We Need To Hum For Two Years

When we were kids, we all knew the trick.

Somebody was saying something we didn’t want to hear. A big brother teasing. A bully on the playground. Maybe a grown-up giving a lecture we’d already heard a hundred times. So we did what kids do. We covered our ears and we hummed.

Hmmmmmmmm.

Loud. Steady. On and on. And it worked. You couldn’t hear a word they said. After a while they gave up and walked away, because there’s no fun in yelling at somebody who can’t hear you.

I’ve been thinking about that little trick all week. I think it’s time we grew up and did it again.

Let me be clear about who we’re humming at.

I’m talking about him. I’m talking about his cabinet, his people, and everybody on his side who makes a living by scaring you. When any one of them starts making threats, we cover our ears and we hum.

You know the threats I mean. Do what we say or else. Vote wrong and you’ll pay. Speak up and we’ll come after you. Things are going to get bad, and it will be your fault.

Those aren’t facts. They’re tools. A threat is built for one purpose. It’s built to scare you back into line.

And for years now, it has worked on too many of us.

Here’s something about a threat that took me a long time to understand. It doesn’t need you to believe it. It just needs you to hear it.

That’s all. If you’re listening, it’s working. If you’re worried, it’s working. If you’re up at midnight with a knot in your stomach, it’s working. Even if you’re shouting back at it, it’s working. A threat doesn’t care whether you agree. It only cares that it got inside your head.

So the answer isn’t to argue with it. You’ll never win that argument, because a bully doesn’t argue fair. The answer is the same one we had on the playground.

Cover your ears and hum.

Last week the people spoke. On November 3 this country made its choice loud and clear. The House changed hands. The Senate changed hands. States that hadn’t moved in decades moved.

And since then, what’s happened? The threats got louder, of course. That’s what a bully does when he’s losing. A losing bully doesn’t go quiet. He hollers. He puffs up. He tries one more time to make you flinch.

We’re going to hear a lot of that for the next two years. Threats against the new Congress. Threats against the people who voted. Warnings that the win didn’t count, that it can be taken away, that you’d better be afraid.

We don’t have to listen.

So what does humming look like for a grown-up? It’s simpler than you think.

It looks like scrolling past. The angry post from his side, the threat dressed up as a headline, the clip somebody sent you that’s built to make your blood boil. You don’t click it. You don’t share it. You don’t argue with it in the comments. You just keep going. Hmmmmmm.

It looks like turning the channel. If a show spends an hour passing along his threats and telling you to be scared, you don’t owe it that hour. Give it to your grandkids. Give it to your garden. Give it to a good book. Hmmmmmm.

It looks like guarding your attention. Your attention is worth something. The folks selling fear know exactly what it’s worth, because they make money off every minute of it. So stop handing it over for free.

Now, humming doesn’t mean falling asleep. A threat is just talk. What they actually do is something else. A signed order, a vote, a firing, a dollar spent. Those are real, and we keep our eyes on them. Cover your ears to the threats. Keep your eyes on the work.

And here’s the best part. When a lot of people hum at the same time, something happens. It stops being a hum.

It becomes a song.

Think about that. One kid humming on the playground is just a kid being stubborn. A whole crowd humming together is music. It fills the room. It drowns everything else out. And nobody can shout over it, not even the biggest bully on the block.

That’s what I want for the next two years. Not silence. Not hiding. A country humming the same tune so loud and steady that the threats can’t find a way in.

What’s the tune? You already know it.

The people spoke. Enough is enough. It’s our time.

We hum it when we call our senators and tell them we’re watching. We hum it when we show up at the town meeting. We hum it when we post something good instead of something angry. We hum it when we dance in the streets. We hum it every time we choose joy over fear.

The threats will keep coming. They always do. But a threat nobody hears is just wind. It blows past and it’s gone.

Two years is a long time to hum. I know that. Some days you’ll forget. Some days a threat will get under your skin, and you’ll find yourself arguing with a stranger online at midnight. It happens to all of us. When it does, just take your hands, put them back over your ears, and start again.

Hmmmmmmm.

You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to keep the tune going. And you won’t be doing it alone. Look around. There are millions of us now. We proved that on November 3.

So here’s my ask.

Starting today, every time a threat comes at you from him or anyone on his side, hum. Out loud if you want to. Your neighbors might look at you funny. Let them. Maybe they’ll start humming too.

That’s how it spreads. Not with shouting. With a tune.

Two years.

Cover your ears to the threats.

Keep your eyes on the road.

And hum.

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This post was drafted with AI governed assistance and reviewed and directed by Michael S. Faust Sr. before publication.

” Attic Thoughts”-library – Intelligent People Assume Nothing