Don't just do something. Stand there.

Advice from a successful young organizer.

When I was 27 I ran the campaign to organize the nurses at what was then Fletcher Allen Healthcare, the largest hospital in Vermont. It was 2002 and I was in Burlington, Vermont from March 8 to October 25 about. March 8 I remember for sure, and I know that I started my new job at the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals on October 28, 2002 so I am pretty close on the date I left. I took no time off in between.

At the victory party, one of the best organizers I’ve ever worked with, John Gallagher, may he rest in power, gave this little speech in which he quoted me a bunch of times. It was incredibly sweet, and John was quite the comedian so he had everyone laughing.

One of the quotes he quoted is one of the best pieces of organizing advice I ever came up with:

“Don’t just do something. Stand there.”

There is an intense desire in organizing campaigns to DO SOMETHING every time management puts out a flyer, holds a meeting, does one-on-ones with employees, any of the things they do. For those of you who do not know, in the US employers usually run brutal campaigns of psychological intimidation against workers who try to form unions, which is one reason why many unions have moved to tactics other than the traditional National Labor Relations Board election to help workers win the right to collective bargaining.

(Yay! If you object to my posts on Israel, you may be with me on this stuff! And some of my pro-Israel folks may be anti-union! Let’s be divided on some things and love each other anyway!)

When the boss puts out, for example, a flyer with lies (it’s perfectly legal for them to lie), young/new organizers always want to respond.

“We have to DO something!” they will demand.

No, we don’t. In fact, we have to NOT do something. We have to just stand there.

Talk to the workers one-on-one. Get on the phones. I guess these days they do it a lot via text. Talk to the workers, but do not put out a flyer. Answering the boss only reinforces the boss’ issues. Stay on our issues. Our issues are:

— Safe staffing

— Mandatory overtime

— The retirement benefits they just cut

— The unbearable cost of health insurance, and we are healthcare workers!

— Lastly wages, but that’s never the biggest thing in an RN campaign.

But I digress… going back in time by many years happens so fast when I start thinking in the union language.

It is very tempting, especially for those of us with anxiety, to want to do something. I’ve often said that depression makes you feel unable to do anything, but anxiety makes you feel like you have to do SOMETHING! And it’s always the wrong thing.

Not doing something is hard. As I wrote about here, inaction can be the hardest thing, but it should be the default. Nonintervention produces a nonevent (thank you Professor Friedman! ) and most of the time, a nonevent is for the best.

I have found that through consistent meditation, I am better able to discern when to take action and when not. I have also noticed that since I am not a natural procrastinator - in fact I tend to have everything done early in advance of the deadline - if I am putting something off, it is usually because there’s a good reason not to do it, or at least to think carefully about it. The inner guidance tends to know what is right, when it is unimpeded by the voices of social expectations, financial desperation, or too much texting. (Wait, I gotta return a text, just a sec here!)

(Okay, I’m back.)

There are people who are hesitant to act on the world. Cautious people. I know these people. Some of them are my best friends.

I am not one of these people. My default tends to be action, even if it is long planned out, carefully plotted action. Just waiting is hard. It’s unfamiliar, even alien.

But it’s essential.

Game of Thrones spoiler coming. If you actually plan on watching GoT and haven’t, skip till after the button after this one.

“Sometimes nothing is the hardest thing to do,” says Lord Tyrion to Daenerys. She replies, “You told me to do nothing before. I’m not doing nothing now.”

Then she flies off on Drogon to the North beyond the Wall (The real North) and burns up White Walkers with her dragons and saves the entire party except Jon, who makes it back eventually.

Was Daenerys motivated by wanting to save the world, or wanting to save Jon Snow? Does it matter?

Does anyone who has watched GoT realize that John Snow is known as the Father of Epidemiology and seems way smarter than Jon Snow, King of the North, though probably not as good with a sword?

Doing nothing is hard. But it beats doing the wrong thing.

Sometimes it is important to do nothing, do it now, and do it well. If inner guidance is lacking, the path ahead is clouded, and emotions like fear abound, it is often best to do nothing, if you have that option.

Of course there are times when one must do something very important. Many of our friends are at that moment, and we must be ready to support them. Sometimes doing nothing now is the only way to make sure you can do something when you need to.

To that end, today I encourage you to do nothing and do it well. If you are unsure what to do:

— Don’t get married.

— Don’t get a PhD.

— Don’t make a post when you’re angry.

It is all well and good to get married or get a (FUNDED!) PhD if you decide to do so when you have spent some good time reflecting on it. I started a PhD program when I was in a time of crisis, and I lived to regret it. I never got married - thanks to everyone who married someone else and went on to become delightful exes! - and I’m glad I didn’t. I write in the white hot flash of anger, but I sit on it until I’m sure it’s ready. I have many drafts that I have not published.

Some things are better left unsaid.

That being said, I got an email from Citizen Cafe Tel Aviv, a company that teaches online Hebrew classes. I would love to sign up once I make enough money to afford it. I took a free sample class and it was tons of fun! I had been wondering how to tell Loviefluffy that I love her in Hebrew, and in their Valentine’s Day email, they say how! So now I can tell my baby cat that I love her in her new language of choice.

Does anyone know how to say, “Are you ready for breakfast?” in Hebrew?

Feeding the cat, at her scheduled times, is always the right thing to do

The time will come to bloom. But yo, it’s still snowing here.