Resistance Is Necessary

So, you ask, who am I? My name is John Madsen-Bibeau and I’m 65 and 3/4 years old, (child-like in spirit at times) live in Connecticut, grew up and worked in Massachusetts. I’m retired now, but when I was working, it was as a therapist. Now I’m “just” a part-time interim pastor. The most important thing I’d want people to know is that I am a follower of Jesus. More to the point, I’d like people to figure out I’m a follower of Jesus through my words and actions. Amazingly, That doesn’t mean that everybody sees me as a “Christian”, but I don’t think they’re followers of Jesus (aka Christian) either, so take that for what it’s worth. After that, I like people and I believe in the possibilities of everyone. What I don’t understand is why everyone else can’t see what I see. I love music. I love the music I grew up with, but the music I grew up with is diverse. Old soul and Blues are great, but so is prog rock, and folk music. Anything by ANY Chapin is worth a listen to, but Harry used all kinds of different styles and genres to tell stories. I have come to understand that I am a political animal, and a lover of history. I am also a flawed human being, so I could be wrong, but I’m stubborn as well. I acknowledge both of those things. As you may have guessed, because all of those things are important to me, the current administration is the opposite of my beliefs on just about everything. For me, as the title says, “resistance is neccessary”. I hope you agree.

HOW TO LISTEN TO THE PRESIDENT. OR NOT.

HOW TO LISTEN TO THE PRESIDENT… OR NOT.

I’ve been thinking about sanity once again,

HOW TO LISTEN TO THE PRESIDENT… OR NOT.

I have been thinking about sanity once again, and sobriety as a nation from the co-dependence we are in. Every day, those of us who care to, or care at all, watch the news. Every day is filled with Donald Trump. Like him, hate him, really hate him… It doesn’t matter.

Remember COVID under Donald Trump? At first it was, “news when there is news”. Then it was “news as experts define it”. Then there was no new news about COVID, because vaccine development is a process. We’re not good at waiting, but we began to cope with the illness as we understood it. People felt like they could trust Dr.Fauci. When people felt like he was a leader, Donnie got involved. He added Deborah Birx and asked here if injecting bleach or sunlight could kill it. She just covered her head in dismay.

Because we can only have one leader in our country and it has to be him,Trump would show up every night and say something outrageous.

We waited every night for hope. Eventually it came! (0f course, infrastructure week never did, but that’s another story.) We became addicted to having our blood pressure rise and fall daily.

In my career as a professional therapist, I dealt with addicts and co-dependents all the time in their twisted, very angry, and always dysfunctional relationships. (Yes I am old, but the concepts are still valid, even if it’s not the 1990’s anymore).

Here’s a “re-frame”that shakes up the system and gives you sanity: instead of hoping for a different answer and getting mad when, say, he says “the Iran war is about to end”, or missiles will stop soon”, or “in two weeks, the price of oil will go down” or “the Epstein files will be released”, stop expecting anything from him. You can be pleasantly surprised if it happens (and it might, like the COVID vaccine became reality).

The onus is no longer on you, when you say “I’ll believe it when I see it”. You’re not arguing, you’re not saying you don’t believed or won’t believe. You’re saying if he keeps his promise, then you’ll believe. You don’t have to waste any more time on it. It’s his turn.

Now, the trick is that he does all kinds of things no one could see coming. He (and FOX News, probably) will tell you it’s your fault for not stopping him. IT IS NOT. He acts the way he wants to. He,and he alone, is responsible for his actions. He’s always responsible for his actions. He is the President. Even if he weren’t the President, he’d still be responsible for his actions. Of course, he is because he is.

If you’re one of those highly qualified Cabinet members or members of Congress, it’s your job to remind him of it. It’s your job to advise him against or for things, but he is ultimately responsible for the things he does. Him. Not anyone else. Just him. That’s what we pay him for, (even if he donates his salary, and I’ll believe that when I see it.

Peace,

john