My neighborhood, like many across the world, is trying to be better prepared for an iffy future event. I think I’ll limit my comments to this part of the continent, because I don’t want to consider monsoons or frogs falling from the sky or viper infestations. We have enough calamities of our own.

So. Earthquake, mudslide, volcano, fire, tsunami, insurrection, murder hornets. And the beat goes on. It turns out, not everybody is most worried about the same things. This surprised me because I thought coffee would be first on anyone’s survival supply list. In fact, a group of reasonable humans can work up quite a lather when trying to agree on the biggest concerns.

Things could have gone better at meeting number one. By meeting number two, we will all have thought about it and can proceed accordingly. At least if we are speaking to each other again.

Impending natural disaster isn’t the only doom on my mind. The very unnatural disaster of our Supreme Court hasn’t helped. I was around in the era of coat-hanger abortions. I knew terrified women seeking help in ominous trips to terrible places (and I knew a few good men who did not leave their partners to deal with it all alone). I lost my credit rating when I married my husband, although I out-earned him and had a higher credit score. I was asked to “go shopping” during an all-day business meeting so the men could go to a topless bar for their lunch. My sister’s divorce papers referred to her as his chattel.

Any woman old enough to wear wrinkles on her cheeks has stories to tell. Generations of us worked hard to create an environment where women can make equal pay to their brothers and have equal respect. A heavy boot has been placed back on our necks.

Don’t let it crush you. A great leader urged people to make good trouble. Let’s do it together when freedom for all of us is on the line.

BTW: Those men at that luncheon found another place for lunch, one where I could join. I had raised hell, of course. But that’s not what changed the boss’s mind about it. It was his wife who explained the facts to him when he told her what happened at work that day. By standing up for me, she helped me have the same career opportunity as the men. I never met the woman. But I call her sister.

Linda B. Myers is a founding member of Olympic Peninsula Authors. Her novels are available at Pacific Mist in Sequim, Port Book and News in Port Angeles, and on Amazon.com. Contact her at myerslindab@gmail.com.