reason 197 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:21,680 Speaker 1: why I found myself struggling this week is because a 198 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:24,280 Speaker 1: lot of things that I had anticipated and been looking 199 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:28,480 Speaker 1: forward to with regard to the holiday we're going to 200 00:15:28,520 --> 00:15:33,000 Speaker 1: be drastically different. As millions of people got that same 201 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:37,560 Speaker 1: shocking news, you know, I was watching and as people 202 00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:42,040 Speaker 1: were welcoming their kids back home after being terrified, you 203 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:44,560 Speaker 1: know that they've been at college all year, just hoping 204 00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:47,160 Speaker 1: to God that they didn't come back with COVID or 205 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:52,000 Speaker 1: get COVID and then they come home, you test them 206 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:54,200 Speaker 1: and they find out, oh shit, they do have COVID. 207 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:56,520 Speaker 1: So now our holiday plans are scrapped. We thought we 208 00:15:56,520 --> 00:15:59,480 Speaker 1: were traveling, now we're not. Now we're all quarantining for 209 00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:05,200 Speaker 1: the next ten to fourteen days. That's where the nimbleness 210 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:10,680 Speaker 1: comes in. You know what would they used to say that, 211 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:16,160 Speaker 1: you know, you make plans and God laughs, Right, I 212 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:22,680 Speaker 1: think in order to save ourselves some deep heartache, that 213 00:16:23,040 --> 00:16:27,360 Speaker 1: we need to just be nimble, right, and that when 214 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:31,280 Speaker 1: we do have the opportunity to share time, break bread, 215 00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:36,720 Speaker 1: commune with our family, with our friends, that we need 216 00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:42,000 Speaker 1: to enjoy them to the fullest. Right, that we really 217 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:48,320 Speaker 1: need to squeeze every bit of joy and life and 218 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:54,200 Speaker 1: love and experience out of those moments so that they 219 00:16:54,280 --> 00:17:01,440 Speaker 1: help to sustain us in our lowest times. You know. 220 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:07,600 Speaker 1: I it was funny just recently, I'd gone to San Francisco, 221 00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:12,760 Speaker 1: which mighty of you know, form for work for Um 222 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:16,800 Speaker 1: for Lesbians wu TECH, an organization that I'm an advisor on, 223 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:22,480 Speaker 1: and I'd seen one of the other and a couple 224 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:26,120 Speaker 1: of the other advisors that I haven't seen in three years, Right, 225 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:33,400 Speaker 1: And she remarked and said, my god, we didn't realize 226 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:36,840 Speaker 1: how good we had it, how good we had it, 227 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:41,520 Speaker 1: you know, at doing these summits with thousands of queer 228 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:44,200 Speaker 1: women from around the country, around the world that would 229 00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:47,960 Speaker 1: descend on San Francisco, and you know, it just felt 230 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:52,399 Speaker 1: like these rock star moments for days on end during summit, 231 00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:57,480 Speaker 1: and she goes, you know, if I knew that our 232 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:00,720 Speaker 1: last Advisor meeting in twenty nineteen and was going to 233 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:04,240 Speaker 1: literally be our last Advisor meeting in person, maybe I 234 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:07,399 Speaker 1: wouldn't have rushed out. Maybe I wouldn't have rushed to 235 00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:10,160 Speaker 1: the airport to go catch a flight, and I would 236 00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:12,360 Speaker 1: have stayed longer, and I would have talked to that 237 00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:14,919 Speaker 1: person in the corner that I didn't get to because 238 00:18:15,119 --> 00:18:17,199 Speaker 1: I was looking at my watch and I needed to go. 239 00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:23,199 Speaker 1: I think that there was something really profound in what 240 00:18:23,359 --> 00:18:28,720 Speaker 1: she offered, which is that the fact that we are 241 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:33,680 Speaker 1: still alive when so many of our family, our friends, 242 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:38,360 Speaker 1: our community members, our church friends, our colleagues are not 243 00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:43,360 Speaker 1: provides us with an opportunity to have a do over, 244 00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:50,080 Speaker 1: to really enjoy those moments that we get to share. 