Linda
Linda
Napa, CA
Linda, what’s your take on America at this time?
“I feel it’s a hopeful thing now that so many more people recognize the need to take back our power as citizens. In light of the election, I think a lot of people had become complacent, and it has awakened people to the need to be much more involved. As citizens, we have an obligation, but it’s easy to become complacent, it’s easy to think we’re going to have a charismatic leader or a savior or someone else to do our work for us. But democracy - we hear this all the time, but it’s so true - is a hard thing to maintain. If we want to keep it, we have to work for it. Women’s rights are under assault, immigrant’s rights are under assault, so many scary things are happening right now, and we need to take a step back and think about the golden rule when we’re setting policy. We need to treat other people like we would want to be treated. I think that’s where the common ground is for us in this country. As divided as we are, I think there’s some understanding of that basic principle of kindness. I do believe that humans and Americans are essentially a kind people, and we need to come to our differences from that place of kindness rather than a place of division.
“Human beings tend to react to crises, and we’re facing one right now. The problem is we’re not wired to understand the particular crisis were facing. It’s so big, climate change comes on in a non-linear way, so even though we have signs of it now, it’s very hard to understand. The problem and concern is that when it becomes more and more pronounced, opportunities to stabilize the climate are going to become very limited. So I’m very hopeful, but scared to death that things are running out of control. We’re also living through the sixth major extinction of creatures on this Earth, and we don’t think we’re one of them, but we are. We could easily be extinguished along with so many others because we depend on our environment, we’re inter-dependent. I think the hope is in the recognition of this inter-dependence. I don’t come from a place of faith, but people who do have faith, as well as people who don’t, should understand this principle of inter-dependency. Again there are common principles, such as kindness, do unto others, feeling that we’re community beings, we’re not isolationists. As humans, we have to live in society, we have to live with others, and so those are positives. Cooperation over competition - that’s a human drive too. It’s often given short shrift, but the desire for cooperation is a very strong one if we can nurture it.”
If you had a vision of a great America, what would it look like?
“It would get back maybe to a vision we’ve had in the past, of being a leader in the environment, for the environment, a leader for human dignity and human rights. Using soft power to lead other countries. I was one of the minority of people who was very dismayed when we went to war in Iraq. I thought we had a problem with terrorism, and a group of people that needed to be handled that way, with cooperation across countries, not by pulling out our bombs and thinking we were going to bomb our way to safety. It doesn’t work that way. So my vision is of a society that was truly committed to principles of human dignity, and the rights of the environment, that we’re a part of it, we’re not above or superior to it.”
What’s your dream?
“I don’t have any dreams beyond that. That’s a pretty big dream right there.”
