Easter AND The Response.

I grew up Catholic. And while I no longer practice, and I’m currently figuring out my faith, I’ve been thinking about Easter a lot today, especially as the President chose it as the day to make another fun little threat about warcriming instead of taking care of people in his own country.

For me I don’t really think about it theologically or care if you believe in the resurrection. To me I think the whole thing is a story people told themselves to survive the Roman Empire.

A group of people watched the most powerful government on earth kill someone who threatened their power and instead of scattering or giving up or deciding that the fight was over because the worst possible thing had happened they got shit done. They got back together, they organized, they fed each other, they took care of each other’s families, and they built something that outlasted the empire that tried to crush it.

That’s the part that matters to me right now. The response.

We have a government that seems more interested in causing pain than supporting it’s people. We have a war that Congress won’t vote on. We have people in power making half-a-billion-dollar bets on futures markets minutes before presidential announcements. We just watched Congress leave for a two-week vacation while TSA workers were donating plasma to make rent. And last week millions of people marched in the streets to say they’ve had enough.

It would be very easy right now to feel like the worst thing is happening and nothing can be done about it.

Easter says that’s the moment you get to work.

Not thoughts and prayers. Work. The early church didn’t survive because people felt hopeful. It survived because people showed up for each other in material, tangible ways. They shared food, they pooled money, they protected the vulnerable and they built networks that functioned when the official systems wouldn’t.

That’s not a uniquely religious idea. That’s a blueprint for everyday life.

And it’s happening right now if you look for it. Mutual aid networks are feeding families in communities where grocery prices have spiked from the war. Neighbors are covering shifts and sharing gas money. People are running for school board and state legislature, not because it’s glamorous, but because they figured out that the decisions that actually affect their kids’ lives happen in rooms most people don’t even know exist.

Passover started this week too. And the core of that story is actually the same: people who were told their situation was permanent decided it wasn’t. They moved, they built, and they refused to accept that the way things are is the way things have to be.

You don’t have to be religious for that to hit.

I talk a lot on my show and in these posts about what’s broken. It’s my job and I take it seriously. BUT I also think there’s a version of strength that gets overlooked in political commentary because it doesn’t sound tough enough. The strength to actually show up for your neighbor, to bring a meal to someone who’s struggling without posting about it, and even to sit with someone who’s scared and not try to fix it with some hot take, but just be there.

That’s not soft. Soft is tweeting about how bad things are and then doing nothing. Showing up is the hardest thing most people will ever do.

So today, whether you’re in a church, at a family dinner, hiding eggs with your kids, or just trying to get through another Sunday, I want you to know that the thing you do next matters more than the thing that was done to you.

The empire is always big. The people who change things are always small at the start. Every single time.

Happy Easter. Happy Passover. Happy Sunday.

Love your faces,

Philip DeFranco | Future President 2032 (kidding. omg could you imagine 🫠)