DO SOMETHING

I have never felt more strongly than at this very moment that if you feel strongly about things, you should speak up. Now, not later. Doesn't have to be on Facebook or Twitter, doesn't have to be in public at all. I am working on doing less politics on Facebook (not that anyone noticed) but some things are not just "politics" for some of us, but rather a matter of survival.

I hardly think I need to be more specific here. If you are upset by how certain things are going, now is the time to reach out to your Congressperson, or the Congressperson from a neighboring district if necessary. Your US Senators, your favorite presidential candidates - your local officials - whoever. Talk to your friends. Tell them how you feel. Be willing to stand alone and to stand together with your loved ones and to stand UP for what is right. Maybe your state legislators need to hear from you. Maybe it's a relative. Be respectful. Explain your feelings, and don't back down from what your real feelings are. If you are upset, you have a right to be.

Be willing to contradict your friends - some of them need to hear hard truths about what some of us are feeling right now. They don't like it? Tough sh*t. They signed on to be our friends - if they don't want to hear when we feel scared and upset, then maybe they aren't our friends in the first place.

My goal is not to antagonize anyone. My goal is to speak truth, and to demand fairness and justice.

I am a musician and a father, but I am also a human being. I can't tolerate some things, and it's not about "injecting my politics" into such and such....I have long tolerated diverse points of view, provided they are expressed with decency and without bigotry. I will maintain that I have never wavered from that - if you feel otherwise, I trust you will let me know.

It has been a HELL of a winter - the weather has been beyond oppressive, and so has the "climate".

Stick to music? Do I tell you to "stick to (whatever it is you do besides the main thing you do)?" No, I do not. Nor would I.

This is the reality. This is the time to make yourself heard. There is sometimes no option to "wait for the right time." That time is now, but I guess that's just how I feel about it. I hope you will do SOMETHING, and if that SOMETHING is saying "f*ck off, Dan Israel, I'm sick of you", well, at least that's "something"! Make a difference. Somehow. We need ya.

Thanks,

Dan Israel