#tenacious

Tenacious

art & writings by women in prison

Remember when I mentioned fixing up our tattered pride flag and putting it back up again?

The world is not, as many would lament, spiraling into the abyss.

Oh, but how the narrative seduces us, how it beckons us to despair! The news—modern-day prophets of doom—parades its misanthropy with unyielding vigor. Every flicker of progress, every whisper of triumph, is drowned beneath a cacophony of crises, calamities, and catastrophe. We are fed a feast of negativity, garnished with fear and served on a platter of urgency. Yet, herein lies the irony: while the world steadily ascends toward improvement, our collective psyche descends into despair.

Consider, for a moment, the quiet victories of our age. Infant mortality plummets; diseases that once decimated entire populations now retreat before the unyielding march of medical ingenuity. Poverty, though not eradicated, has been assailed with unprecedented success. Literacy rates soar; technology unfurls its wings to carry knowledge to the remotest corners of the Earth. These are not trivialities—they are triumphs of tenacity, achievements that testify to the indomitable spirit of humanity.

And yet, we feel worse. We feel as though the world is collapsing. Why?

Because negativity, my friends, is adhesive. It clings to us, worming its way into our thoughts, distorting our perception. Like the siren song that lured sailors to ruin, the endless torrent of grim headlines captivates us, ensnaring our attention with its morbid allure. Good news, by contrast, is subtle, almost bashful. It whispers, while bad news screams.

But to succumb to this illusion is to betray our very essence, for we are a tenacious species. Tenacity is not merely a virtue; it is a lifeline. It is the resolute refusal to submit to despair, the quiet determination to press forward, even when every fiber of our being is tempted to surrender. And in this lies the truth: the world improves because of tenacity, but it feels worse because we allow the shadows to dictate the narrative.

Let me offer you an allegory. Imagine a small candle in a darkened room. As the flame flickers to life, the shadows grow sharper, more defined. They seem to multiply, to encroach—but this is an illusion. The room, in truth, is brighter. The shadows are not gaining ground; they are being illuminated, exposed. So it is with the world: as the light of progress shines brighter, the shadows of our challenges seem more daunting. But that is not a sign of failure; it is a sign of progress.

What, then, is the remedy? It is not to ignore the shadows, for they are real and must be confronted. But neither is it to drown in them, to let them define our perception of reality. No, the answer lies in balance. Acknowledge the shadows, but celebrate the light. Confront the problems, but savor the progress.