At Boaz and Ruth, away from Martha, some of us would mutter, “leopard spots never change.” This is a fear I have. Let’s say the crowd abusing I.C.E. in the streets wins. I.C.E. is defunded. The borders are erased. Anyone and everyone who wants to come here does come here. Mumble mumble millions of people streaming across the border from every corner of the world. Awesome sauce!
Welcome to the People’s United Democratic Free Intersectional Queer Trans Non-Binary Anarcho-Syndicalist Decolonial Eco-Socialist Republic of America—PUDFIQTNASDER for short. (We spent three consensus meetings debating whether to add ‘Intersectional’ before the hyphen, but the working group tabled it for the next People’s Assembly.) Post-Apocalypse Utopia, am I right? The low brought higher, the higher brought low. No hunger, no misery, free education, free healthcare, and free snacks. Because nothing says revolutionary liberation like government-issued granola bars and mandatory sensitivity workshops.
The promise is lovely. The five promises realized—No hunger, no misery, free education, free healthcare, free housing and unlimited free snacks! The low brought higher and the higher brought low. Perfect! Paradise Unlocked!
Leopard Unlocked
We gather in corners like Boaz and Ruth—away from the louder voices, the Martha busyness—where the quieter fears slip out. “Leopard spots don’t change,” someone mutters. Reflexes harden into habits: the riot that feels like justice until the rubble settles, the vandalism that starts as protest and ends as scar tissue on a community.
Imagine the crowd wins. ICE defunded, borders erased in policy if not practice. Mumble mumble million people pour in—tens of millions in waves, perhaps, if the gates swing wide and pull factors hold. Not numbers on a chart, but lives: families fleeing chaos, dreamers chasing opportunity, the desperate and the determined. In the hands of zealots whose only proven tool is confrontation—fight, riot, vandalize—what becomes of welcome? Scarcity bites, disputes flare, old enemies resurface in new forms. The “voluntary cooperation” speeches brittle fast. The leopard reaches for the spots it knows.
The Rock To Stand On
But look at the ground we’re standing on today, January 2026. The edge hasn’t been leapt into. Border encounters have collapsed—nationwide apprehensions averaging under 9,000 per month, Southwest crossings in the low thousands daily, down 80-90% from peaks. Net migration turned negative in 2025 for the first time in decades, deportations and self-departures surging under enforcement. The abyss some wanted—unchecked influx under untransformed hands—remains hypothetical, not headline. Policies shifted; inflows dried; the pendulum swung hard toward restriction.
Yet the deeper precipice remains. Evil doesn’t need open borders to feast. It loves any battle we give it—polarization, resentment, the cycle where mercy is weakness and vengeance is virtue. Yin is consumptive; it eats us gleefully when we engage on its terms. The worst we can do is attack the darkness with the same weapons. The best—and hardest—is to turn away: walk toward the light, keep building discipleship. One small choice at a time. Forgive first. Bless instead of curse. Steward rather than dominate.
We need God. Not as a slogan, but as the sovereign reality big enough to redirect the tide. We need a move of the Spirit that pulls us back from the edge—not by force, but by renewal. The ancient promise in Isaiah 11:6 isn’t human engineering; it’s divine intervention: the wolf dwells with the lamb, the leopard lies down with the kid, the lion eats straw like the ox, and a little child leads them. Predators gentled, not defeated in combat, but transformed by the knowledge of the Lord filling the earth as waters cover the sea.
耶穌是道路
This is my fear—leadership whose first habits are fighting, rioting, vandalizing, sabotage, and intimidation won’t easily turn away from these habits when gaining leadership also gains them problems with leadership.
Lasting change can’t be ecstatic. It has to be training and not trying [Dallas Willard]. Not sexy, won’t get clicks or go viral. But ecstatic change too easily falls into that cycle: explosive event, depression, apology, honeymoon, tension building. Ecstatic change doesn’t give us the tools to cope/govern once tension rises.
The ecstatic version—big rallies, street clashes, cathartic “breakthroughs”—feels powerful in the moment. It mobilizes, unites, creates heroes and headlines. When tension rises again (as it always does in leadership/governance), there’s no deeper reservoir to draw from. No trained reflexes for patience, forgiveness, compromise, or humble stewardship. So the cycle reboots: back to escalation, because that’s what the muscle memory knows. Ecstatic change gives fireworks; training builds the slow, unglamorous infrastructure for endurance.
