“Likable person who isn’t 1000 years old and generally does things you like” isn’t unicorn fantasy land bullshit it’s the bare minimum you deserve as a human being

I am sometimes moved to the point of bursting by the beauty of the city at night, by the people who have labored to make it beautiful, by the reality that we do not have the option to ignore each other, by the knowledge that all we have is one another.

One of the most profoundly significant spiritual moments of my life happened on the Red Line in Boston.

For years, when I lived not-in-cities, I would see the start of a skyline coming into view on a train and realize, “Oh. This is what breathing is meant to be.”

If anyone says, “I love God [in the forest],” but hates their brother or sister [begging for money on the subway], they are a liar; for whoever does not love a sibling whom they have seen cannot love God whom they have not seen.

This is why cultural Catholic movies like Dogma have flavors of born-again to them, a concern about “do you feel it in your heart, are you *really* believing” that would make 80+% of global Christendom look weird at you.

American Protestantism is more radical than Luther or even Calvin, and more individualist, and more extreme. And the sentiment impacts nearly *all* strains of US Christianity, including Catholics (and now) global Pentecostal/charismatic movements.

I see people throwing themselves in front of armored feds on the streets. People pushing to get close to Broadview ICE to stop the evil horrors inside & out. Regular people are throwing themselves into the path of danger daily & their reward is to have their health care taken away by rich cowards

I know many of us are tired, scared & angry. When you can, if you can, channel that into doing what you can to help. Every day it's more clear the only ones who are going to save us ... are us.

Whenever you start to say "people should do x," it's you. You're "people." We're "people." It's just us.