Here comes 2024 – a pause to consider next steps forward. For me, I want to take those next steps with love on my mind and in my heart as my first strategy for moving ahead.

In that place I can have faith in the unfolding, come what may, be that bad or good. I have learned that getting this out of order is the “sin” of this life. When loving comes before judging, life is affirmed. When judging comes before loving, life is subordinated to judgment and extinguished. Borrowing from the Bible, turning first to face the tree of life puts love before the judgment from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This order of things changes the fruit and I want to make fruitful judgments on the path forward.

In that spirit, making love my first strategy on the way ahead, I want to say, publicly, that I am against and stand opposed to the MAGA/Donald Trump/Republicans branding themselves with Christian culture – spreading lies, supporting violent insurrection and seeding hate for free expression, free thought, and free practice of anything non-Christian. The Trump rant of hate places me in the trash bin end of his enemies – the vermin. I am not Republican, not MAGA-man, MAGA-Christian or MAGA-American. So, I am vermin.

But in a democracy, vermin vote! And I am voting for democracy and against MAGA/Trump/Republicans across all tickets. To stop me, you will have to shoot me. I’ll be on 5th Avenue.

Ted Wright

Durango