If every action feels too small for the big moment—this is for you
11 minutes All week long as I scroll social media, read newsletters, or catch up on group chats, I gather tidbits to share with you every Friday, like a squirrel greedily building a stockpile of nuts. 🐿️
But I’ve noticed that as I read updates from trusted sources who are telling me the steps I can take to fight against the coup and protect our democracy, I’m also doing something odd:
I find myself looking for the One Magic Fix. ✨
You know, the one action I can take that will make the biggest, fastest impact. The one action that will undo this mess. The one action that will bring us back to the way things were before.
Logically, I know there’s no such thing as One Magic Fix for the situation we find ourselves in. And yet, my psyche is still hungry for it. 😬
Here’s the problem: Because I’m subconsciously on the hunt for One Magic Fix, when I hear of a small, doable action I can take that will help but isn’t a time machine back to the beforetimes, I’m more likely to dismiss it.
I think: Our problems are so big, and that seems so small. What else ya got?
And so I stay on the hunt, spending precious time looking for the One Magic Fix that doesn’t exist, when I could be using that time to take a small step that would help.
Can you relate?
If you feel like you’re not taking those small steps as often as you could be or want to be, you might subconsciously be waiting for that One Magic Fix. 🙋♀️
Or maybe you’re already taking those small steps, but you have friends or family members who are stuck in a state of inaction because none of the things they’ve heard about or considered doing feel big enough for this moment.
The hard truth is: There is no single thing any of us could do right now to slingshot us back to the time when our civic institutions were funded, fully staffed, and serving all Americans.
Musk, Trump, & Co. took a sledgehammer to the fragile vase of our democracy, and some pieces got pulverized to a powder. We can’t just super glue this back together.
But here’s what we can do: Like the Japanese art of kintsugi, we can rescue a tiny piece from the shattered mess and make something new. We can take that broken remnant and merge it with our golden vision for what this democracy could be and should be. We can make something more beautiful than ever before.
👉 To do that, we need to stop waiting for One Magic Fix.
Instead, we—each and every one of us—needs to pick one small thing we can do and do it.
Maybe all you can do right now is call your reps with the 5 Calls app. Maybe you can’t show up to rallies, but you can pitch in for supplies. Or it could be that all you have energy for is forwarding this newsletter to a friend every week. ✅
Every step counts. Every step helps.
If you don’t believe me, look no further than the Hands Off rallies last Saturday that got millions upon millions of people into the streets and speaking up, many of whom had never attended a protest before. That hopeful, empowering day happened because everyday folks like you and me tiny-stepped their way into making it happen.
So we may not have a Costco-sized tube of Gorilla Glue for Democracy™️, but we don’t need one. Because we have each other, and the way to get through this is by taking tiny step after tiny step—together. ❤️
Get this in your inbox: When you join Molly’s Army here, every week, you’ll get simple, doable steps we can take to save our democracy even when we’re busy and overwhelmed by the firehose of bad news.
What’s inside
Inside our latest update, you’ll find these sections:
- Do this + feel better: 3 things you can do right now. Taking any action (even if it’s tiny!) will help dispel feelings of hopelessness and overwhelm.
- Keep growing: 3 ways you can keep learning and growing as a citizen—something to listen to, something to watch, and something to read.
- Get a shot of motivation: A quote that resonated this week.
- Hey, look! We did this: A quick run-down of what folks in our little group of rabble-rousers have been doing to help.
- Your turn: What small actions have you taken lately? Let me know so we can celebrate with you!
Do this + feel better
Here are 3 things you can do right now. As a bonus, taking any action (even if it’s tiny!) will help dispel feelings of hopelessness and overwhelm…
1. Send a little note of gratitude
Libraries are one of our few remaining common goods, but they’re under attack. This is National Library Week, so it’s the perfect time to help protect your local library by sending a quick email to your library’s leadership to share what you appreciate about the library.
