As the past Martin Luther King Jr. said “only in the darkness can we see the stars,” and clearly right now are in the darkness. Never before have we felt a need to lock down and militarize our capital during an inauguration, and never have we seen a sitting president be impeached twice. Never before has our nation seemed so polarized and ready to explode… or has it. See one of the things we fail to recognize many times is the issues of today are not new, we have always dealt with the effects of systemic racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. We have always been in a constant battle with ourselves for the liberation and protection of civil liberties and freedoms for those who are marginalized, the only difference now is that everyone sees it first hand, and nobody can hide from it anymore. We always have been in the darkness, it was just not that clear for others as they shrouded themselves in their denial. But now that we have come to terms with our situation as a nation I ask us to not settle. The worst thing we can do right now is accept our current situation, instead, we must demand more from ourselves, our neighbors, and our country for our silence is our violence.
I know by now most of you probably are very tired and drained with everything that’s been happening, I won’t lie I am too. I don’t know if I’ll watch the inauguration, I don’t really even wanna watch the tv out of fear of what I might see. But whatever happens these past few days I ask that we don’t lose hope, and we don’t shut down. For when we stop caring and we stop paying attention we lose the momentum we have made. We aren’t just at a low point in America, we are at a turning point in America. What we stand for and who we are will be defined by our actions in the coming years. All I ask is that we all try. Try and be better people. Try and be kinder people. Try and be more loving people. We have carried hate for so long, it’s long overdue we try love for a change.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
― Marianne Williamson,