245 00:18:53,080 --> 00:18:56,000 Speaker 1: You know, back in twenty twenty, when we were all 246 00:18:57,200 --> 00:19:03,800 Speaker 1: sequestered away. We kept saying that when we got out, right, 247 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:08,679 Speaker 1: when we got out, that we would dance harder, we 248 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:14,160 Speaker 1: would hug harder, we would love harder. Well, I think 249 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:16,840 Speaker 1: that there are going to be a lot of jack 250 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:21,240 Speaker 1: in the box moments right where you pop out things 251 00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:24,720 Speaker 1: feel great, it's spring, it's summer, and then you go 252 00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:29,280 Speaker 1: back in. But on those moments when we do get 253 00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:33,000 Speaker 1: to pop out and everything does feel like it is aligned, 254 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:40,160 Speaker 1: let's marinate in that. Let's soak that up. Let's journal 255 00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:42,920 Speaker 1: about it, let's talk about it, let's sing about it 256 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:54,160 Speaker 1: right because what we recognize over these last few years 257 00:19:55,960 --> 00:20:04,240 Speaker 1: is that it's fleeting. Time is fleeting, and joy is 258 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:07,960 Speaker 1: something that we have to consistently work at, and that 259 00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:14,720 Speaker 1: when we find ourselves in our low and dark moments, 260 00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:20,520 Speaker 1: we can honor that. We can see that. But let's 261 00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:29,920 Speaker 1: not get stuck in it. Let's allow our memories to 262 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:36,119 Speaker 1: provide us with the images the warmth of better times, 263 00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:44,840 Speaker 1: so that they booy us forward. I don't know, friends, 264 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:52,400 Speaker 1: what next year will bring. I have no idea, and 265 00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:58,080 Speaker 1: I think that that not knowing requires us then to 266 00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:01,800 Speaker 1: do what my mother has said for so many years, 267 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:05,280 Speaker 1: be in the present. The past doesn't matter, in the 268 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:13,280 Speaker 1: future doesn't exist. We can anticipate, right, we can follow 269 00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:17,679 Speaker 1: the cycles, We can understand these things. But with a 270 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:24,040 Speaker 1: mid term election coming up, with a white supremacist nationalist 271 00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:31,960 Speaker 1: party gaining momentum and steam by the minute, with a 272 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:35,920 Speaker 1: Democratic party that seems to once again have lost its way, 273 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:43,440 Speaker 1: its passion, and its sense of urgency, I only wish 274 00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:46,720 Speaker 1: some days that I could shake a magic eight ball 275 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:50,480 Speaker 1: and tell you where we will be in November of 276 00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:56,439 Speaker 1: twenty twenty two. I don't know, and neither do you. 277 00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:03,600 Speaker 1: So what I realize, as I've been wiping my tears 278 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:08,960 Speaker 1: all week, is that then it doesn't make any sense 279 00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:17,560 Speaker 1: to worry about what I don't know is coming. What 280 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:22,880 Speaker 1: does make sense, though, is to control what we can control. 281 00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:29,480 Speaker 1: And what does that look like. It looks like really 282 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:34,560 Speaker 1: getting a hold of our health, right. And you know, 283 00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:38,480 Speaker 1: I have been on a weight loss journey, on a 284 00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:43,879 Speaker 1: weight gain journey during the last couple of weeks, and 285 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:52,200 Speaker 1: I can say that as it pertains to my health 286 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:56,640 Speaker 1: and wellness, and what I hope to manifest in twenty 287 00:22:56,680 --> 00:23:01,240 Speaker 1: twenty two is just more consistency. I know that when 288 00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:07,760 Speaker 1: I