Resistance is not a moment, but a process.

This morning, first thing, a message from a friend, in panic mode, she tells me, everywhere I look, nothing is right anymore. I lean back and check myself for a while, try to figure out when what has been right. I think I have been in panic mode for a long time, more or less. Funny that. 

These days I often miss my father, want to call him and ask, what was it like for you? How long did it take you to look behind the facades of lies and deception? The empty promises? What was it like to just get on with life? Birthday parties and climbing trees and picking raspberries.

The past week was pretty meh thanks to (what should have been) superficial actinic keratosis treatment resulting in sepsis requiring a double dose of antibiotics. I swam around for three days with chills and fever and disorientation but hey, antibiotics do work miracles. Regretfully, they also create havoc in the digestive system. A work in progress.

Anyway, small fry compared to what's going on here, there and everywhere. And unexpectedly, in the couple of days of sepsis-induced exhaustion, I felt a strong sense of impatience. Do not render me inactive, I hissed at my ill self. We have work to do. Below is a jumble of thoughts and quotes I collected in my fever days. I still hold on to the thought that we can do our bit and that our bit is enough. Because we can do our bit with all of the others doing their bit. It may not be enough to save us individually but it is enough to show that maybe we are all worth saving. And maybe that’s enough.

The Defenders

I love the courage
of the little black ants
who when disturbed
come out of their old
fencepost as big dogs
come after a rat,
take hold of me,
shake me, and growl.

Wendell Berry

The world is held together, I think, by a million ordinary encounters that occur between the millions of people each second allows itself to hold. And the world is broken, I think, by whatever doesn’t understand or appreciate the ordinary.

Devin Kelly 

So let's concentrate on the truth. The promises of fascism are always poisoned, contagious, absurd. They cannot thrive in peace, never want to be scrutinised. For this reason alone, we must create peace - mentally, spiritually, physically - we must create peace wherever we can. We strengthen creativity, fluidity, mutual support. Why does the far right hate nature, art and beauty? Because strength, clarity, unity and imagination are a threat to them to the same extent that they help us. Why are they trying to erase history? Because those who plan to repeat the worst mistakes of history do not want us to foresee how many people will perish in the process. 

A.L.Kennedy 

We are all one. And if we don't realise that, we will learn it the hard way.