漫長的門徒之路
So here we are: the Citadel grinds on, zealots get their airtime because they deliver wins, and the rush of pepper-spraying a LEO or toppling a symbol feels like power—until the crash comes. Ecstatic change delivers the same cycle because it stays on the surface: trying harder, shouting louder, hitting harder.
Unless we stop attacking the darkness with darkness and turn inward to the one thing we can actually change: ourselves. Yes, the Serenity Prayer again—accept what we cannot (the walled city, the fundraising treadmill, the ungentled leopards in power), find courage for what we can (our own reflexes, habits, responses), and seek wisdom to know the difference. Ask daily: “How can I be the change I seek?”
Yah. “Be the Change…” is a meme. A stupid meme. It’s so hard and doesn’t get clicks or go viral. Jesus of Nazareth was a buzzing gnat on the ass of Caesar for centuries. 400 years after he died, Constantine is desperate to win a battle and makes a bargain with the Christian God—let me win this battle and I’ll convert. He won. The empire flipped, but not because of viral rallies or tantrums. It happened because a small, faithful remnant trained in quiet obedience outlasted the system.
Discipleship is that slow burn: not heroic trying, but formation under the Spirit through ancient practices that rebuild us from the inside. Willard keeps reminding us—lasting change isn’t ecstatic. Not sexy. No likes for “I practiced silence today.” But these habits gentle the leopard one small choice at a time: forgive before you fight back, bless instead of curse, steward humbly instead of dominate. They equip us to endure when tension rises—not with escalation, but with God’s filling presence.
變化越多，不變的越多
Plus c’est la même chose. Round and round we go on the same mouse wheel—nothing changes. No amount of escalation brings the change we seek. Just a growing criminal record and lives that get more chaotic. 它們越是保持不變，就越是如此。
When the fight wins and power arrives, the same toolkit gets redeployed inward (against dissenters, moderates, or even former allies) or outward (against inevitable new challenges like scarcity, internal fractures, or external pushback). Leadership problems—managing coalitions, handling compromise, dealing with failure or betrayal—don’t magically rewire confrontation-first instincts; they often amplify them. The habits that brought victory become the habits that poison governance or fracture the new order.
I can do better than a meme. In 2021 I was arrested for domestic battery. Thus a no-contact order. Convicted in the same year. Sentenced with anger management class. Anger Management was one Saturday class taught by a Sherriff’s Deputy. The theme? Don’t let your emotional bucket get full. Gotcha.
Full Bucket Alert
A zealot’s bucket stays full. For a while. Then we can’t stay wound up and our bodies check out. We are done. This is what changed it for me: discipline instead of a litany of failed tries. I’ll give you my five disciplines I developed and practice since 2021.
- Give grace first — Extend mercy before the offense lands, bless before the curse rises. In the heat of scarcity or betrayal, this habit rewires us to respond like Christ, who gave grace while we were still enemies.
- Fulfill opportunities to serve with no hope of return — Seize small chances to help with no strings. This breaks domination and sabotage reflexes by training stewardship as default. It’s the foot-washing Jesus modeled, not the power-grab Caesar admired.
- Dedicate yourself to a Tao/Way — Walk small steps in the same direction. Give yourself grace. All beginners suck. The way through is to keep going. This counters the cycle’s explosive highs and crashes by rooting life in a steady, Spirit-led direction.
- Pray — Habitual turning to God in simple, persistent conversation that aligns the will and quiets the rush. It starves self-reliance and opens space for God’s filling—gentling the leopard from within, one honest plea at a time.
- Fellowship — Gather regularly in honest community. This heals isolation, breaks infighting cycles, and provides accountability to stay on the Way instead of reverting to old spots.
None of this plays well on social media. It won’t go viral. You won’t know the impact of living this way on a larger stage. One day, people will share testimony about you as your ashes sit on a stand at the front of the chapel. If you are lucky the stories about how you lived will be your legacy.
更好的方法
But . . . it is the way. The other way, a criminal record of assaulting people, LEO’s included, fighting, rioting, vandalizing, sabotage, and intimidation, may gain you a victory. But the win is fleeting. Because once you win you have to govern. Then skills and habits that got you the win are now liabilities. Your leopard spots make you a target.
I’d rather die unremarkable, easily forgotten. Knowing that I stuck to my path and carried honor with me to heaven. Last, that my promise to my son–the last time will stay the last time–was kept.
It took 400 years—and an emperor. 2,000 years later a martyred carpenter from Nazareth began a way of life that today, influences billions. I’ll take that over stinging eyes from CS gas sprayed by a LEO