PUTNEY — The Ides of March gave us the most dire and wonderful contrast of living in the present.
I attended two amazing, inspiring and well-peopled actions in Brattleboro organized by youngsters who are terrified of the potential of climate change to derail their future lives.
There, children as young as 6 were speaking out clearly and with understanding about the need for radical change in the way we produce and use energy and goods.
I am a mother and a grandmother, and the older I get, the more my children serve as amazing motivators to work nonstop on making change.
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That morning, I was able to see images from youth climate actions from around the globe. Millions of young people were standing up, making it clear that business as usual will not be accepted.
I understand that Republicans, who are bought and paid for by the fossil-fuel industry, are still peddling the nonsense that there is no solid science behind the clear evidence of climate destruction, but our eyes, our brains, and our bodies know they are dead wrong.
I believe that we will be in a new era of change as the young people of the entire world band together to state that enough is enough. We can see this buildup occurring.
For anyone who believes that they want to leave a real legacy for those who come after them, it is time to focus on what really matters. The time is growing short, and it is too late to prevent all the effects of the carbon atmospheric build up.
But we can - and must - prevent the very worst.
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And yet, on the same day these brave and outspoken children brought some us to tears with their words and passion, we were processing one of the worst crimes of our lifetimes: 50 completely innocent Muslim worshipers were executed in cold blood by one white supremacist.
Like so many other of these racist, monstrous white men, this killer used the words of the white-supremacist-in-chief, Donald Trump, to justify his actions.
And like the rest of these white men, he is a supreme coward: entering a space of peace as the only person who possesses heavy weaponry, using it to shoot up anyone he perceived as not white enough.
In the face of this horrific crime, the liar-in-chief is still sticking with his line that a mass murder like this is not a sign of the dangers of white-supremacist violence.
Trump is still promoting the lie that our country is in more danger from traumatized Honduran mothers than those who support his racist and Islamophobic words, those who own arsenals of weaponry.
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So, how do compassionate and caring people process these events?
I believe that the whiplash caused by the current era of dire threat and endless possibility are way beyond anything most of us can sanely take in.
My biggest fear right now is that these events will turn off those who are concerned with building a sustainable and compassionate future, as it is just too much to take in.
What keeps me going, and what will do so for the future, is thinking about the past.
History shows us that brave, outspoken, hard-working people have made changes, have built revolutions, have taken down dictators, and have already created much of the technology we need for a sustainable future.
People who care about leaving a positive world for their children: It is time to get to work!