Last week, we began thinking about the things that give us hope in these challenging days, because it is far too easy to feel hopeless, so we need to think intentionally about the developments that give us hope, and I said one thing that gave me hope were the movements and moments of resistance, led by people whose names we don’t yet know, and this week I learned about just such a person. Her name is Britt Boril, and she lives in Casper, Wyoming. She’s my hero of the week. The Wyoming legislature passed a law that “preferred pronouns could not be compelled,” because we all know that being asked to call someone “they” is the most pressing problem in our nation right now. So they passed this ignorant law saying you cannot compel someone else to refer to you by a specific pronoun.
Well, this week in a Zoom call with Wyoming state senator Tim French, a woman named Britt Boril addressed Senator Tim French as “Madam Chairwoman.” French interrupted her to say that she should call him “Mr. Chairman” and she replied: “I cannot be compelled to use your preferred pronouns. You just passed a law saying so.”
He said again, “I’m asking you to call me Chairman French.”
“Madame Chairwoman, you just passed a law saying preferred pronouns cannot be compelled speech,” Britt Boril said.
And just like that, I have a new hero.
We’ve been thinking about the things that give us hope, and today I would add to that list my appreciation for spunky women with a sense of humor. They remind us that the battle for decency and democracy needn’t be all somber and serious. More hearts and minds are won by wit and creativity, which we need to remember, lest we become joyless scolds.
I love the story about John Adams that Abraham Lincoln was fond of telling. If Abraham Lincoln could tell funny stories during the Civil War, you and I can and must find room for humor today.
John Adams was the first American ambassador to England after the Revolutionary War. The British were still bitter about their loss and wanted to antagonize Adams, so placed a portrait of George Washington in the privy.
While Adams was deep in negotiations with the Brits, Adams excused himself to use the bathroom. The Brits snickered and waited, hoping for a reaction, but when Adams returned to the room, he didn’t say a word about it.
They left the portrait where it was but were perplexed by John Adam’s indifference. Finally, after a few days, they asked him if he had seen the painting of George Washington in the privy.
Adams smiled and said, “I can think of no more appropriate place for that portrait, since nothing would scare the shit out of a British man as well as General George Washington.”
When I heard that story, my respect for John Adams grew, as did my appreciation for humor.
Humor is not only indicative of our emotional well-being, it also reveals something about our spiritual health. Remember Dwight Eisenhower’s wide and welcome grin? The infectious humor of John F. Kennedy. The quick and easy smiles of Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. But have you noticed how Donald Trump is only happy when someone is being ridiculed? What does that say about his interior life, about his soul? What does it say about the two most heavily guarded men in the world, Donald Trump and JD Vance, when they summon the president of an allied nation to the Oval Office, a man whose nation has been invaded by a murderous thug, and blame him for the tragedy his country has suffered?
We have many weapons in our arsenal. The vote, the rule of law, the courts, and U.S. representatives and senators, and governors who will not bend the knee to King Trump. But remember that what people like Donald Trump fear most is our humor. It is a tool of resistance they do not understand since they do not possess it themselves. Employ it as often as you. Bombard his presidency with wit. This is especially important for those of us on the progressive side of the aisle. We often think every dispute is a matter of life and death. But we must not give the impression that life with us is a cheerless, gloomy slog. People are drawn to joy. If they don’t find it among us, they’ll look elsewhere. Have you noticed Donald Trump draws followers in the same manner garbage draws flies, attracting those persons charmed by his stench.
I am putting my hope in humor, in courage and good humor, which stand in opposition to the hateful gloom of Donald Trump.
A word about naming names. A Friend approached me last Sunday and said he appreciated my use of names, in clearly identifying those persons who threaten our democracy and our decency. While I appreciated his supportive words, you need to be aware that I hate the necessity of naming names. I believe in diplomacy and tact. But when someone seems intent on destroying our nation and has enlisted a majority of the Christian church to do it, then I will, as a matter of integrity, name names. I urge you to do the same. Let no one ever have to guess how you feel about these corrupt and joyless bullies.
When the Quaker Susan B. Anthony was young, she was told by her male schoolteacher that “a girl needs to know how to read the Bible and count her egg money, nothing more.” As it says in the Bible, it pissethed her off, and sparked her passion for equal rights. She went on to become a teacher. In 1846 Anthony, then a 26-year-old school headmistress, began campaigning for equal pay for female teachers. In 1851, she met the woman’s rights advocate, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and they began touring the nation arguing the case for women’s suffrage. Anthony even voted in the 1872 presidential election and was arrested and taken before a judge who fined her $100. She stood before the judge, smiled kindly, then said in a voice of steel, “I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty.” And she never did.
Our nation will be saved by those people who will not cooperate with evil, who with joy in their hearts, and purpose in their steps, will not permit themselves or anyone else to be diminished or demeaned. The dour and angry Adams of the world have held the reins of power far too long. I am looking to the wise and joyful Eves of the world, those who, having eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, know tyranny when they see it, and will not let it stand. This is what gives me hope—the bright, brave, and joyful women, who are everywhere to be found in our nation, and will lead us out of this desert to our promised land.
Closing blessing: I wish I had thought of this, but I didn’t. The writer Anaïs Nin did, and she said, “Life shrinks or expands in proportion with one’s courage.” So, friends, be brave and have fun. Awaken each morning determined to pop the balloons of pomposity and pretension. It is the work of saints to counter ugliness with laughter, to oppose tyranny with joy, to every day adorn ourselves with happiness and hope, until cruelty is exhausted.