It's A Nineties Thing: Floral Dress And A Cardi (J.Crew and Uniqlo)

J.Crew dress HERE

Super old merino wool Uniqlo cardigan from my mum's closet

Nike Blazer sneakers (HERE)

In reality it's more of a weather thing.  Fifteen degrees at the moment in the south of Holland.  I can't wear anything I have packed without borrowing jackets or cardigans.

Hope your summers are sunnier and warmer wherever you are.

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I also want to say thank you for your concerned messages after my Annus Horribilis post.  I agree with some of your advice that it's important not to get overwhelmed by things one cannot control.  

But just sitting back and pretending America's leadership has nothing to do with me is something I cannot abide.

My brave grandparents resisted the nazis by sheltering British soldiers in their home during the war, a war which became inevitable after years of appeasement of a dangerous authoritarian government.

There are plenty of small things all of us can and should do at this moment in history.  One of the reasons the American government stopped separating children from their mothers at the border is that private companies working with the administration spoke up and refused to be compliant.

Those private companies did so not out of the kindness of their heart, but because their customers demanded it.

Why worry about injustice in America, you may ask, rather than much worse-off places?  We should be concerned about inequality everywhere in the world, but if American democracy fails, oppression in less developed countries won't stand a chance of ever being squashed.

Ronald Reagan described America as a "shining city upon a hill" a beacon for all freedom loving people everywhere:

I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still.

When that America actually exists in the world, every other country will ultimately become a better place to live.

I strongly believe that speaking out about wrongs today will make the world a better place for our children tomorrow.

Thanks for reading   xx Dianne