the end of the year is always a working 289 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:12,159 Speaker 1: at a breakneck pace, and I let a lot of 290 00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:15,320 Speaker 1: things slide so that I can get to the end. 291 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:18,480 Speaker 1: I always have an end date in mind, and I 292 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:21,040 Speaker 1: get there and then it's like, woof, you get to 293 00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:25,960 Speaker 1: take you know, these almost you know, ten days to 294 00:23:26,119 --> 00:23:31,920 Speaker 1: fourteen days off, which is very necessary and I feel 295 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:34,600 Speaker 1: very grateful and blessed and privileged to be able to 296 00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:39,320 Speaker 1: do so. But it's always a mad dash there. So 297 00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:43,080 Speaker 1: a lot of my normal routines fall by the wayside 298 00:23:43,119 --> 00:23:46,800 Speaker 1: because I'm trying to cram in, you know, so much 299 00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:51,000 Speaker 1: into a very little amount of time. So as I'm 300 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:53,920 Speaker 1: stepping on the scale every day, I'm noticing the numbers 301 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:56,720 Speaker 1: going up, and normally I would have a major freak 302 00:23:56,760 --> 00:24:00,880 Speaker 1: out and I would start to really, you know, with 303 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:04,359 Speaker 1: my negative self talk and with all of these things 304 00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:07,199 Speaker 1: like oh my god, I can't believe you can't get controlled, this, 305 00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:13,240 Speaker 1: that and the other thing. And you know, late last 306 00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:19,439 Speaker 1: week I had decided that, oh, I can step on 307 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:22,480 Speaker 1: the scale and I'll see the number. But you know 308 00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:25,760 Speaker 1: what's different this time than all of the other times, 309 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:31,920 Speaker 1: is I'm confident and how I get myself healthy. I'm 310 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:37,119 Speaker 1: confident in the ways that I need to focus, and 311 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:41,680 Speaker 1: that when I am focused and I am on put 312 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:46,960 Speaker 1: myself on my own schedule, that things fall away and 313 00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:51,600 Speaker 1: they realign. And so over these next couple of weeks, 314 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:54,360 Speaker 1: I'm not going to beat myself up because guess what, 315 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:57,440 Speaker 1: the self talk I had done for years didn't change 316 00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:02,520 Speaker 1: shit anyway. It actually just made things worse. So instead 317 00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:05,480 Speaker 1: of the negative self talk, don eat this, don't do that, 318 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:08,600 Speaker 1: calling myself all types of names as I head into 319 00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:13,159 Speaker 1: this merry season, so I'm going to give myself a 320 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:19,919 Speaker 1: break and some grace. Then I will circle back in 321 00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:23,639 Speaker 1: a couple of days when there is no work and 322 00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:26,800 Speaker 1: all I'm focusing on is being with my family and 323 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:32,760 Speaker 1: rest and relaxation, and then my body will start to 324 00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:37,680 Speaker 1: let go of the cortisol levels and I will look 325 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:41,960 Speaker 1: to my walking and my exercise as a way to 326 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:45,320 Speaker 1: give my body back what I depleted from it towards 327 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:50,040 Speaker 1: the end of the year. And that to me is progress. 328 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:55,320 Speaker 1: It's a switch in thinking. It's an honoring of myself 329 00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:57,439 Speaker 1: and where I am and what I have the capacity 330 00:25:57,480 --> 00:26:02,679 Speaker 1: to do, and it's giving myself a fucking break. And 331 00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:06,160 Speaker 1: I think too often we don't do that we don't 332 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:09,680 Speaker 1: give ourselves a break. As a year comes to an end, 333 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:12,359 Speaker 1: we beat ourselves up. We say, put the pedal to 334 00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:14,760 Speaker 1: the metal. There's only a couple of days left of 335 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:18,119 Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. Make the best of it. And it's like, 336 00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:22,479 Speaker 1: for the love of God, you know the fact that 337 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:28,080 Speaker 1: we are here, bravo. You get all of the applause 338 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:32,160 Speaker 1: from me. If nobody else salutes you, I'm saluting you. 339 00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:40,000 Speaker 1: So let us give ourselves a break. Let's look at 340 00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:44,760 Speaker 1: ourselves in the mirror and say thank you, dear body, 341 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:49,760 Speaker 1: dear mind, dear heart for carrying me through this tumultuous y, 342 00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:55,879 Speaker 1: or thank you right for the wholeness that stands before me. 343 00:26:56,000 --> 00:27:00,480 Speaker 1: Thank you for getting me to this place. And in turn, 344 00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:03,560 Speaker 1: I will honor you by caring for you and loving 345 00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:09,440 Speaker 1: for you more. When the calendar year turns over. That's 346 00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:18,359 Speaker 1: not a resolution. It's just a recognition, right, It's just 347 00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:23,960 Speaker 1: a recognition of what we've all been through and being 348 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:28,760 Speaker 1: proud of having gotten to the end and have the 349 00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:32,919 Speaker 1: ability to be able to start anew. And it isn't 350 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:35,320 Speaker 1: just the new year, you know. I said this year 351 00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:38,560 Speaker 1: because somebody had told me that they look at their 352 00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:41,560 Speaker 1: birthdays as their own personal new year, and I said, 353 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:46,800 Speaker 1: I love that. I love that so much. But to 354 00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:50,800 Speaker 1: be honest, I look at every day. I want to 355 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:54,639 Speaker 1: look at every day as a personal new year, because 356 00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:58,639 Speaker 1: yesterday is done, the future has not been written, and 357 00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:03,440 Speaker 1: today's an opportunity to do something a little different. If 358 00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:05,720 Speaker 1: I was hard on myself on Monday, then I want 359 00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:08,440 Speaker 1: to give myself a little more grace on Tuesday. That 360 00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:10,879 Speaker 1: I gave myself a little bit of grace on Tuesday, 361 00:28:11,119 --> 00:28:14,200 Speaker 1: I want to really love up on myself on Wednesday. 362 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:25,159 Speaker 1: And that's okay. You are deserving regardless of the mansions 363 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:28,800 Speaker 1: and the cinemas and these politicians that want to portray 364 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:36,720 Speaker 1: the American people as lazy, as liars, as cheats. That's 365 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:41,800 Speaker 1: not who we are. But we have allowed capitalism, right 366 00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:46,200 Speaker 1: and the grind, the forced grind, to believe that we 367 00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:51,640 Speaker 1: are undeserving of rest, that we are undeserving of the 368 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:54,880 Speaker 1: space to provide ourselves if in fact, we do breakdown, 369 00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:00,600 Speaker 1: that we spend so much time beating ourselves up that 370 00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:04,000 Speaker 1: we don't even need anyone on the outside to do so, 371 00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:12,240 Speaker 1: because we're too busy pulverizing ourselves. So if there's nothing 372 00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:15,240 Speaker 1: else that we can do with the last handful of 373 00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:23,560 Speaker 1: days of this year. Let's center grace. Let's allow our 374 00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:33,480 Speaker 1: shoulders to come down from our ears. Let's need out 375 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:39,880 Speaker 1: the not that has been forming and living in our stomachs. 