Grow is the word of 2020 and sometimes growing means learning to talk about hard topics. In the past, I have not said much about racial issues, mostly because it isn’t easy to talk about, there is not a clear solution, and when you try to open a dialogue about this topic, many people on all sides take issue and attack rather than seek to find a shared understanding. So today, in the spirit of growing myself, I want to open a dialogue about class and racial issues in our society. I hope you will give me your thoughts so that we can grow together. Announcements We might do a livestream this week but it will not be pre-scheduled due to event preparation madness Tales from the Prepper Pantry Ahead of schedule: Summer shift and audit is complete Confession: Been buying things at the grocery store when there is plenty to eat here Still picking and drying lots of late spring herbs Stress Dinner: Tacos, green beans, spanish rice, lots of lettuce, salsa from the jars Featured Forage: Honeysuckle: https://elmaskincare.com/herbs/herbs_honeysuckle.htm Bark used as a diuretic, liver troubles Leaves as an astringent mouthwash for canker sores, oral care Flowers used for anti spasmodic and anti coughing TEA, Tinctures, Syrup (flowers and buds) Decoction: Leaves and stems Operation Independence Focus on LFTN 2020 Main topic of the Show: A Discussion Intimidation and shaming has become the norm for influencing people who have opinions that run counter to the prevailing, chosen narrative. When it comes to race in America, this approach has backfired because there is not an open forum to discuss, learn and grow. One tiny misstep and you may find yourself a target of judgement, a job loss, calls, threats and worse. In this environment, how can we ever hope to find lasting societal change? The answer is we can’t. It is time to discuss hard things. It has been time to discuss them for my life and for the lifetime of my parents and my grandparents. And here and there along the way, we have found a way to address racial and gender biases, generational poverty, and much more, in a way that moved things toward the better. And we have found ways to step backward. And at the core of taking on hard topics is this: making rules to fix things doesn’t work. Capturing hearts does. Whitewashing language doesn’t bring change, it merely makes it harder to have a discussion. Oh. Did that word bother you? Do you know what whitewashing is? It is painting a place to make it look cleaner and it has come to mean a means by which we hide the truth or truth in meaning from people. And it is dangerous to do this if our goal is in fact to create a society that values people for who they are, not what they look or sound like. So then, how can we begin to talk about hard things like race in America? I think we need a set of discussion standards. When we discuss hard things:  Assume the person talking intends to process and grow, rather than to intimidate and attack Approach discussions with opinion, facts, and questions - know the difference between these things Be open to discussing what “could be” even if it seems impossible to achieve because impossible things do happen Personal attacks are unwelcome in this discussion "If this then that" statements lead to problems So now I would like to open a discussion: When I got up this morning, I wondered how many more livelihoods were stolen from people by vandals who wanted to loot and start fires? Notice I don't call them protesters. Fomenting this kind of violence on innocent people because you are mad about a cop killing smacks of one of two things: Vast immaturity, like three-year-old tantrum-level immaturity, or a huge lie. I tend to think that we are seeing a huge lie. Protesters go out and they communicate their displeasure with the status quo - and hopefully they have a solution in mind when they do it. Vandals burn things, beat people up, and steal stuff. And yet the media - an establishment that is supposed t