We Can Do Hard Things

Because we have to, and we always have.

This is one of my favourite self-affirmations. Whether I'm struggling to get my arm into my coat sleeve (you too?), or figuring out what I can do each day to make this world a better place, my go-to mantra is, "I can do hard things". And then I do them (because they need done). I mean, just because something is hard, doesn't mean that it's impossible, and right now, pretty much everything feels really hard, but choosing to do nothing (because everything feels too damned hard to face) just isn't an option. Fascism is a fucking nightmare and it feels indomitable, but history tells us that wherever authoritarians have tread, enough 'ordinary people' (please help me come up with a better term!) dug deep into their reserves and found the strength to fight with everything they had. Typically, the masses of people who came together to actively resist the fascists have won. Now is our time to dig deep into our own reserves and find the strength that our ancestors found when fascism came knocking at their doors. This feels really hard, but I know we can do it, because history tells us that we always have, and because the alternative is to hand ourselves and all those we love over to those who would destroy us. At this point in time, these are our stark choices. So, yeah, we can do hard things and, yeah, we need to do them.

Listening to the smart people.

Like you, I find myself subscribed to a lot of newsletters written by smart people who are our guiding lights as we try to make sense of these chaotic and scary times. I like to think that I'm fairly intelligent, but that's because I listen closely to the Really Smart People and take in what they say. These days, the only videos I watch other than cute animal videos (and I hope you're allowing yourself some cute animal therapy too) are of Jess Craven and Heather Cox Richardson, both of whom have their fingers on the political pulse and generously dissect what's going on in ways we can understand. They both provide Big Picture perspective, and, maybe most importantly, they give us a 'to do' list for actions we can take to fight the fascist tide. I know my motto is "I can do hard things", but, honestly, the things Jess and Heather encourage us to do feel pretty simple to me. And, as a bonus, once you get started taking actions, the world immediately feels less scary. As the saying goes, "Action is the antidote to despair".

One of the top actions Jess and Heather consistently recommend taking is to contact your representatives (find their contact info here) on any and every crisis that riles you up. As someone who is happy stringing words together, I, of course, have not only taken that to heart, but have taken it one step further by contacting everybody's representative, All The Freaking Time. Mainly I email Republican senators, but this week I also emailed all of the Dems to encourage them to stay strong in their demands to protect health care. Hey! I live in Canada where I have access to free health care, but when 342 million of my closest neighbours are on the verge of losing affordable medical treatment, I feel the need to speak up. In her daily newsletter, Jess Craven offers a script to read if you're more comfortable calling your rep(s), and I often use her script when penning my emails. I am so grateful to be spoon fed the talking points, then unleashed to bark rabidly at the decision makers. Wondering if our calls and emails make a difference? Here is Jess' conclusion after interviewing Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ): "Your engagement is critical right now. WE—not Chuck Schumer, or Gavin Newsom, or some as-yet-unknown superhero—are the thing that will save us. Consistent, ongoing, unified mass peaceful action is how we get out of this mess. Calls are part of that."

Speaking of listening to smart people - when your cousin Rebecca Solnit says she's doing the Graeme Gibson Talk with Rachel Maddow in late October, you book your ticket to Toronto lickety split, and that's what I was up to this past week. I'm blessed with some really fantastic cousins so it's always good to have an opportunity to spend time with them (eg - when they cross over to this side of the border). So, yeah, I got some good cousin time this week, but I was also really excited to hear what Rebecca and Rachel had to say about "The seismic political changes in the United States of America" and, in particular, how they advise we face them. As you can imagine, these brilliant women did not disappoint (their introduction by the Doyenne of Dystopia herself, Margaret Atwood, was icing on the evening's cake).

Rebecca and Rachel in conversation, moderated by CBC host Nahlah Ayed (you'll be able to listen to this talk on CBC Ideas on November 5th - if you hear a "Whoot! Whoot!" when Rebecca mentions trans rights, that's me!), provided the jam-packed Koerner Hall with the perspectives of two really smart people who have studied history extensively, have a keen and educated eye on the present, and know that the future has not yet been written and it's up to us to decide what it will look like. Neither Rebecca nor Rachel sugar-coated a damned thing, but they were also adamant that we are not yet confirmed 'doomed'. Both were clear that what will determine just how fucked we are (or are not) is us. It's quite a monumental task ahead of us, but not insurmountable. And, if Rachel Maddow and Rebecca Solnit say it's up to us to fight fascism, then we figure out what we can do to join this growing resistance, and we do it with the knowledge that we are personally contributing to building a better future.

Community is everything!

I listen to so many smart people, and they all have different angles on how we get through challenging times, but each and every one of them always comes back to the importance of Community in good times, and especially in bad. Things are definitively bad just now, but, my goodness, communities everywhere are stepping up to protect and nourish each other!

While the Republicans are playing real live hunger games with the American public, community members are showing up in completely amazing ways. From my sister who, herself, is about to lose her SNAP benefits donating apples from her trees to her local food bank, to Portland-based cafés (yay Portland!) Heretic Coffee Co and Laughing Planet Café (and probably more) offering free meals to locals losing their SNAP benefits, to people posting on their Facebook community pages that they have enough spare cash to buy some groceries for a neighbour in need, I am in complete awe of how community is showing up for each other as the US government sets out to purposely starve millions of Americans.

I could write an entire newsletter full of examples of the power and beauty of Community - and maybe I will - but trust me when I say (and all the smart people I follow say) that Community is the answer. Whether you feel isolated from Community, or deeply involved in it, I encourage everyone to take extra steps just now to strengthen your role in your community as we tear down the walls of authoritarianism and simultaneously build a better future. Share food with a neighbour (or a stranger). Find out where you can donate apples from your trees, or spare cash, or an hour or two of volunteer time. Smile and say 'hi' to people you pass on your street. Build bonds with those around you. Join a resistance group. It's important to be fighting fascism right now, and a powerful tool in this fight is strengthening community.

Let's do this together!

Not a single smart person is pretending that things aren't really, really hard just now, and neither am I. My heart is in constant agony for every individual assaulted and kidnapped by ICE agents, and their family and friends they leave behind. My head explodes with each new act of supreme idiocy coming out of the White House. My entire being rages watching a gaggle of seriously fucked up buffoons upend any sense of justice.

Fighting this non-stop barrage of wrongs is going to be a long, hard, and exhausting task, but those of us fighting are in good company, in good community. You are not alone. We are not alone. We are smarter than they are, and we are far more numerous. As Rachel Maddow said when discussing the stories we're telling just now, the authoritarians are boring. Loosely paraphrasing: They're all basically the same dude with different haircuts. The interesting stories are coming from the resistance. The "Form a crowd. Stay loud." whistle blowing anti-ICE phenomenon spreading like wildfire. The masses of Americans pitching in to make sure their SNAP-dependent neighbours are fed. The 7+ million peaceful protesters who turned out for NO KINGS Day. The lady in the polka dot dress putting ICE in their place (and, rumour has it, she was watching cat videos on her phone while confronting the thugs!). The thousands of people calling and writing their representatives. The list goes on.

None of this is easy, but we can do hard things, and we will, and when we do them together, those hard things become a little bit easier.

With love and solidarity,

Jessica (she/her)