376 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:48,960 Speaker 1: Let's return to deep breaths and pushing out the stale 377 00:29:49,720 --> 00:30:00,080 Speaker 1: air of this year. Let's make a pact to just 378 00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:04,960 Speaker 1: use every day as an opportunity to give gratitude, to 379 00:30:05,120 --> 00:30:08,960 Speaker 1: ground ourselves in joy, and to just try and be 380 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:14,520 Speaker 1: just a little bit better. That doesn't mean to do more, Jess, 381 00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:19,080 Speaker 1: means to be a little bit better than we were 382 00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:24,160 Speaker 1: the day before. Maybe read an extra page of your book, 383 00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:29,600 Speaker 1: Maybe spend another minute in meditation or prayer. Maybe spend 384 00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:32,640 Speaker 1: a little extra time watering and weeding out your plants. 385 00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:42,200 Speaker 1: Maybe dance around your home. Just connect with the fact 386 00:30:42,280 --> 00:30:49,160 Speaker 1: that we are alive and almost a million Americans are not. 387 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:57,040 Speaker 1: And I don't want us to get stuck in survivor's 388 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:01,480 Speaker 1: guilt about that, or feeling like the pressure is on 389 00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:06,040 Speaker 1: and we should be doing the most. The fact that 390 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:08,320 Speaker 1: we have in all as a nation had a collective 391 00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:14,760 Speaker 1: nervous breakdown, I think is doing the most. Just think 392 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:20,240 Speaker 1: about this. I'll read you the top of the piece 393 00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:26,680 Speaker 1: that I wrote for Zora Magazine, a vertical on medium, 394 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:30,240 Speaker 1: and I just want you to take it in for 395 00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:37,600 Speaker 1: a second. Take in what you've lived through. This is 396 00:31:37,800 --> 00:31:42,200 Speaker 1: entitled twenty twenty one, the Year of Trauma. Once again, 397 00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:47,760 Speaker 1: here we go. Over eight hundred thousand Americans are dead 398 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:53,080 Speaker 1: from a global health pandemic. Twenty five percent of the 399 00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:58,440 Speaker 1: American population still refuses to be vaccinated. A violent attempt 400 00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:02,680 Speaker 1: to overthrow the government left five people dead, a once 401 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:05,720 Speaker 1: in a century fire season, a once in a century 402 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:10,800 Speaker 1: tornado outbreak, mass shootings on the rise, over four hundred 403 00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:15,040 Speaker 1: voter suppression laws on the books, book burning is back. 404 00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:20,360 Speaker 1: Republican members of Congress openly threatening violence against their Democratic 405 00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:25,160 Speaker 1: colleagues is now the norm. This is America at the 406 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:30,520 Speaker 1: end of twenty twenty one. We are a nation amid 407 00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:35,640 Speaker 1: a very real existential crisis. Following the carnage that was 408 00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:39,800 Speaker 1: collectively experienced in twenty twenty, from the health pandemic to 409 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:42,959 Speaker 1: a racial reckoning. Many of us wanted to believe that 410 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:46,960 Speaker 1: the following the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, 411 00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:50,000 Speaker 1: we could take a deep breath and turn our attention 412 00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:54,600 Speaker 1: back to the mendanity of life. We were assured that 413 00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:57,240 Speaker 1: we wouldn't have to frantically check Twitter to make sure 414 00:32:57,280 --> 00:33:00,600 Speaker 1: Trump hadn't tweeted us into a war or lawaunch nukes 415 00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:05,600 Speaker 1: via nastygram. We had faith that with the resounding rebuke 416 00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:09,400 Speaker 1: of his presidency through our votes, the message would be clear. 417 00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:19,000 Speaker 1: American authoritarianism is not welcomed or wanted here. Sadly that 418 00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:23,760 Speaker 1: has not been the case. Twenty twenty one pack the 419 00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:30,200 Speaker 1: same unrelenting punch as twenty twenty did. We now have 420 00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:35,640 Speaker 1: not one but two hyperactive in new COVID nineteen variants. 