My Favorite Thing

What are you noticing these days?

I ran across the following yesterday from Sonya Renee Taylor.

It lands hard. So brace yourself to read on or stop here. 

"As this administration’s myriad violences unfold daily, 

I continue to hear “hot takes” from pundits

 that blame 

everything from “wokeism”

 to poor messaging as the cause for Democratic defeat.

 Each take exhausts me.
Today, as I parted ways with one of my dearest life loves, 

I shared a single admonition: 

“No Matter What, Tell Yourself the Truth.”
Put simply, we cannot fix what we will not face. 

This administration is not an outlier of the U.S. political system.

 It is the root rot having risen to the surface.

 It is the unmasked expression of what had always been.
Think about all the things you love most about what the U.S. offers,

 the greatest comforts, the conveniences, the greatest places of ease...
Now tell yourself the truth.
Someone had to die for that benefit. Someone was bombed for that ease. 

Someone’s exploitation made that convenience possible.
The ingredients of the American experiment can not be unbaked, loves. 

We must grieve this sickeningly sweet dream and all the ways we ingested and invested in it, 

even as it killed us.
We must tell ourselves the truth and then...
Grieve.
Grieve what you/[we] will have to give up, let go of, accept.

 Grieve your/[our] complicity and collusion with this deadly project. Grieve Meta and X. 

Grieve Target and Amazon. Grieve Uber and Doordash, and Netflix 

and endless opportunities for escape and distraction. Grieve waste and consumption.
Grieve what has always been in the cake and your/[our] choice to continue dining.
Tell yourself the absolute truth. So you/[we] can grieve the lie. It is the NECESSARY step.
There are next steps, but this is the first.
Grieve so you, we, can let go. There is no other way. 

A new life will cost you your old one."

sonyareneetaylor

 

I know how diligently you work 

at doing what's right for our planet and each other.

It's painful to accept where we are at this moment.

We grieve and we grow...

Telling ourselves the truth also means

that we do not know how all of this will play out.

The possiblity remains that we will right this ship

as a result of this upheaval and live in a more just society.

We will emerge stronger, lighter, better.

Sending love and appreciation always.

We're in this together.

Namaste'