This period of time can be seen as suffocating and paralyzing for many. We’re in trouble, our country is hurting big time, and many are suffering. At times like this, people have a stark choice to make — how and do we move forward?

Some will shut down, understandably exhausted by the inexplicability of government activity and frustrated to the nth degree by wrong- minded decisions. And these are choices being made that seem to be meant to afflict vast swaths of our population. Many of us are simply unsure of what we can do in protest or how to do it. Others, as we saw clearly on April 5, take to collective and public action to make themselves seen and heard.

We should be thankful and heartened that we still live in a nation and society that enables us to speak out to the degree we experienced on that day. Tens of millions around our country — as diverse a group of individuals as we can palpably imagine — took to singing, signing, chanting, walking, raising one another up in support of our rights and freedoms. All this legal and peaceable activity has been against a background of a federal government that wants to shut every last protester down. To be sure, were we to abandon the options and opportunities to register our pain and outrage, we would be giving in to a totally demoralized and undemocratized state of living and being.

While the news media completely underplayed the power and strength of national protests everywhere, let’s be sure to acknowledge the power that such public conveyance of feeling has. No one and nothing can take away from the message: Hands Off! This is OUR government! No kings! We want and need our democracy … and so many more poignant messages that offer resolute hope and faith that the power of the people still matters.

Those of us who joined in anywhere, came to remind all of us everywhere that we cannot lose hope to maintain our democracy, rights, freedoms, uniqueness, and commonalities. Hearts and minds were opened, voices and spirits too. Regardless of the major minimization the media generated about the April 5 “Hands Off!” protests, the energy and synergy was ubiquitous. We did this, and we can continue to do this.

On that day, and perhaps any other day, there is tremendous urgency to move from a limited and limiting place of “me” to the spaciousness of “we.” This expansiveness enables us to keep hearts and minds open. We can be open to hope, to change, to creativity, innovation, and living better together. It won’t be easy to get “there” — it never is — but ongoing efforts to be strong and to force issues to the forefront are critical. Our lives and our democracy, our very ways of living, being, and doing, depend on the power of our endeavors to speak truth to (false) power.

Keeping our hearts open also means having the power to ask the hard questions, to seek and research the hard truths of fact and reality. We don’t know what may or will happen with such a combative and indecisive administration trying to run and at the same time ruin a functioning if imperfect democracy. However, those who truly care about protecting said democracy are learning what to do to exercise their voices, votes, and rights. Our hearts and souls shall remain open to acceptance and welcoming of our differences and challenges. We shall not be afraid of continuing to use words like diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) in our work to open more minds and beating hearts to join in recommitting to our democratic ideas and ideals. Good trouble, and the right fight.

To do so, we’ll need to hold on, to hold one another up, to proclaim that differences are OK and safe and good. We can work to de-select and de-elect those who “got there” in 2024. If our eyes and hearts remain open on doing the hard goodness of preserving our democracy, we can, and we will, get “there.” Don’t give in to the ennui of being patient, calm, passive, unexcitable. Do join with one another, and others beyond that one (whomever it is next to you) to be part of this growing movement to reclaim all that’s being shut down and taken away. From “me” to “we,” all are stronger. We move from an untied and untethered state to a united and unified state of care, concern, and connection.

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Find a sign, make a sign, sign on, sign in. The only way to make significant and lasting change is to dig in, speak with our values and convictions, and find friends, allies, and converts to join in on “being the change that we want to be and see.” Have a sign-painting party, then stand out with your sign on a Saturday morning on our Town Common, then place it on your or a friend’s property, or in your window where it can be seen. Any day, any time, is the best time to begin this journey. Find and follow truth-abiding news media (they do exist!), speak about what you hear and read with friends and colleagues and neighbors. Be open to learning, be open to your heart growing wide. We hold power. Let’s learn to manifest and sustain it for the good and goodness of us all!

Daniel Cantor Yalowitz writes a regular column in the Recorder. A developmental and intercultural psychologist, he has facilitated change in many organizations and communities around the world. His two most recent books are “Journeying with Your Archetypes” and “Reflections on the Nature of Friendship.” Reach out to him at danielcyalowitz@gmail.com.