My Dearest Friend,
Tidings from Indiana on this sixth day of March in the year twenty, twenty- five after the birth of our Lord Christ. I hope you are well. You have been a bit quiet lately, and I do so hope everything has been going according to plan there. Things have been quite busy here lately as I will share with you in this letter.
Do you remember three years ago when I was in that wagon accident? Well after all this time and work to heal my injuries, we have finally taken the steps to put the case to rest. I will have lasting injuries from that horrid day, but the stress and remaining care should be covered once everything goes through here in the next few weeks. I did not realize how heavy that all was on me, until we held our meeting. When we walked out of the attorney’s office, I felt like I was flying. I was so relieved that the biggest part of what had plagued me mentally would be over soon. Now I can just focus on managing the pain. Thank goodness I learned so many tips from the physically training lady. I have a good sense of how to treat myself when I am having a dreadful day.
The last day of February was the boycott on shopping day that the unions created. The idea was for everyone not to make purchases that day and to use our purchasing power or the lack there of, to make a statement. We saw flyers posted everywhere. I was determined to stick to my promise and if I spent funds, I would only do so at small local general stores. Fortunately, my mother had received notice that she had a room now available for her at a place in North Vernon. That day became my mother’s moving day, so I knew I would be too occupied to shop. I was correct. Between the four trips back and forth from her old place to the new room, I did not have a chance to think about shopping. Unfortunately, I did learn later that the boycott day was not successful as it was hoped to be. This was because people shopped shortly before and after and the purchases evened out. So the boycott didn’t make a difference. I believe the use of our dollars can have an impact we just have to lessen our purchases. Buy more locally. Do not shop at places who do not share our values. Target is already seeing the effects of pulling back from DEI. Others will too.
I am so grateful that mother found a room in North Vernon. The Villas, where my mother lived previously, has been owned by a church group. One would think that being as such, they would be caring of our elderly and disabled, and their needs would take priority. But unfortunately, that is not the case with this group of owners. They refused to renew the contract they had with government housing and chose to let their residents know that they must move out by this April because they were tearing down the homes. In the building’s place they were going to build a new set of buildings where only those who received bigger fixed incomes could afford to stay. The owners knew this would make them more money. And even though their selfishness would mean leaving almost one hundred people without a place to stay, they refused to change their minds. So many people tried to stop this using many different methods. Even the city tried to purchase the current property so that the residents would not be displaced. But the “Christian” owners refused and instead placed profit over people. These are exactly the types of actions that signify what is wrong with our world. It is not the lack of people proclaiming to love a god, it is people failing to love other people. And at the end of the day, they can mandate the ten commandments in as many places as they want, but if they fail to love others then nothing will get better. It just will not.
It took us nine wagon loads full to get my mother moved into her new room. They just do not make covered wagons as spacious as they used to. After moving her in and helping her to get as many things set up as we could, we were all exhausted. My mother reached out to me last night as I sat in recovery mode and let me know she hit a couple of unexpected upsets. Her carriage has started to act funny and is leaking fluid. She thinks it is her transmission. That is such an expensive repair. So now she is stuck, unable to drive anywhere remotely far. As she was stressing about the funds for repairs, she received her disability income from the government. After all the promises from the government that the social security incomes would not be lowered by the chaos created, my mother finds a letter with hers. This letter informs her that her Medicare payments will no longer be covered. Because of this, they have removed two months’ worth of payments from her fixed income amount. This has left her with a little over $500 dollars to last the entire month and she still has moving expenses to cover as well as carriage repairs. This is what I mean by rich leaders selfishly hurting those who need help the most. Those of us who do not lack awareness know that the pain will not just stop with other people. We are all connected, and this chaos will reach us all. It is only a matter of time. By failing to be there for others, these people who voted in this chaos will find themselves alone in the mess.
This being an off year for elections, our democratic party restructures itself in preparation for the next cycle. We held our county executive committee election on the first of March. Myself and the other three members ran for reelection, and no one opposed us this time. We must be doing things right when those who work alongside us approve of our methods. We were re-elected unanimously by our precinct chairs and vice chairs. (They like us, they really, really like us.) As the now elected (not appointed) Vice Chair, I am ready to continue the work and help to fight back against the chaos that is coming from the current administration. I cannot let good people suffer because rich men wanted more power.
We must continue to rage against the machine and lessen the harm that it has caused to those hurt by its madness.
Until the next time we stand up and fight back together,
Michelle
