I started writing this before the reelection of Donald Trump on Nov 5th, not sure what was going to happen. I wanted to be hopeful, but found myself falling into despair. I wanted to give myself a reminder that one election wouldn’t save or condemn us, but the work we need to do to make the world a better place, must be done.
I updated this in the days following, and am posting it as a reminder to myself to fight my natural inclination towards despair, and action and hope are the best way to fight back. If this reminder is helpful for you, I hope we can lean on each other to make our world a better place.
What if this election shows that we truly refuse to learn from our mistakes?
What if we show that we don’t care about non white, non-male, non-wealthy people?
What if we really don’t care about vulnerable human beings, education, the state of the planet, our hope for the future?
But that to me, is not the right question anymore.
Because, the thing is, even if everything goes “right”, we have so much work to do.
The work is harder if everything goes wrong, but the work must be done.
We live in a world of such extreme fear, that proven lies sound more appealing than a moderate candidate. And the whiff of these far right politics is blowing on the wind up here in Canada and across the globe, too.
So, what do we do if it all goes wrong?
We look our neighbours in the eye and care deeply when we ask “how are you doing?”
We show up, even when we’re scared, especially when we’re scared. Because we’re all terrified.
Those of us who are privileged enough to do so, will have the hard conversations one on one with patience and empathy, and have the courage to shout loudly against injustice whenever we can.
We lean on one another when we are too tired to keep fighting, and lend our strengths to others who need it as often as we can.
We do the next good thing until we know what to do next.
We do small things with care and good intention because every stitch in the tapestry of social justice adds to the bigger picture, and where we can, we do the big things.
We stand up and fight like hell, and we do it together.
Mariame Kaba, quoted in the podcast It’s Going to Be Ok, states that Hope is a discipline […] hope is a daily practice that relies on our actions and cultivating it daily”
We need to cultivate hope daily, and hope needs actions to thrive. Start small, then do something bigger, then help others see the value in doing something, and just keep going.
There’s this internet quote going around:
Hope isn’t cute. It’s rough and tumble and Hope. Will. Not. Quit.
Don’t you quit hope, either.
Bend the Arc shares this in their post-election statement: “It is with that confidence that we say: Despair and division are fascism’s building blocks. Despair can freeze us in our place — so fascists fan it. Division can turn our powerful “many,” organizing together, into a cornered “few,” lost in isolation — so fascists feed it.
We won’t fall for their tactics.”
We will connect with people we know and people we don’t, and try to do better every day. We will say “not here, not now” when demeaning jokes and asinine comments are made.
We will forever bury the phrases “it can’t happen here” and “that sounds like an overreaction” away and never let them hold power again.
“Agree to disagree” will be reserved only for coffee preferences, and maybe what movie you want to watch. Because when people’s lives are on the line, agree to disagree is a weak willed response at best, and willfully complicit at worst.
We will look for strength in history, in our loved ones, in our fictional stories, and our own hearts and we will use that strength to dig down and do the work. We move forward with deep love, commitment to the work, and as much grace as we can muster.
Jessica Valenti, feminist author shares this: “They are depending on your sadness paralyzing you […] and if we sit with our sadness for too long,[…] we are letting them dictate not just our lives and our rights but our response to this”
We do not get to fall to despair because things are worse than they should be. We take our time to grieve this wholly worse world we have woken up in, and then when we can, we stand up, brush off the seat of our pants, and move forward as best we can.
We don’t have to be perfect – in fact, as this election showed, being wholly flawed and utterly dangerous is not an impediment to getting what you want – but we have to remember that our imperfect voices are stronger when we call for justice together.
It’s going to be so much harder than it could have been. But that doesn’t mean we stop fighting.
We have to fight harder, because it can be better. There are more good people in this world who care who are right now frozen in despair, than those filled with bilious hatred.
We have to connect with the good ones and build the future we want to see.
It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it. It’ll have to be.
And… we will laugh. We will have joy. We will share stupid memes and laugh until our sides hurt and tears run down our faces. Because hope, strength, courage, and our ability to keep fighting is all predicated on our ability to find joy.
And I truly believe there will be joy.
