My thoughts don’t always manifest as truths. However, those pesky thoughts just don’t go away. And as I feel untethered in 2025 and consider why, I think of many in our nation who have felt untethered for years and how easy it has been not to notice. Because when something happens repeatedly it can begin to feel normal and you forget what’s true or what’s just. Particularly if it isn’t happening to you or someone you know.

Dear Neighbor, 

“Do you think we’re just feeling untethered?” I asked one of my best friends as we discussed our feeling of not being able to escape from concerns about the current political environment and for the people we personally know who are affected by new policies. Little did I know that a word I don’t think I have ever used before in conversation could be so loaded in 2025. The word “untethered” appears to have first originated in 1775. That’s pretty significant to me. I doubt that I am alone in feeling similar emotions that led our American patriots to separate themselves from a monarchy as they leapt into that newly imaged democratic republic. I AM untethered because I believe too many, from the highest levels of our government to those I know personally, are abandoning our constitutional norms and the rule of law for a form of government that robs us of our freedoms as Americans. I don’t want to be untethered from those United States ideals that we have tried to uphold for generations.    

Perhaps surprisingly for some, many of us are experiencing uncertainty in ways we have never had to experience as citizens of the United States. I am definitely feeling what it means to wonder if the rights deemed by those in power apply to me and those I know personally. When POTUS can’t give a straight answer to the question of whether he has to uphold the constitution as President we’re in trouble as a nation. His reply: “I don’t know.” makes you wonder what it might mean when he describes you and others like you who disagree with his policies as “the enemy from within.”  

Forgive me if that sounds conspiratorial. Like my 4 year old granddaughter who told me during a recent conversation about life, “Nana, I think in my head all the time.” “Me too, baby,” I replied. “Me too.”

Saying that, my thoughts don’t always manifest as truths. However, those pesky thoughts just don’t go away. And as I feel untethered in 2025 and consider why, I think of many in our nation who have felt untethered for years and how easy it has been not to notice. 

Because when something happens repeatedly it can begin to feel normal and you forget what’s true or what’s just. Particularly if it isn’t happening to you or someone you know. My thinking mind says to beware the trap of thinking someone you don’t know isn’t  worthy of the rule of law because ___________ (fill in the latest reason from those currently in charge). And if you’re feeling untethered in this 249th year of our nation, don’t remain quiet. Be a patriot and stand up for that crazy notion of “We the People…” You won’t be alone.  

“Dear Neighbor” authors are united in a belief that civility and passion can coexist. We believe curiosity and conversation make us a better community.

Pam Bloom