On Monday, the president signed dozens of executive orders aiming to change our country’s laws and character overnight. The nation’s mood is one of fear and jubilation.
Some Americans are disconnecting from the news and social media, unable to deal with the effects of the new policies. Others are tremendously excited that their guy is following through on his promises. And others vacillate between resignation at the inevitable and gearing up for a big fight.
As we spend our days debating whether or not men with histories of abuse should run our government, if wokeness is evil because it demands we have empathy, and what Judeo-Christian behavior actually entails, there are also many of us trying to figure out how to be better Americans when that definition is in flux.
Few of us have the power to make federal change possible individually. But as we watch a president who can be best described as “a stress test of the Constitution,” we all have the power to affect our local communities — and it is here where we can find hope.
When you’re sure you’ve had enough
I’ve been thinking a lot about my friend Carolina Frantz. She recently won the Steelers Inspire Change Changemaker Award for 2024 for her work supplying over 15,000 pairs of socks to people suffering from homelessness, working with various organizations in the city to make sure vulnerable people can keep their feet warm.
She saw a need in her community, one that could be solved with a little work and ingenuity — as long as someone did it. Homeless Pittsburghers were wearing through their socks, which made them more likely to damage their shoes and injure their feet, which can lead to many other, more costly, problems.
Carolina is a nurse, a professor and a program director at Duquesne University, where she mentors future nurses. She co-founded the Western Pennsylvania Area Chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses. She’s also someone who cares deeply about the people she sees as patients, neighbors and students.
In 2018, she forged a partnership with Bombas sock company to distribute donated socks. (The company donates a pair of socks for every pair someone purchases.)
Carolina is one of those people I wish I could be. She’s always positive, always on hand to help and, when we get together for some arepas every now and then, she always has something forward-thinking to report.
Take comfort in your friends
She’s a Problem Solver. Nowhere to store cases and cases of socks from Bombas? Carolina uses her own garage. Worried that one organization may not be enough to get the socks to everyone? Work with as many as possible — including Pittsburgh Mercy, Jubilee Kitchen, and Shepherd’s Heart Fellowship and Veteran’s Home.
“I’ve always wanted to give back to people,” she said in a recent interview with the Steelers. “I’m a people person. I became a nurse because I am a people person. It’s fulfilling for me to help other people. That is it. Just be a good person.”
But even Carolina is exhausted. “I’m salty today, with all the news. It’s crazy out there,” she recently texted me.
Carolina, in addition to being a hero, is an immigrant. We bond over our Colombian heritage when we hang, and we’re both worried about the uptick in anti-immigrant rhetoric. And as we recently noticed, more and more people are giving us the stink-eye when we speak Spanish in public.
We can’t do much about it, except be ourselves. Carolina has no intentions slowing down in her philanthropic efforts, no matter how many obstacles the next few years might bring.
It’s here that she can make the most difference. Neither of us can change the national mood, but we can do small acts of kindness in the places where we live that make things better. And hopefully, with that, we can help change public attitudes enough to make the next four years tolerable.
Hold on, hold on, hold on
Inspired by Carolina, I’ve signed up to mentor some kids who want to be writers. I’ve decided to say yes whenever asked to work with students (schedule permitting), and I’ve decided to do whatever I can to make my city a little better.
For many of us, the country we love is a little more hostile towards our existence than it used to be. I don’t blame anyone for their fear, or their joy, or their resignation. Our lives are about to change, as is our country.
I can’t change who is president right now. I cannot change who is in Congress today. I cannot make our government more humane, nor can I run for higher office or attend law school quickly enough to change what’s happening at the federal level. I am not a billionaire who can buy influence. I am a middle-aged mom who knows a lot of poets.
But I can take time to talk to some kids about career options and try to help them better articulate their thoughts and opinions. It’s a starting point, something I can do now. Something that makes the world better.
As Carolina put it: “That is it. Just be a good person.”
Adriana E. Ramírez’s previous column was “With TikTok, the president needs to do his job.”
First Published: January 25, 2025, 10:30 a.m.