421 00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:39,840 Speaker 1: Parents have taken to threatening school board members over mask 422 00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:43,400 Speaker 1: mandates to keep children safe in school. Shootings are back 423 00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:47,840 Speaker 1: in the headlines. Suicide attempts among America's teens are up 424 00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:51,680 Speaker 1: a staggering fifty percent. In Roe v. Wade, the forty 425 00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:53,920 Speaker 1: eight year old law that protected a person's right to 426 00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:56,680 Speaker 1: an abortion is now hanging in the balance until the 427 00:33:56,760 --> 00:33:59,720 Speaker 1: Supreme Court makes their decision in June of twenty twenty two. 428 00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:09,400 Speaker 1: America is in a full blown meltdown. All any of 429 00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:12,480 Speaker 1: us can think about as we close out this grueling 430 00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:18,200 Speaker 1: year is what is coming next? Usually, the end of 431 00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:21,640 Speaker 1: the year offers a time for us to reflect, recharge, 432 00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:25,280 Speaker 1: and reconnect with our loved ones. Except as we reflect 433 00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:27,640 Speaker 1: on the whirldwind that was twenty twenty one, it's hard 434 00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:31,400 Speaker 1: to think about anything other than fear of things getting worse. 435 00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:37,960 Speaker 1: Twenty twenty two is an election year, and while every 436 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:41,719 Speaker 1: election year, commentators and politicals alike lament on just how 437 00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:47,279 Speaker 1: important this election is, the significance of the upcoming midterms 438 00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:52,360 Speaker 1: can't be understated. While we wanted to believe that the 439 00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:55,359 Speaker 1: attack on our democracy ended after the one hundred and 440 00:34:55,400 --> 00:35:00,120 Speaker 1: eighty seven minute physical assault on our Capitol building, the 441 00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:05,279 Speaker 1: reality is that was just at one The slow moving coup, 442 00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:08,319 Speaker 1: as Bill Maher referred to it is still moving, but 443 00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:13,480 Speaker 1: it's not that slow. Republicans have showed their hand with 444 00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:16,839 Speaker 1: their fond embrace of the murderer Kyle written House, who 445 00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:19,920 Speaker 1: received a not guilty verdict for killing two people in 446 00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:23,880 Speaker 1: cold blood during the Kenosha, Wisconsin Black Lives Matter protests 447 00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:28,040 Speaker 1: in twenty twenty They have clearly shown they want their 448 00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:30,839 Speaker 1: country back and are willing to take it back by 449 00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:36,680 Speaker 1: any means necessary. What message did the written House jury 450 00:35:36,719 --> 00:35:41,760 Speaker 1: and Judge Bruce Schroeder provide to enrage white Americans, simple 451 00:35:43,360 --> 00:35:47,400 Speaker 1: we got your back. To say that the times feel 452 00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:54,040 Speaker 1: bleak would be the understatement of the year. We are 453 00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:57,960 Speaker 1: a nation that is exhausted and on the brink and 454 00:35:58,080 --> 00:36:03,440 Speaker 1: wondering what will finally break democracies back democracy, as we 455 00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:06,680 Speaker 1: are learning the hard way is only as strong as 456 00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:11,160 Speaker 1: the citizens who remain vigilant over it. When Steve Bannon 457 00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:17,520 Speaker 1: talked about the flood zone, he was keenly aware that 458 00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:23,839 Speaker 1: creating mass chaos breeds apathy. Why because with so much 459 00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:26,960 Speaker 1: coming at the nation, eventually folks will throw up their 460 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:32,680 Speaker 1: hands and give up. The times are more arduous right now. 461 00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:39,000 Speaker 1: They are depressing and all consuming. And yet this isn't 462 00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:45,399 Speaker 1: the worst of times. While toiling fields who spoils they 463 00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:49,359 Speaker 1: were not privy to, and caring for white children while 464 00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:56,239 Speaker 1: theirs were sold into chattel slavery, enslaved Africans kept believing. 465 00:36:57,719 --> 00:37:01,919 Speaker 1: They believed in a liberation that they they may never experience. 