Living in Two Realities (2/15/26)
Some days it feels like we’re living in two realities at once.
On one screen, there’s the hard stuff, the relentless headlines, the cruelty that seems designed to exhaust us, the constant hum of how much more can we take? It’s heavy. It can make everything feel fragile. And if we only look there, it’s easy to lose heart.
But on the other screen, something else is happening too. People are showing up.
In just a short time, the match from The States Project for giving circles raced past $500,000 so quickly that they added another $500,000 in matching funds. That’s a million dollars of everyday people stepping up for state legislatures. That’s not apathy. That’s momentum.
Democratic governors are standing together, coordinating, refusing to let their states be picked off one by one. There’s strength in that kind of solidarity, leaders choosing cooperation over chaos.
Joy is breaking through in unexpected places. Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime performance shattered records and reminded millions of us what pride and celebration can look like on the biggest stage. As he said, “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.” And you can see that truth playing out in real time in communities caring for one another, protecting one another, refusing to disappear.
Athletes on the world stage from the Olympic Games and beyond are using both their performances and their platforms to speak out for dignity and justice.
And closer to home, the quiet, steady “grassroots” energy keeps building… postcards, texts, calls, neighbors organizing neighbors. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things together.
Many of us are taking our cues from the brave people of Minneapolis who have stood with each other as ICE terrorized their communities. Many of us have contributed to organizations feeding and caring for Minneapolis and have stood in solidarity with them at protests. Closer to home, "Know Your Rights" trainings and community canvasses to distribute whistles and information to local businesses are packed with volunteers of all ages. At the same time, we continue to focus on supporting candidates running up and down the ballot. As Anat Shenker-Osorio reminded us this week "Your vote is your ICE whistle."
If we only focus on the bad, we miss the good. And if we miss the good, we lose the very thing that keeps us going. Holding both the urgency and the hope might be how we protect our sanity.