Don’t Back Down

It’s difficult to stand against the fury of a hurricane.

We are in, as people say, interesting times, but in dire times. We are under the rule of a man who serves only his own whims and is guided by people who only see race, wealth, and power as the three spirits they kneel before. This man, this “president,” has shown that the United States has learned well from our one-time foes, Russia, and it’s an idea that every toddler exercises, but most get beyond, and that’s the notion of: I want, I take. With Trump, any time someone refuses him, his fragile ego takes that as a challenge, and he aims all of his power and desire on that thing until he has it or all but destroys it.

So it is that we are now watching as the once proud icon of freedom in the world is suddenly threatening to take Greenland by force, whether they want us or not.

An awful, but fitting allegory for this “president” and his regime.

It’s hard to want to face this world, and to hear the news. It’s hard to know what you can do.

He’s a fool, though, to think we are powerless.

It’s fruitless to face down an army, and that’s what he has in his ICE agents and the militarized “police” in our cities. But that doesn’t make us powerless.

Our power is in our refusal to bend the knee.

In our banding together, even when they try to pry us apart.

We are strong.

We will raise strong children. Children with power, morality, and belief in greater things than wealth and power. We will teach them history. We will teach them art.
We will teach them love.

We will continue to believe that this nation can be better if we’re willing to put in the work.

We will refuse to give up on one another, on this nation, and on this world, because we have no choice.

We will believe, because they don’t.

They believe in nothing.

That’s clear now.

We will march.

We will vote.
We will support the causes we believe in.

We will cling to truth, to knowledge, and to the things they are trying to hide.

We will learn, because as awful as this is, it was always going to happen. Humans repeat the past because we refuse to honor it and talk about it.

We want to forget it, and in forgetting, in ignoring, we repeat it.

The idea that people stood idly by, let Nazi Germany unfold as it did, seems insane, but in living through what we are – CLEARLY not the same, so let’s not pretend I am saying it is – it becomes clear that things were never so cut and dried. Too many supported what was happening, I am sure, but I am also sure many didn’t, but they knew that if they resisted, if they fought, they would die. So, what do you do if the system you believe in and trust betrays you? You hope that members of that system fight back, and that, if needed, the rest of the world intervenes.

These are strange times.

Trump has inspired the rest of the world into isolationism, and while they may not agree with him, few are willing to risk the wrath of his anger. The world is too small, now, and because of that, people like Putin have power and influence far beyond their borders, and Trump can scare the rest of the world with his threats.

So, we can watch, we can listen, we can learn, and we can teach our children what this looks like, and how gleefully people latch on to hate and rhetoric, so long as it serves their interests.

We are in the middle of horrifying times, times with so much going on that it feels like drowning, trying to swim against it. It rolls over us and pulls us under, and we are forced to try to keep our heads above the water, but it’s hard.

Hard when it is easier and more comfortable to put our heads down and hope it all goes away.

This monster won’t be chased away by the light.

It will be chased away when all of us stand together against it.

And in the end, it will shock and anger us how many who served this horror will be forgiven and welcomed back to the fold, but it is the way of the world. It is the nature of humans.

To forgive.

To forget.

We have to keep a record, we have to write it down, we have to remember, so that the next time this happens, and it will, we know more, and can perhaps tamp things down before they get this bad ever again.

We must stand, together, and sing songs, and make art, and hold hands, and serve as a reminder that not all of us will bend the knee to tyranny.

Don’t back down.

…c…