466 00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:07,480 Speaker 1: Their unrelenting belief in freedom is what got us to 467 00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:13,040 Speaker 1: this place. Giving up now would be a slap in 468 00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:18,520 Speaker 1: the face to the torture they endured. As famed civil 469 00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:21,960 Speaker 1: rights activist composer and founder of the Student Non Violent 470 00:37:22,040 --> 00:37:28,360 Speaker 1: Coordinating Committee's Freedom Singers, Doctor Bernice Reagan wrote an Ella's 471 00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:36,400 Speaker 1: song this, we who believe in freedom cannot rest until 472 00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:41,880 Speaker 1: it comes folks. That's the message that I want to 473 00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:51,040 Speaker 1: leave you with on this Christmas Eve. We have to 474 00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:58,359 Speaker 1: keep believing. And while I joke and sometimes I'm very 475 00:37:58,400 --> 00:38:02,799 Speaker 1: serious about losing hope, the reality is is that I 476 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:07,160 Speaker 1: would not continue turning on my microphone day in and 477 00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:11,160 Speaker 1: day out if I did not believe in the possibility 478 00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:18,040 Speaker 1: of something better. The reality is is that, as you know, 479 00:38:18,239 --> 00:38:23,320 Speaker 1: curse filled and as a rage filled, as the episodes 480 00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:27,120 Speaker 1: of wok AF have been over the course of twenty 481 00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:32,120 Speaker 1: twenty one, we show up each and every day, myself, 482 00:38:32,360 --> 00:38:37,239 Speaker 1: my producer Andrew, who make sure that this sounds good 483 00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:39,279 Speaker 1: and looks good and is up all of the time 484 00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:44,160 Speaker 1: for you, in time, each and every day. We show 485 00:38:44,239 --> 00:38:48,920 Speaker 1: up every day because we believe in this country. We 486 00:38:48,960 --> 00:38:54,560 Speaker 1: believe in us the people. It's why I end each 487 00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:57,520 Speaker 1: show with power to the people and to all the 488 00:38:57,600 --> 00:39:04,799 Speaker 1: people power. It's because I believe leave in us, and 489 00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:09,439 Speaker 1: I believe that the work that we are doing each 490 00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:14,880 Speaker 1: and every day, whether it is registering to people to vote, 491 00:39:14,880 --> 00:39:20,960 Speaker 1: whether it is volunteering, whether it's donating, whether it's having 492 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:25,040 Speaker 1: conversations with our very difficult family members or friends or 493 00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:29,680 Speaker 1: colleagues to try and change hearts and minds and expand 494 00:39:30,239 --> 00:39:38,480 Speaker 1: perceptions of what is right, what is just? Where the 495 00:39:38,520 --> 00:39:44,240 Speaker 1: believers where the fighters? We are so angry because we care, 496 00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:54,040 Speaker 1: We are so frustrated because we know better. So do 497 00:39:54,120 --> 00:40:02,360 Speaker 1: not give up. Do not stop fighting. Take your time 498 00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:07,680 Speaker 1: to rest, take your time to recharge, Take your time 499 00:40:07,719 --> 00:40:14,239 Speaker 1: to hug yourselves and those around you. Look for the 500 00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:19,799 Speaker 1: good in each and every day, even even when it 501 00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:26,439 Speaker 1: seems like there isn't anything good to look at. They 502 00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:30,600 Speaker 1: win when we choose to give up. They win when 503 00:40:30,640 --> 00:40:34,480 Speaker 1: we decide to wallow in our despair. I'm not saying 504 00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:37,920 Speaker 1: not to feel sad. I'm saying, just don't let the 505 00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:48,080 Speaker 1: sadness control you, because we who believe in freedom cannot 506 00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:55,640 Speaker 1: rest until it comes. I wish each and every single 507 00:40:55,680 --> 00:41:01,920 Speaker 1: one of you a happy, RESTful, reach charged, beautiful holiday. 508 00:41:02,040 --> 00:41:05,120 Speaker 1: If you celebrate, and if you don't, I hope that 509 00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:08,880 Speaker 1: you just take the time off to sleep, to eat, 510 00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:12,879 Speaker 1: to fill yourself with good things. All of next week, 511 00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:17,520 Speaker 1: we have brand new shows and never before seen footage. 512 00:41:17,560 --> 00:41:21,319 Speaker 1: So do not think that this is goodbye. There are 513 00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:27,520 Speaker 1: more good things to come. Cannot wait to be back 514 00:41:27,680 --> 00:41:31,080 Speaker 1: live with all of you in twenty twenty two. I 515 00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:36,880 Speaker 1: wish you well. Please be safe as always, Power to 516 00:41:36,960 --> 00:41:41,200 Speaker 1: the people and to all the people. Power, get woke 517 00:41:41,600 --> 00:41:43,839 Speaker 1: and stay woke as fun