We Rise

Their time is limited. When we find our way, they will fall, and they’ve tied themselves so firmly to their hateful ideology that even they can no longer see it. We see it. And we won't forget.

There are a thousand ways to perceive the world we awaken each day to find ourselves in. Some might say we are trapped, but I think that’s a misreading of our current time in history. We are, right now, at a moment of great change. Nothing good has ever come easy in life, and the self-determination of a free people is the most difficult thing ever tried. Tens of thousands of years of history point us to tyrant after tyrant, bloodthirsty and delusional messiah to bloodthirsty messiah.

But in between these moments, we’ve seen the persistence of agency among the people. As a common humanity, we lived through the establishment and decline of the Roman Empire, we’ve seen the failure of walls to prevent the rise of the Mongols, and we’ve seen hitherto civilized societies fall into ruin, and then recover again. Time and time again, the resilience of mankind wins, and we learn from our past.

Despite the current moment, when it sometimes feels as though we are trapped in a tideswell of fools, rushing to crush humanity against the rocky shorelines of despair. And we’re judging each other as though we were all complicit. I’ve done it, and you’ve done it. Did we not vote in the last election? If you dig through the history of my podcast, I’ve got some words for you, forged from the pain of the moment. Complicit in the persistence of the slow decay of more and more unfettered capitalism? Voting for establishment Democrats? Don’t worry, there are multitudes who have words for me as well. But as we face an unparalleled threat, at least during my lifetime, this infighting won’t save us.

What will save us is hope.

What saves us is the ability to rise up in a hail of bullets and proclaim our truths. What saves us is the stalwart internal understanding that some things are worth more than life itself, and must be defended at all costs. I’m reminded of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and the people who formed up together, knowing they would be beaten, knowing that the police were on the side of those who would beat them, and taking the chance that by placing themselves and their bodies in harm’s way, humanity would see the injustice and rise.

This is what we should understand and believe: that the better natures of humanity will win out in the long run. When this moment passes, as it must because the only constant in life is change, and the American people have never been of the temperament to be ruled over, despite whoever may believe to the contrary. And the American people don’t believe in injustice; even those who cower today will have always been against this tomorrow.

You may point to the dark ages, and you may point to the dictatorships around the world, and ask, Isn’t that human nature as well?

If, by human nature, you speak of the mother and her daughter, trapped in the bonds of love that refuse to leave to save each other, then you may be close to discovering the truth of humanity.

If you look at Red States in the United States, and understand that the bonds of family and friendship keep people in those places, and not the self-destructive delusions imposed as policy by a leadership that’s increasingly lost the support of the people, then you might begin to understand how humanity works.

If you understand the fear that drives someone to violence, then you might understand the desperation of the people who barely have time to process a day’s work at three jobs, and who do not have the remaining mental capacity to properly examine the decisions we must make simply to face each day.

Those in power now, though reading correctly the misery of so many in the face of a system that, let’s be honest, has left many behind, believe that they have a mandate. They believe that they’ve aligned the interests of the fickle people of this nation behind an autocrat.

This cannot be farther from the truth.

And the people who paint the future as doomed are wrong as well. They misunderstand the apparent capitulation.

They believe this is permanent.

They believe that if they can pare away our hopes and dreams, they might subdue a nation.

It’s useful for us to allow them to believe this.

As long as they believe this, they don’t see us. They don’t see us sharpening our proverbial knives, and they don’t see us building the machine that will crush them. They don’t understand that love is and forever will be stronger than hate.

I do.

And they will.

I see the protestors lying their bodies in the way of vehicles. I see people being shot with munitions, “less-lethal” rounds, and still I see them, I see us, out in the streets again the next day. Daily, weekly, nonstop. Eventually, perhaps, they will understand that we will never stop. Eventually, they will understand that Americans know the difference between right and wrong. We aren’t hiding. We aren’t cowering. We are watching and probing, and looking for our moment to launch.

This quiet, this apparent acquiescence, is but a breath in the history of humanity. When we rise, we all rise together. We are slowly remembering that we have the power, and with that power, we are an unstoppable force.

As the screws are tightened, this is why.

As the cruelty is increased, this is why.

Because they know their time is limited. They know that when, not if, we find our way, that they will fall, and they’ve tied themselves so firmly to their hateful ideology that even they can no longer see it for what it is.

We see.

And we rise.

And we won’t forget.