These are dark times in the world, seemingly especially the US. We are swiftly being harmed by racist, sexist, ableist, classist, and xenophobic policies. My clients are effected, my friends are effected, my family is effected, my community is effected, and I am effected.
It has been a dark time for more marginalized people and communities for much longer, some of whom have NEVER felt safe. Here are my hopes for this time:
My hope is that we can connect in community to support each other in mutual aid. This oppressive system was never designed to help us in the ways that we can help each other. We are meant to love and live in communities to support, protect, and care for each other. The opposite of what our society has been created to do.
My hope is that we can learn from and support the black trans, immigrant, disabled among us who have been navigating this fear and oppression in ways we white people cannot imagine. Through antiracist work, gender deconstruction, and our own education may we stop centering our experience. Saying this loudly to myself, with fierce self-compassion.
May we support those who "chose this" by voting for the current administration. They will also suffer economically, when their non-binary child/friend is no longer safe, when they realize they have been brainwashed into the biggest con due to their own fear. It will be SO HARD to not say we told you so, let karma play out in their suffering...and while I don't believe we should protect people from all their natural consequences, we must also love all of our neighbors...just maybe from far away for a while. Loving those who actively choose or chose this is hard for me. One of the community leaders I respect recently said they are chosing to hate the system that created the desire to vote for this, the fear of difference that promotes hate, and the grief of no longer (seemingly) being "in charge" or "on top." So when I find it hard to love my neighbor with his MAGA yard sign, I try to remind myself that they are victims of this oppressive system too. They just aren't aware of how. And I still want to love them from afar with hope that they can change and grow for the betterment of all humanity.
May we find joy, create, grieve, play, be collectively sad, see glimmers of light and hope. May we love each other deeply and create pockets of safety. May we read poetry together, light our good candles, and recycle even when all seems lost or like it won't make a difference.
You make a difference. What you learn, love, create, feel, and do makes a difference for you, for those who love you or are around you, for your community, and for the world.
You make a difference.
コメント