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STAND UP DAILY for:

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Puppy Pile of children

This website is a resource for you and We-The-People to Stand Up for what we care about. Even when there is anger or fear, we can also collaborate joyfully, as Mark Twain said:

"The human race has only one really effective weapon, and that is laughter":

Resources here include: Minutes of Silence; Big Bubble Fun; a customizable and reusable yard sign (to download for free or buy); two downloadable handouts with G-Rated Dad humor (one with a list of allies, the other with more games); and a list of National American Goals (NAGs), a meme for each day of the week, and video clips of play.

 

Have a Minute Of Silence to show what you care about - whenever you can - like a Flash Mob at a pre-planned time.

NEWS FLASH: On March 6, 2026, President Zelenskyy signed a law that established a mandatory nationwide 9 AM Minute of Silence at the state level every day as a ritual of gratitude, respect and remembrance for those who died defending Ukraine. The practice started in 2022. While citizens are not required, many do, and it is now a widely observed social ritual.

In NYC we did a MOS with 500,000 at the 2014 People's Climate March, an organizer was Bill McKibben (cofounder of 350.org), who suggested - days before the march - that at precisely two minutes to 1:00 PM everyone could stop and go quiet for a MOS. There was no announcement that day, so as the time approached, the crowd was wondering if it would happen.

AND IT DID. 500,000 marchers went quiet, with a (Nelson Mandela) fist or the peace symbol raised up high, many held hands. That spine-tingling experience inspired the creation of this website.

STANDING UP for MINUTES OF SILENCE - The BASICS ...

Pick a time to be Standing Up for a MOS as soon as you can - days in advance - so no one needs to tell the group during the event when to start (the sooner the better, give folks time to get excited and chat it up).

For a big or noisy event, many will not hear a verbal announcement, make it a group-initiated action (followed with a shout-out like: NO KINGS! NO KINGS! NO KINGS! - see NAG list below).

Pick a clock time (e.g. 12:12 PM) or the moment right after a respected speaker finishes talking, to avoid interrupting them, and to show them support.

Or as soon as an unpopular speaker says something upsetting, that's the time to Stand Up for a disruptive MOS.

Or at a sporting event start when a pre-selected period, quarter or inning ends. Perhaps take a knee during the MOS.

Envision all Americans Standing Up Daily for a MOS - EVERY DAY - at 12:12 PM when many are at lunch together. (At 12 minutes after the hour because we are at the 12th hour for our planet, our Constitution, democracy, Rule of Law, etc.)

Annually on Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) in Israel, the whole country stops - including all traffic - and everyone goes quiet for two minutes.

When it is MOS time everyone could count to 50 silently for each of our 50 states.

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If near others: in a neighborhood; senior facility; apartment building; cohousing community; or for those working in a business office or a shopping mall or a big box store, gather together at 12:12 PM in a spot that works. As needed, discreetly vary the location so ICE won’t know where to find you.

If you are not with others or prefer not to gather - have your own beautiful MOS wherever you are at 12:12, knowing that many of your fellow Americans in your time zone stand with you at that same moment - including at-risk immigrants, POC, LGBTQ+, women, non-Christians and victims of gun violence or crappy health insurance, etc.

To let others know that you too are standing up, bang pots or blow whistles so they can hear you.

Breathe that in: take three slow deep breathes real-izing that MLK, fellow ICE observers, Gandhi, Nicole Renee, Alex Pretti, George Floyd, Abraham, Abe Lincoln, John Lewis, Sitting Bull, Frances Perkins, Jesus, Muhammad and your deceased loved ones all breathed those same air molecules.

National American Goals (NAGs) to shout out 3x after any MOS

On Media Mondays: Shout out: "Return Fairness the Doctrine"

On Voting Rights Tuesdays: "Pass the John Lewis Act"

On Worker Wednesdays: "Double or Triple the Minimum Wage"

On Therapeutic Thursdays: "Medicare for All"

On Financial Fairness Fridays: "Reverse Citizens United"

On Safer Society Saturdays: "Sensible Gun Laws Now"

On Save Our Selves Sundays: "No more Wars and Climate Justice Now"

Afterwards...


Connect with others, introduce new people, share stories, as Paul K. Chappell says: "An enemy is someone whose story you have not heard".

Hand out fliers (or let folks photo it) and explain what is happening, when it will happen again and invite folks to join in. Tell them about the StandUpDaily.org website.

Brainstorm when this could happen elsewhere, perhaps at a sporting event, work, school, church, picnic, etc. Encourage each other to do this in their own lives, daily, or just once a week, or whenever it works.

Celebrate your successes and learn from them, make plans for the next time. Instead of talking about 'what was wrong' (which can lead folks to feeling embarrassed about an idea they had if it didn't work out), instead identify what was missing, then you're closer to finding improvements for next time.

 Get copies of "Conflicted" or "GETTING TO YES - Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In" where it talks about focusing energy on finding solutions instead of focusing on people as if they were the problem: separate the people from the problem. Use the Circle Process when creating plans or dealing with a conflict, which are opportunities to learn and grow as a community.

Have a meal together or do something fun.

Close with a song, play a collaborative game (clickable examples: Elbow Tag and the popular PVC game) and give everyone a chance to check out with just a few words (more heart, less thought).