Amy, sorry for your sadness. How many inspiring stories do you read? For every bad apple, there must be 10 good ones for this all to work. These are the unsung. Your concern is an example of a positive story. My reading your story, requested by choice, not pushed by algorithm, because I value your writing is another positive. -I wonder if some of your current perspective comes from your tendency to immerse yourself in the biggest, most emotionally painful challenges.
For all the awfulness, we still live in a world where you are able to post this, and get an honest, positive response.
You are right, we need to keep this in mind, and fight to maintain that ability.
BTW, you are enough. You bring light to the world.
Thank you, Jeremy for your kind words! I promise that I see so much light and beauty in the world most of the time. I walk in the woods on the regular. I have an amazing dog who makes me laugh many times a day. I have beautiful friendships. I see young, brilliant minds speaking out with vigor, rigorously challenging the status quo. I love much about my work. I read romance novels and enjoy good writing of all kinds. There is a lot of positive at the micro level. I would LOVE to see more of that percolate up into the macro so that we see some major structural and systemic change.
I will also just say that I have the choice and privilege to dip in and out of many of the biggest, most emotionally painful challenges we face--challenges that go far beyond bad apples but instead poison the soil in which the trees grow. Millions and millions of people do not have that privilege because they are actively LIVING the challenges. Their lives are literally on the line. So while it may seem like catastrophizing, I would argue it is me choosing not to exercise my privilege and turn away. Not in some self-flagellating manner or some kind of martyrdom but because I recognize how many people cannot choose to walk away. I take my breaks and endeavor to refill my cup in order to be able to get out of bed every day and keep on keeping on, but I know that these "issues" are actually lives on the line and because I love my siblings on this planet, I choose not to look away. In so doing, sometimes I get sad, enraged, rendered mute. Sometimes I can write about it. But always, or as much as I possibly can, I choose to attend to it with whatever gifts and strengths I have been granted, including listening, learning, growing, stepping up, and stepping back as is needed.
NOTE: I published this before the racist massacre in Buffalo.
Amy, sorry for your sadness. How many inspiring stories do you read? For every bad apple, there must be 10 good ones for this all to work. These are the unsung. Your concern is an example of a positive story. My reading your story, requested by choice, not pushed by algorithm, because I value your writing is another positive. -I wonder if some of your current perspective comes from your tendency to immerse yourself in the biggest, most emotionally painful challenges.
For all the awfulness, we still live in a world where you are able to post this, and get an honest, positive response.
You are right, we need to keep this in mind, and fight to maintain that ability.
BTW, you are enough. You bring light to the world.
Thank you, Jeremy for your kind words! I promise that I see so much light and beauty in the world most of the time. I walk in the woods on the regular. I have an amazing dog who makes me laugh many times a day. I have beautiful friendships. I see young, brilliant minds speaking out with vigor, rigorously challenging the status quo. I love much about my work. I read romance novels and enjoy good writing of all kinds. There is a lot of positive at the micro level. I would LOVE to see more of that percolate up into the macro so that we see some major structural and systemic change.
I will also just say that I have the choice and privilege to dip in and out of many of the biggest, most emotionally painful challenges we face--challenges that go far beyond bad apples but instead poison the soil in which the trees grow. Millions and millions of people do not have that privilege because they are actively LIVING the challenges. Their lives are literally on the line. So while it may seem like catastrophizing, I would argue it is me choosing not to exercise my privilege and turn away. Not in some self-flagellating manner or some kind of martyrdom but because I recognize how many people cannot choose to walk away. I take my breaks and endeavor to refill my cup in order to be able to get out of bed every day and keep on keeping on, but I know that these "issues" are actually lives on the line and because I love my siblings on this planet, I choose not to look away. In so doing, sometimes I get sad, enraged, rendered mute. Sometimes I can write about it. But always, or as much as I possibly can, I choose to attend to it with whatever gifts and strengths I have been granted, including listening, learning, growing, stepping up, and stepping back as is needed.