Power and Powerlessness

The way a person takes power is not just by grabbing power. It is by disempowering others.

And the way that person disempowers others is by telling them that they cannot trust anyone, that they should be afraid of everyone.

Don’t trust journalists to report the facts.

Don’t trust scientists or their research.

Don’t trust teachers.

Don’t trust people whose skin is browner than yours.

Don’t trust women who love women, or men who love men, or humans who are both or neither or something else entirely.

Don’t trust the electoral system. Don’t trust democracy.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

This is the path to fascism. And we WILL NOT walk this path. We will be intelligently, healthily skeptical. We will embrace nuance. We will talk to each other. We will be citizens and neighbors.

We will vigorously exercise the power we have: the power of love and inclusion, the power to act ethically and empathetically, the power to care.

And the power to vote. Do it. Now. Cast your vote against fear.