if the intention of those who wield their power in oppressive & cruel ways, is to overwhelm us, then it can be a form of resistance to simply tend to what is in front of us with open hearts, wisdom, courage, & fierce compassion. each word we speak, each action we take that calls out harm & tends to the suffering we see in front of us, has a ripple effect. with each word of love, with each action imbued with love, we are planting seeds.
All fear death. All love life. See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt?What harm can you do? He who seeks happiness by hurting those who seek happiness will never find happiness.
the cruelty, the shocking aggression & violence, it’s not a mistake. it’s on purpose with the hope to numb us or throw us into deep despair as they continue to escalate with no respect for the law, for the constitution, or for human life.
but no matter how dark the night is that they bring forth, the sun is always shining. they can’t stop the sun from shining, & i see it shining everyday in the hearts of every courageous person who bears witness with their eyes & their camera phones, documenting the inhumanity of this moment, using their voices and bodies to call to the conscience of those lost in their aggression & cult-like loyalty to come back to their humanity.
those using oppressive power will try to make it as dark as possible, my friends, but each of us has the choice to keep our light shining, to recognize the sun in our heart shining in each of us, for each other, & for this world.
the at times subtle, persistent, & consistent normalization of cruelty we are seeing is part of the insidious nature of fascism. yet, fascism depends on people cooperating with the abuse of power. may we be a people who see clearly with awareness & wisdom. may we be a people who open our hearts to the suffering of those harmed by the cruel, oppressive abuse of power we are seeing. may we be a people who are centered & moved in love to be courageous & resolute.
in a time when those wielding oppressive power are constantly escalating, creating chaos, provoking discord, & would have us running around panicked, doom scrolling & descending into the violence they want to elicit, it can be a powerful act of resistance to simply sit & come back to our bodies, come back to our breath, & come back to the warmth of our tender hearts. tending to our well being, buoys us, brings clarity, providing the strength & resilience we need to continue bearing witness, speaking out, & taking action for the benefit of others. we sit so we can stand up. we sit so we can speak out. we sit so we can be instruments of peace without losing our peace, instruments of love without losing our capacity to be love for a suffering world.
there is much harm & suffering happening. there is much gaslighting about the harm & suffering. but the truth is still present beneath the lies & state propaganda. we must be clear-eyed & open-hearted in this time. hold to the truth, hold to love.