#batskulls

Despite the veritable truth that this is likely a too much information, or maybe not enough, post- I think I need to write a brief recap of this year.

2016 has proven to us that most models of expectancy that we casually rely on are faulty- while I had the unshakable faith that there was a good chance that Trump would be elected, it came as a great shock to a number of people that I knew and we need to remind ourselves that this initial shock will not carry us through a revolution. Please don’t expect the immediate terror of the upcoming president and faith in the younger generations to carry the revolution we need- we’re already seeing a complacency for the new era emerge [Let’s be honest, the phrase “Alt-Right” is used to soften the blow of “violently xenophobic free-for-all”, the uproar over “fake news” is a mask for the rise of “unsolicited propaganda”] and we can’t get through this alone. Maybe you don’t have time to volunteer, maybe you don’t have money to donate, maybe you live somewhere where speaking your truth thoughts results in abuse- but there are still ways to assert the fundamental truths of democracy and equality. For many, just being yourself in private or public is a revolution in itself.

This year has been no longer than any other leap year- and please don’t blame that one extra day for all the madness that has occurred- but I would be in remiss to say that there has not been a heavy aura of grief from the start. Notably, the deaths of David Bowie, Muhammad Ali, Harper Lee, Prince, Leonard Cohen, and the citizens of Aleppo have represented the ends of so many eras and been symbolic of a sense of culture and freedom that all youthful people reach for. Personally, two people close to me have passed away and the collective grief of the world is at once wondrous and taxing. Do not feel that you are weak for how you have responded to the collective cries of the world- the admonition of emotion at all is a liberation onto itself.

I think what I’m trying to say is that there are reasons to carry on- that although this year has been extraordinarily difficult in so many ways, that each day I have found reasons to continue. Sometimes they are as simple as the satisfaction of making bread, and sometimes it’s laboring for a friend in a wretched place.

The truth is that there are no lessons learned without tears and that life is for the living.

With this, I close:

Yes, many loved before us, I know that we are not new

In city and in forest, they smiled like me and you

But now it’s come to distances and both of us must try

Your eyes are soft with sorrow

Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye