I comfort myself by knowing that the midterms are coming, that Democrats have consistently won off-year elections since Trump became President, that there are many hundreds of attorneys across the country filing law suits against illegal Trump executive orders and his cabinet illegalities, that the courts mostly have ruled against the Trump Administration, and that polls look good for the House to return to Democratic Party control and possibly the Senate, as well as state governor races and legislatures.

There are many ways to protest against illegal and heartless actions and policies of this government. They include joining protests against the building of concentration camps to house those arrested by ICE and reaching out to our neighbors who may be vulnerable to arrest by escorting their children to and from school and doing their shopping so they will not grabbed by ICE agents. Cable commentators, pod-casters, and journalists are speaking and writing truthfully now about everything that is happening. Politicians too are speaking out, and many of us are contributing financially to candidates we believe can flip Republican seats to worthy Democrats in the mid-term elections.

I was moved this morning by Heather Cox Richardson’s report (April 18, 2026) in which she wrote:

“Last night in Kansas, former secretary of transportation Pete Buttigieg, who is speaking across the country in support of Democratic candidates, explained to an audience why he is working so hard to restore American democracy. He said: “[W]hen you have one of those long nights, when you’re asking yourself, can I really do any more that I’ve already done? I want you to reach into whatever is your personal why.

“For me, the reason I make sure to hit the road and be with you on a night like this is actually, ironically, the very same thing that makes it a little bit harder than it used to be. When I woke up this morning before I headed to the airport, about 6:30 this morning, as usually happens, my first interaction was with a four-year-old boy. And I’m putting out the cereal for him and his sister. And he says, ‘Papa, can I come with you? On this trip?’ I said, ‘Well, I don’t think it’ll work out. I gotta go to Kansas. You gotta go to preschool, and…’ And then he walks up to me with, um, a Sonic the Hedgehog walkie-talkie. He tells me to put it in my briefcase. He says, ‘Take this with you. That way we can talk to each other.’

“I wasn’t sure whether I should explain how range works on walkie-talkies or not. Just gave him a big hug instead. But what I know is that it won’t be so long before he and his sister, who right now are asking me questions I can handle—like, the other day, I got: ‘Papa is a grapefruit bigger than a pineapple?’ I can handle that. But, what am I gonna do when they say, ‘Papa, back in the 2020s, did you do enough?’

“They’re gonna ask that, and I want to make sure we have a very good answer by the time they’re old enough to ask that question.”

Here are a few quotations about the sin of silence for your reflection:

“You shall not stand idly by while your neighbor bleeds.” (Leviticus 19:16 – 6^th century B.C.E)

“One who is able to protest against a wrong that is being done in one’s family, city, nation or the world and doesn’t do so is held accountable for that wrong being done.” (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 54b – 6^th century C.E.)

“It is not what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.” (Moliere – 1622-1673)

“He who allows oppression, shares the crime.” (Erasmus Darwin – 1731-1802)

“A person may cause evil to others not only by one’s actions but by one’s inaction, and in either case that one is justly accountable to them for the injury.” (John Stuart Mill – 1806-1873)

“In a free society, some are guilty, but all are responsible.” (Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel – 1907-1972)

“The most important thing that I learned under those tragic circumstances [i.e. the Nazi Holocaust] was that bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problem. The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence.” (Rabbi Joachim Prinz – 1902–1988)

“We will have to repent in this generation, not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.” (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., –1929-1968)

“I found myself in a role to which I was not accustomed, and to which I did not aspire, but which was now required of all of us who were unwilling to stand idly by and watch the undoing of all we cherish, and that was the role of resistance.” (Senator Adam Schiff – b. 1960)