The nearly full month since my last post has come and gone, first with travels and visits with family and then with a week of late nights absorbing the truly astounding Democratic National Convention (DNC). And all if it set against the backdrop of President Biden having the courage to step aside, an inspiration to many, including this old guy and, hopefully, an opening to a more joyous future.

Being with family certainly reminded me, once again, of what is important in my life. While not “Ozzie and Harriet perfect,” family is what has shaped me and sustained me—kept me alive honestly—in my seventy-five years. My families have grown to look a lot like the people in the seats at the DNC, full of color, joy, youth, wisdom, diversity, all born of our complex lives.

I’ll trust my life to the larger family that came to Chicago because we share a vision of what is possible. Yes, also because the alternative of more of the same horror we’ve seen is not acceptable. Idealistic? Maybe but my definition of “realistic” includes the fact that in the last forty years fifty trillion dollars of wealth has been stolen from the pockets of our families to end up in the bank accounts of a very few. So I’ll enjoy the idealistic imagining of what we might accomplish with that kind of investment in society.

And I suspect that vaccinating the world with a bit more joy will quickly lead to an infectiousness that will begin to make great differences. After all, we’ve gotten into this mess we’ve made of life on Earth in a short period of time so even just stopping the insanity of it all should go a long way toward healing. Onward.

Please make absolutely certain you have a plan to vote for JOY on November 5th and to support all the members of your family who are able in doing the same. In some places voting will be easy but in others it may be not so easy so let’s support each other in making it happen.

25 Aug This entry was published on August 25, 2024 at 9:50 am. It’s filed under John Snell, John Snell Photographer, Vermont, vote, www.johnsnell.photography and tagged Democratic National Convention, DNC, Family, Harris/Wals, Joy. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.