Greetings everyone!
It's been a hot minute since I shared a blog post, but trust me when I say that I have been busy. I was just remarking the other day to my wife that actually working as an activist has given me a sense of internal legitimacy. I teach and research resistance and activism, but that work has until now stayed away from the practice of it. It's a privilege of the academic: I can claim to study something while not actually doing that thing. Our contributions are typically within the space of ideas, but seldom foray into execution.
If there's a silver lining to the fight we're now all in, it's that I've found something I'm willing to fight for by putting my money where my mouth is.
Which takes me to a quick reminder that is the point of this quick post: regardless of how much energy or desire we all feel like we have for the fights for this country, remember that the first thing that the opposition wants from us is to be miserable. If our misery becomes the principle force in our lives, it negates our capacity to fight back. And in that moment, they've won.
A downtrodden people is not a people to fear.
That is not to say that we shouldn't be mad. Be mad! We need that energy!
But what we shouldn't be is miserable to the point of surrender, with the hope that the regime will have mercy on us. We already know they won't.
This is a simple missive then that's more of a reminder than anything else. Take care of each other, take care of yourselves, and try to retain some of the things that make you happy. Take joy in the connections you have to people who share in the struggle, and make time for them in your life.
While there are many step-by-step guides out there for how to resist, taking care of your own soul is always first.
~just a fool on a bike, enjoying the ride when I can.
