People are in motion, everywhere.
Some thoughts on discouragement and also on noticing…
Lately, I’ve been hearing some discouragement from my loved ones. Discouragement is a valid response to our current conditions. “I give up,” they’ll say. I listen and then I ask them to recall a time they resisted the urge to quit. Why do you think you continued? I ask. Was it for a person, an ideal, or perhaps something else? I remind them that feeling emotionally exhausted is not the same as giving up and that being discouraged is a temporary state. It’s a struggle to keep on going so it helps to look at how others have done so in challenging circumstances. Many years ago, Shirin Shirin interviewed the great writer and activist Dennis Brutus and I often come back to his words:
“Shirin: You’ve lived through World War II, through the Cold War, you’ve been part of the struggle against apartheid, you’ve seen that regime come and go, you’ve seen many American presidents come and go, and yet throughout all these years — you’re now in your 80s — you’ve managed to keep a sense of optimism. What gives you hope?
Brutus: Well, it certainly helps to be able to have a sense of humor, so you survive various catastrophes with a laugh or two. Secondly, I think we’re always winning small victories. They’re happening all the time. Here in Durban, we challenged the city council because they’ve cut off people’s water because they can’t pay. There are always grounds for at least a little cheerfulness and a little optimism. If you have a sense that there is this global struggle going on, where one is winning little victories in a number of places, then the real question in my mind should be how do we combine all these successes and develop them into a powerful force. But it certainly seems to me that the mere fact that one is occasionally winning a few victories, however small they might be, it is one way to keep going.”
Maintaining a sense of humor and focusing on small wins are great ways to find encouragement to keep going. Another way is to refuse to believe the bad press about human beings. We notice and pay the most attention to cruelty and inhumanity and that’s actually because our brains focus on the negative over anything else. But I like to remind us that the reason stories of cruelty are so shocking to us is that they go against most people's natural instincts. How else can we explain human survival to date? We mostly work cooperatively and we are often concerned with helping others. This is reflected in the world in small and big ways. We have to train our brains to notice.
I launched a giving circle in January. Instead of monetizing my newsletter, I decided I wanted to contribute more funds to some of the people and groups working so hard to help others to survive. Since launching, the circle has contributed over $12,000 to 43 people/projects/groups. I made a list of the people/groups here in case others want to support them too. What you’ll notice if you review the list is that a bunch of people are working with others to feed people, to provide for their healthcare, to offer diapers and other necessities, to organize for small and big victories and more.
The giving circle is a small contribution, but it’s important to those of us who have joined together to offer concrete support. So it matters. It also matters because it shows that people are trying to ease suffering everywhere, all the time. The circle helps us to notice what’s happening around us.
I often say that people are in motion everywhere to remind myself that while there is bad news, it’s definitely not the only news. Each person in motion is doing something that might contribute to a greater good. As Dr. Elizabeth Sawin writes:
“Because life is self-organizing and regenerating, even the very tiny shifts we make away from harm and towards sustenance of life open up possibilities that compound upon themselves. It's not *just* a park, a food forest, a fair trade organic banana, a pre-school with free breakfast - it's also all the descendants of that one tired butterfly that needed that shrub in that park to lay her eggs…Don't minimize the ripples of the healing work you do just because it starts small and humble.”
Our giving circle is small and humble. It is a small thing lovingly done. I hope that those who are contributing take time to notice how their small donations added to others are helping to ease some suffering. I don’t think there’s anything more important to do in this moment than to commit to lessening suffering (others’ and our own). I’ve been thinking a lot over the past few years about my commitments and I’ve been thinking about the questions that guide my life. At bottom, I’ve been concerned since I was too young to articulate it with the question: “How do we create a world where everyone on the planet has enough?” That’s really it. Everything flows from that.
When I am fearful or when despair rears its head, I return to this guiding question. When things are chaotic, the question helps me orient myself. It points me in the right direction when I feel overwhelmed. It defines for me what my focus should be.
What is your guiding question? What helps you move through chaos, fear, and a sense of being overwhelmed with the vagaries of this world? What grounds you?
If you haven’t yet identified your guiding question, perhaps take some time this weekend to brainstorm a few and then journal about them until you distill the questions into a singular one. Think too of who or what keeps you in the fight for more justice and some peace. Refer to your question when you feel unmoored and need some grounding. I do this regularly.
My assessment of the current historical moment in the U.S. is clear-eyed and realistic. The Rightwing executive coup at the Federal level has succeeded. I’ve said as much over the past few weeks and some of my comrades have vociferously disagreed. If I am correct though, what does this mean for those of us who oppose this regime? I believe that the present and future are not foreclosed. We’re in a season of trench warfare at every level of government and in society overall. The moment we are in is the post-coup one. Many people seem reluctant to land the plane on this point. To me, that’s a mistake on every level. We cannot effectively organize if we aren’t crystal clear about our current context.
The murder bill that was passed today by the GOP is terrible and unpopular. But it creates an opportunity for those of us on the Left(s) to win people over to our vision of a just society. The bill is a rupture point and many people will feel its deeply deleterious impact. The billionaire class is stealing from almost all of us in this country and oppressing people worldwide. One of the key reasons they have built up a full on militarized police state is because they understand precisely that they will need greater force to oppress us all. [PIC abolitionists have been warning about this for years and many closed their ears.] This is a simple story to narrate to all of our communities. We don’t have to rely on the Democrats in Congress who are not an opposition party to tell this story for us. We can do it ourselves. Moreover, we can and must continue to organize in every single way that we can. People are already in motion, everywhere. Join in if you aren’t already involved.
If you’re a reader of this newsletter or if you know me, you know I think public libraries are very important institutions for a myriad of reasons. Recently, the City of New York increased funding for our local libraries. This is a small victory, but much more work remains to be done (and, of course, NYC PLAN is committed to continued organizing). The funding increase didn’t “just happen.” It was the outcome of organizing by many people over the past few years. Facing library budget cuts and “restorations” that never matched inflation or the actual need, those people persevered despite much discouragement. And people continue to organize and to fight for better. I take a lot of inspiration from this and I am grateful to be working with others to continue the fight. Join us if you are in NYC and I hope that all of you find a fight worth waging with others if you aren’t already organizing.
I’ll end by returning to Dennis Brutus who wrote one of my very favorite poems which opens with these lines:
“Somehow we survive
and tenderness, frustrated, does not wither.”
Somehow we survive… That somehow always includes other people. We’re in the fight of our lives. Stay tender.
If you are seeking a space where you can reflect individually and with others on your ongoing activism and organizing, feel free to join me on the last Sunday of every month through December on Zoom from 4 to 6 pm ET. The next drop-in session is on Sunday, July 27. This is for people already engaged in some form of activism and organizing. Space is limited.
Thank you. I needed this badly.
I read this as soon as I do my email. Thank you for this. Small victories and organizing seem like doable things right now.