Hello loves.
It's been a rough few weeks, hasn't it?
It's been almost a month
since I last posted something here.
I was at a loss for words (still am).
But I'll share something I wrote
a few days ago,
along with some of the art
I've managed to make
over the past few weeks -
despite the craziness happening
all over the world.
(Much of it BECAUSE of the craziness)
I hope you've all been well
and getting the hugs you need these days.
My heart is sick
and has been for weeks now.
They say:
“don’t let yourself
get carried away
with all the hatred”
and so I try
to surround myself
with joy and peace
and do the things
that make my heart sing,
but then the wave comes
and carries me away again,
when i hear about another
ridiculous executive order
and the muslim ban
and Cheeto demanding
that women should dress like women
and the burning mosques
and the murder of 6 muslims in Canada
or the new laws taking place
in some US States
where a rapist now has the right
to sue his victim
if she chooses to abort the foetus.
The one that was created in violence.
It is very difficult these days
NOT to care.
(and we should never not care.)
And with social media and TV
and radio and conversations
at the local coffee shop -
it is also very difficult to "tune out".
Oh, but it is SO important that we do so
now and then. For the sake of sanity.
They say:
“but it’s politics!
And it’s happening in the US,
not here in Canada!”
and I want to scream,
INJUSTICE ANYWHERE
IS A THREAT
TO JUSTICE EVERYWHERE.
The rants and the tweets and the protests
and the families being divided
by a ban that fell on US citizens
like a bomb.
And now, on the rest of the world.
There are those on social media who say:
“I want Facebook to be fun again
with pictures of dancing cats
and funny memes that have
nothing to do with politics”
and I shake my head
at the idea that so many
still choose ignorance.
As if the craziness won't happen
if you don’t know about it.
And yet - I understand the need
to detach.
I understand the need
to run away and hide.
But hiding is not the answer.
It never was.
I am doing what I can
to care for myself
more than usual these days,
to save myself from living
with an angry heart
the way Donald does.
Hatred breeds hatred,
and if I can keep just a tiny spark
of love alive
during this fucked up chaotic time,
i’ve done well.
I’ve been wanting to hug trees
and take long walks on the beach
and hot baths
and read good books
and make art.
But even these things have been unusually difficult...
My mind goes back to the Holocaust
and Nazi Germany
and how quickly an educated, intelligent nation
crumbled to the ground
when they were taught to hate.
When they were taught to live in fear.
When they were taught to become indifferent
to another persons’ pain.
It is the beginning of the end
when one becomes indifferent.
And yet - there is hope.
There is hope in the protests
and the coming together
of so many people
who are willing to see their similarities
instead of their differences.
There is hope in people
who have found their voices
during the most tumultuous times
and who are using those voices
to make the world a place of peace
rather than a world of hatred and war.
There is hope in those
who stand with others
who have had their voices
silenced
along the way.
There is hope in children.
There is hope in the blade of grass.
There is hope in poetry and in music.
There is hope in the stars
and the moon
and the grand possibilities that are
within reach
for those of us who dare
to touch the sky.
