[...] seeking joy does not mean closing our eyes to what is happening around us. It does not mean bypassing cruelty, misogyny, racialized hatred, or the deliberate stoking of violence as a tool to bring dissent to heel. Joy is not anesthesia. It is not denial. It is not retreat. At times like these, esprit du mal—the spirit of harm, domination, and degradation—must be named if it is to be confronted. We must be willing to look it squarely in the face and say, clearly and without equivocation: Not in our house. Only what is faced can be transformed. And here is the tension I am consciously practicing this year: even as we name and resist what corrodes the human commons, we must also actively cultivate esprit de corps—the spirit of mutual care, shared responsibility, and collective belonging. We seed joy not as escapism, but as preparation: tending the soil so that when the right season arrives, something humane can still take root and flower.
Robin Payes, "The Spirit of '26"
