Village Protection

Do not take the bait

This past weekend was definitely an ICE weekend in more ways than one. The Winter Storm warning asked us all to stay inside for our own protection and the safety of the essential personnel. Freezing rain pelted my windows while I read the Epistle on Zoom. Technology is a marvelous thing. As I listened to the sermon, I heard “do not cave into fear.... be there for each other.... be a community united in vision.” I thought about those words and how I kept my villagers safe in Ona’s Tears.

Last week I wrote about the Cossacks who were paid agitators. My village survived by not retaliating from their raids. To do so was exactly what the Russians wanted the peasants to do. Instead, my characters used self control as a means of holding on to power.

I was not there to witness my ancestors’ struggle, but my mother’s mantra to “walk away” runs deep. Every time a childhood bully tried to pick a fight, I simply turned my back. As an adult, I replaced silence with strategy. I did not take the bait; I did my homework and turned their ignorance against them. I outsmarted the threat rather than caving to it. This is my Lithuanian heritage: we know that when a regime bans a book, they are merely admitting they’ve already lost the argument. Culture matters.

Inspiration from my Substack Village:

These are wise words from Ukrainian Viktor Kravchuk concerning a bully:

“This chapter of politics will pass. Systems built on cruelty always collapse under their own weight. That man feeds on outrage and noise. He pretends to be untouchable because attention is his oxygen. But he is not all powerful. He shouts because he knows it.”

Stephanie Raffelock wrote:

“Each of us can do one small thing. Regimes die because they don’t expect the backlash from ordinary people who carry goodness, caring and determination with them wherever they go. These people are America, not the haters who carry bottles of gold-leaf in their pockets and try to pawn it off as wealth.”

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Marisol Muñoz-Kiehne Jan 26

Still

Massive winter storms,
for real, figuratively.
Small suns, stars still shine.

Parhelic splendors,
sundogs glow in extreme cold.
Barking at ice clouds?

Crimes, lies meet resolve,
some confined, some on the streets.
Our caring, still free.

Marisol Muñoz-Kiehne’s response to Karen Davis Post:

Yes, cold “ice will melt,”

perhaps sooner with our help?

“This is what light does.”

Take-away:

My one small thing is to write this Substack and amplify the power of a village or community. We are not alone. We can be there for each other. We can wake up and pay attention.

The world stage has gotten smaller and bullies are scared of losing power. We need leaders who value precision over performance, and wisdom over whim. Meanwhile, we can choose to be the “adults in the room” and not take the bait. Business is not as usual in this geopolitical world.

What did you take-away from the ICE weekend? How did you weather the storm? Let’s have a conversation. Your attention is a currency—don't spend it on bullies.