Abandoning Allies?

Tragedy and Choosing Sides

Don’t say their name, don’t reduce it to a hashtag, do not place blame on inanimate objects, ..

Do not try to solve this in a fortnight, don’t “right fight”, do not look to celebrities and politicians for validation, ..

Don’t tell anyone they just have to listen, don’t try to cite charged statistics, do not shut it all out until it’s quiet again, ..

Do not let fear define you, don’t use fear to define others, do not go gentle into that good night, ..

There are allies around you — female and male, children and adult, both alive and the words left behind by those long lost to us. Embrace them ..

And choose a side ..

Yes, that forbidden reality — there are sides. Non-violence doesn’t exist and it cannot in our current evolutionary form. The distinguished Christopher Hitchens said it best:

“Evolution has meant that our prefrontal lobes are too small, our adrenal glands are too big, and our reproductive organs apparently designed by committee; a recipe which, alone or in combination, is very certain to lead to some unhappiness and disorder.”

There are sides. There are sides.

Sometimes a side doesn’t know what it’s fighting for yet, can be fighting the wrong foe, or is tactically blundering away from their strategic goal.

Don’t delude yourself with trite cliches about being on the side of humanity or humans or everyone or no one. That assures oblivion only.

Stop trying to be all things to all people and admit you’ve chosen a side. Don’t be embarrassed or bullied — just be whole. If you’re wholly wrong, you’ll figure it out. If you’re relatively right, you’ll figure it out.

Choose an issue — choose a side.

Then challenge it.