Good News: Courage is Contagious

In the maelstrom of bad news, daily and hourly,
spewing from our phones and tv,
there was some good news today─
the people of Minneapolis,
tens of thousands of them in the streets,
beautiful, ordinary
people who sip coffee in cafes and those who serve them,
students who chat with classmates and those who teach them,
people who like to shop and those who wait on them,
people who go to churches, synagogues and mosques and those who preach to them,
people who have been harassed by cops for their color
or discriminated against, abused for their gender
and those who might once have looked the other way─
but not today
because their friends and neighbors, people they knew or didn’t know
are being kidnapped, tear-gassed, beaten and murdered
by Trump’s grotesque armed-masked-thug gestapo
and they couldn’t stay in their warm homes or tidy comfort zones,
not today.
So they are out in minus double digit cold and snow
waving upside down flags, blowing whistles,
carrying pictures of Renee, Alex, Keith, Silverio,
carrying home-made signs that say:
“Fuck Ice,” “Stop Fascism,”
“ICE out of Everywhere”
“Impeach Trump,” “Trump Must Go Now,”
and “We Are Not Afraid.”
Though some people are…
but overcame fear to be out here today
with tens of thousands of others
who should be millions,
setting an example, showing the way.
Courage is contagious.
I see in the marchers of Minneapolis
hope for a future
for them, for all of us
that looks brighter, like that better world is possible
way more
than before today.

This article was posted on Sunday, February 1st, 2026 at 8:00am and is filed under Poetry.