Hi everyone, I’ve been reeling the past several days after the elections, as I’m sure many of you have been and still are. I found myself unmotivated and uninspired, dealing with waves of dread and anxiety. Luckily, the those waves were often beaten back by even bigger waves of fear and despair! Sorry, maybe now is not the time to joke around. Or maybe it is; I don’t know. I’m still a jumble of thoughts and emotions and stress eating, so thank you for your patience, as it might take me a while to get back to my usual self.
I do say though, that the past week reaffirmed to me how amazing community is. I am lucky to be surrounded by so many incredible people. Dozens of friends and colleagues reached out, checking in on me, the ones in Seattle getting me off the couch, reminding me that we’re not alone, and that the world is still full of good people.
Thanks to you, I am moving out of despair…and into anger. Righteous anger. The kind that Desmond Tutu described here:
“Righteous anger is usually not about oneself. It is about those whom one sees being harmed and whom one wants to help. In short, righteous anger is a tool of justice, a scythe of compassion, more than a reactive emotion. Although it may have its roots deep in our fight-or-flight desire to protect those in our family or group who are threatened, it is a chosen response and not simply an uncontrollable reaction. And it is not about one’s own besieged self-image, or one’s feelings of separation, but of one’s collective responsibility, and one’s feeling of deep, empowering connection.”
This is where I think we should all start moving. We need to be angry at the audacity of this administration and the horrible things it plans to do. We need to be angry at all the politicians who support and enable this felon and his corrupt cronies. We need to be angry so we do not give them a moment of peace in their quest to destroy democracy and inflict cruelty on people and communities.
Meanwhile, we also need to be angry at certain failings in our sector. Chief among them, our penchant for “white moderation.” For so long we’ve bought into this nice sort of way of operating that prioritizes getting along and not ruffling feathers. This is why we’ve lost our imagination and keep putting up with bullshit, which prevents us from doing our work effectively.
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Read full article here.
