Amelia Earhart was a courageous woman. I don't think that I need to convince you of this. In a time when women had little power, she set off in a flimsy plane in the middle of the world fighting fascism.
How did she die? What happened to the plane? What happened to them? There are a lot of questions about her demise that have no answers. (The best review I've seen is at Overheard at the National Geographic part one, part two.)
In this time, it's worth reaching back to Amelia Earhart for her courage to be daring and her courage to do what brought her joy in the face of pernicious fascism. She reminds us:
"Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace." Amelia Earhart
Every country rests on the courage of her warriors. Battles have been fought for millennia between countries, tribes, and even empires. (The first documented genocide was in and around 5000 BCE.) In Europe, nearly a billion young men died in 31 years in WWI and WWII battlefields.
As fascism marches on the entire world, again, and the US in particular, we need to hold onto our own peace.
Fascists love violence. Every time violence rises, they win. We cannot murder our way out of this.
We need to be courageous – for our children, for our families, for our communities.
We need to courageously fight for our own peace.
What the f*** does that mean?
Fighting for our own peace means:
- Blocking the idiot, the cruel, and the antagonist when you see them.
- Not engaging with people who bring you stress. You don't need to continue to support your narcissistic neighbor. You don't need to continue to support your abusive parent, sibling, or even adult child.
- Do what brings you peace. Meditate, do yoga, write letters to your idiot Senators, hang out with friends, journal, go to therapy...
- Stop drinking and drugging so much. Yes, it brings some relief. In order to have peace, you need to not be addicted to pseudo-peace.
- Attend rallies, write letters or postcards, make sure that your voice is heard. We have the power to stop fascism if we use this power.
- What would you add? How are you going to fight for your own peace?
What if you feel out of courage?
A lot of us are feeling afraid, confused, and unsure of what is happening to our countries. The explanations are stupidly simple and thus unhelpful.
Often, it takes all of our courage to simply get through the day. So how do we become more courageous?
Like anything, start small. It takes a lot of courage to:
- set your own schedule,
- hold onto your own values,
- say, "no" or take a real break from the world,
- move your body in some new way – martial arts, yoga, weight lifting, walking, or breathing exercises.
- learn about a new topic. Literally pick something. For example, I'm learning about dark matter this year. It took me 4 months to simply learn enough to start learning about dark matter. Find something captivating.
- focus on what brings you joy – pets, children, garden, art, animals, great books, certain people, great food, horseback riding, or...
- pick something that feels risky, something you've been thinking about, and try it.
We will need to be courageous to get through the next few years, here in the US, and abroad.
More than anything, we need to be courageous enough to protect our own peace. Your peace belongs to you. Don't let anyone or anything take it from you.