First, the background: If you’ve called your reps about the cuts to federal funding at the Institute of Museum & Library Services, thank you for standing up for libraries and our freedom to read. 👏
While it’s important to continue speaking out about federal library funding, many libraries get a lot of their funding at the local level. The good news: Oftentimes, raising your voice at the local level can deliver significant and/or faster results, and you know what? Results feel pretty darn satisfying.
So let’s speak up at the local level and get ‘er done. 🥊
Here’s why this is important: Testimonials from citizens are pure gold to library staff because they can cite those real-life examples when they advocate for funding and support.
👉 How to do it:
- Visit your library’s website and find the name and contact information for someone in charge, like the library director or a manager. This might be in a staff directory, on an about page, or on a contact page.
- Can’t find someone? Email your library’s main contact line and ask how you can share feedback with someone in library leadership.
- Write an email about how important your library is to you, addressed to someone in charge at your library system. Tell them what you value and why, and if you can, include a personal story or a real-life example.
- If you’re praising a specific librarian who’s been helpful to you, cc your branch’s manager and/or that librarian, and you’ll make their day! 💙
- Optional bonus level: If you have a few extra minutes, copy and paste that same message and send it to more local decision-makers, like your mayor, city manager, city council members, and/or library board.
2. Block your calendar for April 19
Coming off the heels of the wildly successful nationwide Hands Off protest last weekend—I mean, look at this!—many of the same organizing groups will be working together to plan an event for April 19.
👉 Go ahead and block your calendar for April 19 right now so you’ll be available to participate. And as details firm up, I’ll keep you posted!
3. Try a bit of laughtivism
Molly’s Army member Erin let me know that you can download the e-book Pranksters vs. Autocrats for no cost. One of the co-authors is Srdja Popovic, a founder of the student group in Serbia that took down Milosevic with ridicule and laughtivism. 🤭
The book is only 65 pages, so I snagged it and am about halfway through. But the further I get, the more I want to brainstorm with others about how we might make the most of this strategy in our current situation.
👉 Will you join me? Get the e-book here directly from the publisher for no cost, or get the e-book from Amazon (also no cost).
If you join me in reading the book, I miiiiiight schedule a brainstorming session so we can come up with outside-the-box ideas together. Will it be in person? Virtual? In a week, or a month? Don’t know yet! 🤷♀️ But if you’re interested, drop a comment below (or email me), and I’ll follow up with more details when I have them.
Here’s a taste of what laughtivism is, from an op-ed co-authored by Srdja Popovic:
“There is a reason why humor is infusing the arsenal of the 21st-century protestor: It works. For one, humor breaks fear and builds confidence. It also adds a necessary cool factor, which helps movements attract new members. Finally, humor can incite clumsy reactions from a movement’s opponents. The best acts of laughtivism force their targets into lose-lose scenarios, undermining the credibility of a regime no matter how they respond. These acts move beyond mere pranks; they help corrode the very mortar that keeps most dictators in place: Fear.
…By using humor, activists confront autocrats with a dilemma: the government can either crack down on those who ridicule it (making itself look even more ridiculous in the process) or ignore the acts of satire aimed against it (and risk opening the flood gates of dissent). Indeed, when faced with an act of brazen mockery, oppressive regimes have no good choices. Whatever they do, they lose.”
Keep growing
Learning about what’s happening and how we dig ourselves out of this hole is an ongoing process. Here are 3 ways you can keep learning and growing as a citizen who wants to protect this democracy:
- 🎧 Listen (2 hours): Several community groups have collaborated to put together the Rise for Freedom Training Series “for people who love our country and understand the threat of autocracy before us, and want to do something about it.” The next session is Thursday, April 17, at 7 pm Central, and the topic is: How to talk to people you might disagree with. See the full schedule of sessions and RSVP here for the ones you’re interested in. Groups behind the training include Public Citizen, Women’s March, League of Women Voters, and lots more.
- 📺 Watch (24 minutes at 1x): Molly’s Army member Holly shared this talk from Professor Loretta J. Ross who has experience with deprogramming white supremacists and teaches a course about white supremacy. In the video, she shares the “5 C’s of Calling In,” which Professor Ross believes will be as important to the human rights movement in the 21st century as learning nonviolent techniques was in the 20th century. She says:
- “With truth, time, and evidence on our side, my biggest fear is that we will snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with our callout culture because we’re spending entirely too much time turning on each other instead of to each other in face of the greatest threat we have seen in our lifetimes…How we do the work is as important as the work that we do.”
- 📖 Read (10 minutes): This Rolling Stone interview with Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin about Saturday’s nationwide Hands Off protest will get you fired up: Massive Protests Against Trump Are Just the Beginning. Here’s a snippet:
- “Look: It’s a really dark moment, and it’s also inspiring, because a lot of people are choosing courage over fear. They’re showing up at a time when there’s reason to be concerned about what this administration is doing, targeting protesters, targeting peaceful protest…We had 5 million people around the country, around the world, who are now not just tacitly against DOGE and Musk and Trump, but actively engaged.”
Get a shot of motivation
A quote that resonated this week:
“A therapist friend of mine reiterates to me all the time that acting with agency is the primary way to avoid being traumatized by negative experiences. Whether you win or lose, the act of fighting is enough to help our brains process what has happened.
Fighting to win, in other words, is the right move whether or not we are likely to win.
It just so happens, though, that I think winning is possible. I think we can make the world a better place. I think we can curb the worst excesses of the things that are happening now, at the very least. I also think we can radically transform the world.”
— Author and musician Margaret Killjoy in The Sky is Falling; We’ve Got This
Hey, look! We did this
Here’s a quick run-down of what folks in our group have been doing to help lately:
- Zina showed up to the Hands Off rally in Ashland, Wisconsin: “Little town of 8,000 had a nice lineup of 200+ on the main road causing a little ruckus!” 🤸
- Simone couldn’t make it to the Hands Off rally on Saturday, so she Venmo’d a contribution to help cover bottled water and supplies. 🙏
- So many folks showed up for the Hands Off rally in Austin: Holly, Austin and Gena, Renee, Rob, Wendy, Allison, Laura, Kate, Nina, Lorna, Julia, Amy, Jamie…so many, in fact, that there’s no way I remembered everyone! 🤩 Extra high fives to Rob for dragging neighbors along and to Austin and Gena for roping friends into coming, especially my new fellow spreadsheet superfan Emily. And a big thank you to Dana for volunteering behind the scenes to make Saturday happen!
- Nicole sent me a message the morning of the Hands Off rally to let me know she was determined to attend the rally in Tulsa, even though it’s way out of her comfort zone and was an hour’s drive away. 💖
- Lynn forwarded my message from last week to a few folks, plus she inspired one mom to come to the Austin Hands Off rally (with toddler in tow!). Then Lynn and her grown daughter showed up for a Hands Off rally of their own in Dripping Springs. 💪
- Rob is keeping up the pressure with frequent calls to his Senators. He left voicemails about ICE deportations, the tariff war, Signal-gate, and defending the Constitution. He also pasted his script into the contact forms on their senate.gov sites. ✅ (If you’re looking for inspiration on what to say when you call about these issues, Rob sent me his scripts with his blessing to share, so let me know and I’ll send them your way!)
- Sally answered her library’s call to action and shared what she loves about the library. But her tiny steps didn’t stop there! She also signed up to do voter registration at a local high school and volunteered to help update the events calendar on her local Indivisible chapter’s website. 💅
- Susie helped organize block walking for a city council candidate in Round Rock. 📋
- Dana shared this idea for fighting extremist groups like Moms for Liberty: Start a school board club where you get together with friends to go to school board meetings together and have a little fun while you’re at it. 🙌
Your turn
What small actions have you taken lately? Please drop a comment below (or email me) and let me know what you’ve been up to so we can celebrate with you. 🥳
No really, I mean it—several folks tell me every week that the “We did this” section is their favorite part of our weekly update. Your tiny steps are inspiring!
