There’s been a feeling brewing for quite some time, and I don’t know if I’d ever have been able to put voice to it without watching Jessie Gender’s latest long-form essay “The Stories Fascism Fears Most.”

There’s a LOT in there, but what moved me most was the parting words. The passion, the truth, the wisdom in what was being said.

Essentially, while many of us feel we’re at a precipitous point in the path of modern humans, the way forward isn’t necessarily about waging a war against whatever it is that’s being a big, stupid, dummy, dumbfacehead right now.

Fighting them, right now, is fighting them on their terms. And, as somebody famous and dead once said, “Only a fool enters a fight with fair terms. I’m not even engaging unless I have several clear advantages.”

So, fighting them now is fighting them on their terms. And the game is rigged.

 

So we all roll around in despair, bleating about election results and crying loudly about each and every human rights violation perpetrated by the most powerful in the entire world. And we think this is what we can do, ALL we can do, because we haven’t seen clear examples of ANYTHING ELSE.

What are the options? Vote? Is that it? To choose The Lesser of Two Evils? In an atmosphere crying foul at every turn while never acknowledging the irony of these things being “rigged” (in one form or another) since their inception.

The Warriors Among Us say to fight. Hell, we want to fight. Some of us have been gearing up for a fight our whole lives.

Okay, so we know WHO to fight, but HOW? We’ve tried shaming them, relentlessly calling out their every transgression. Pouncing on them for their hypocrisy at every opportunity?

Right, so we did that, we’re doing that, every chance we get. To what end? Have we driven them back underground? Shamed them into hiding away, being cancelled, the thunderous cacophony of our disapproval pinning them in their hole?

Nup. They’re louder than ever. We shamed nobody. We’ve changed nothing. In fact, they’ve only come back in bigger numbers, because now the cowards (which comprises most of them) have seen that their hidden secretive bigotry and selfishness are shared with the Big and Powerful, and they’re empowered.

 

So public shaming didn’t work? What now? Back to that voting thing again?

I think most of us are resigned to live by that old axiom, “This Too, Shall Pass.”

We’ve altered that one for our purposes based on a meme.\

“This too, shall pass.
But, like, holy fuck.”

We can bury our heads and rebleat our blurts and think we’re doing something. And maybe we are, but I believe whatever it is we’re doing, that seems the easiest and most-readily available is precisely What They Want You To Do. Because they’ve thought about this, and they wouldn’t be letting The Game go this way if it didn’t benefit them. Trust me on that.

So, what do we do? How do we FIGHT?!

 

WE CREATE.

Create and Communicate. Make things that are beautiful, real, true and beautiful. Maybe they’re words, maybe they’re pictures, maybe they’re just messages like posting on Social Media somewhere to anybody, nobody or everybody about how you, a person, LOVE this one thing, purely and completely, and how loving that thing has improved your life.

Just create something. Something from the heart. Something simple. Something complex. Something light, something heavy. Share it. Or don’t. But share SOMEthing.

Be SOMEthing. Do SOMEthing.

Because the light at the end of this tunnel, and this tunnel DOES have an end, is going to be the enduring power of humanity seeing the humanity in itself and in each other. Because the way to a better world lies in the changes lying in the hands of those that care about each other.

Because, and let’s be honest here, there are only two types of people in this world: Those that care about other people and those that care only about themselves.

And right now, the latter is in charge. They have been for a while, I suppose, perhaps for so long that it’s intrinsically tied to The Human Condition, and we’ll never escape it. Not until we EVOLVE ALREADY, anyway.

But there’s a way to be a part of the change, to take part in the change, to affect a change. And that’s to continue to be the GOOD in the world, to be real and human and flawed and share those flaws and For Fuck’s Sake CARE ABOUT OTHERS.

I mean, I suppose I should’ve opened with that one. Yeah, you’re going to have to be one of the types of people that Cares About Others. So do that first.

Then create. Share. Live. Breathe. And do what you can, it all helps. And remember: This too, shall pass.

But, like, HOLY FUCK.