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Who Are We When the Stakes Are High?

First of all, lemme say that it’s EXHAUSTING living through historical times. Like… I miss precedented times so bad and I want them back. 😭

I think back to my high school days when I would read about historical events with a sense of disbelief. I would ask myself “How did folks make it through without losing their minds? How did people let this happen?” Now, as we find ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic, surrounded by wars, witnessing our rights going by the wayside, and seeing books banned, I’m beginning to understand the reality of living through such times. We tend to look back at history’s darkest moments with detachment, but our current situation offers a stark reminder of who we might have been during those times.

When I turned the pages of history books, I couldn’t fathom how people managed to handle those crises. Now, I see it clearly because we are experiencing pure chaos all around the world right now.

Who would we have been during Slavery, the Holocaust, the Civil War, or the American Revolution, McCarthyism? Who we are now reflect who we would have been then.

We must ask ourselves, how are we using our power in this time when children are being killed by the thousands? How are we doing our part as the world crumbles around us? How are we navigating through our days? Are we bystanders or enablers or truthtellers or activists? Did we bury our heads in the sand or did we move with intention? Again I ask, WHO ARE WE RIGHT NOW?

The Devil Wears Prada Who Are You GIF

This is why I talk about us needing to be Professional Troublemakers. Those who look at the raging dumpster fires around the world and feel appalled, disgusted, and enraged. And THEN feel convicted about what part we play in all of it. And then commit to doing something tangible.

Are we enabling the foolishness happening by spreading misinformation? Are we acting as if our options are void? Are we using the power we have in the every day rooms we find ourselves in or sitting back and simply observing?

For too long, we have lived in a culture of harm and been taught that civility is the way to fight oppression and injustice. However, history shows us that power is never relinquished without radical movement, change, and action. One of the things that stops us from moving, from acting, from speaking, is because we are afraid. And that’s fair. Fear is fair and it’s natural. However, there is no courage without fear first. And I am deeply convinced that we are being challenged to show up more courageous than we ever have because there is more on the line than has ever been.

 

Courage over Comfort

We are witnessing a rise in fascism in the United States, with a man convicted with 34 felonies running again for president, and far-right movements emerging worldwide. When a world changing, dangerous plan (Project 2025) is in motion. When violence is showing up in ways that is giving unhinged.

What are we doing as individuals who make up the collective? In 20 years, when asked what we did during this time, what will we say? Shoot, in FIVE YEARS what we will say we did? How will we reflect on our actions and words? Will we be proud of how we showed up in this most critical moment?

Now is the time to decide who we want to be. Will we rise to the occasion or let our inaction convict us? What do you want to say your role was during these times?

Leave a comment! Let’s talk about it!

 

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