It's difficult to just exist in the world these days... so much negativity, so many horrifying, anti-humanitarian evils being committed, such giant steps taken backwards - away from progression, equality, and peace.
Some days it can overwhelm us, making us feel as if the only sane option might just be to bury our heads in the metaphorical sand, swaddle ourselves in our duvets and hide out until something inevitably breaks, blows or bubbles over. We invariably feel completely helpless - mere pawns in a game played out by that one percent of the global population that are so elite and powerful, they can pretend to belong to an altogether different reality from the rest of us, without guilt, shame, or consequence. How can we, the collateral damage, possibly affect a change in this current bleak environment? Is our world in need of love? strength? imagination? heroes? Yes! But, how to place such a tall order? How can we possibly deliver on such a request?
Just like so many of us, I wish to the very core of my being that I had all the answers... any answers. These are the thoughts that keep me up at night, worrying that the future being forged for my children will be desperately, irreversibly bleak. One thing I am certain of, however, is that words have real power. When oppressors and dictators feel threatened, they do their best to silence us. Journalists are fired and imprisoned, artists are blacklisted and deported, scientists are defunded and disappeared, protestors are attacked and threatened, and all the while, distracting lies are continuously fabricated. But, we don't need to be soldiers in order to resist. We have mouths for speaking truths, and we have pens for signing petitions, creating posts, writing poems and stories that shine a spotlight upon the atrocities unfolding all around us. This is not the time to retreat from those uncomfortable conversations. This is not the time to change the subject, change the channel, avoid the uneasiness of our current reality. Yes, it is difficult and painful, especially when some of the very people we hold dear choose to disagree with irrefutable facts, tell themselves fables, and blindly buy into fascist ideals... yes it is draining... but the aftermath that awaits, if we do not stand our ground, will be even worse, I promise you.
We have our words... and that is no small thing. Turn your fear, your anger, your love into a piece of writing and share it. Speak from personal experience, speak from the heart - be emotive, real, and raw - but do not get beaten back by complacency, stifled by despondency, or belittled by fear.
"Rise up!" they sing in Hamilton, "When you're living on your knees, you rise up!"
And right about now, we all need to write like we're running out of time.