I want to take a moment to express my extreme gratitude to and for everybody who works to make the world a better place, in all the different, vital ways people contribute and give back and help and heal. I SEE YOU, and I LOVE YOU.
The majority of people I know are working in education, working tirelessly (lol, no, exhaustedly) to liberate their students and fight back against lies, anti-intellectualism, harmful practices, and the fact that most K-12 schools, colleges, and universities are being gutted and turned into places that zap the life out of people, teach them to suffer and conform to go out into the “workforce” to do jobs they hate that make the world a worse place for most. Nevertheless, many educators persist in the belief that true education is liberatory and work to make it so despite the costs and odds.
I also know people working to decolonize other institutions, like libraries, to make them more accessible and honest in their holdings and practices.
My brother feeds the hungry in the, almost literally, dirt poor community near him where almost EVERYONE is hungry. (They ain’t even got dirt. They got sand. Not much grows in sand…) Work I could not do that I am grateful he does.
I know people who don’t have much time or money between working and raising children who still donate their money and/or time to important causes.
I know people who make spaces available for people to meet and talk and work to do things.
I know lots of people work low-paying non-profit jobs in order to do meaningful work, and lots of people who volunteer with important groups and organizations.
I know people who are talking back against our politicians, even though the politicians refuse to respond. The talking back is vital regardless.
I know people who are kind to everybody, all the time, a feat I can barely imagine accomplishing myself.
I know people who are examining themselves and their practices and making more inclusive and liberatory choices in all sorts of arts-related endeavors from literary magazines and book publishers to readings to panels to galleries and museum exhibits, to concert line ups, etc. Plus all the people making their art better and more truthful and beautiful and liberatory, be it fiction, visual art, music, drama, etc.
I know people who are starting really difficult conversations and putting themselves out there as beacons to others who want to talk, but don’t know to who or how to start.
I know people who repeatedly take the risk of kindly calling in those near them, compassionately educating people out of ignorance and lies, giving others the opportunity to be the people they want to be.
I know people who act as my rock and rocks for others. People who, despite whatever they have going on, always have time to support me and love me and cheer me on, whether it’s because something is going really well or because something is going awful. I couldn’t keep doing what I do without those people.
It all adds up from the micro to the macro, and we need ALL of this work and more. We need people playing to their strengths and doing liberatory work that they find meaningful and enjoyable. The world needs so much, and I’m so grateful to know and see so many wonderful, amazing, talented, unique people doing the work that’s right for them and making so many positive impacts. Even the smallest stone cast into a pond makes ripples. It’s all rippling out.
THANK YOU! I LOVE YOU!
harmony is a witch 