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Current Listening: Spectrum of Sky – Break of Reality
Current Reading: The Constant Princess – Philippa Gregory (Great read if you love historical fiction)
So my favorite hostess got me thinking with this week’s prompt. I had to think about this one and put it in some kind of context of the insanity we are smack dab in the middle of today. For those of you that consider what is happening today in our country a “return to normalcy”, you’re part of the problem. There is nothing normal about what is happening in our country today. Blame people, blame the opposition, blame politics, blame whatever suits our little fancy but calling it “normal’ is like trying to convince a fussy toddler to take a nap. Good luck with that.
Moving on, this week our hostess gave us the following quote:
“Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” ~Roald Dahl
So I had to think about this one a bit to decide what I wanted to say. I could go the easy route. I mean, hell, I write fantasy so that isn’t too much of a stretch, right? Today, in light of the current state of affairs, I decided to go off the rails. If you don’t care to read anything more about the political/social climate in this nation, stop reading here. If you want to know this writer’s thoughts on the matter, keep going. Is there magic left in the world or are we all to jaded to appreciate the simple beauty of living? If you do see magic in the world still, where do you see it? Humor me in the comments if you do. I see it in the laughter of good companionship. I see magic in a child’s laughter. I see magic in music that goes for the gut. I see magic in the power that words have to challenge our way of thinking.
Challenge is a hell of a word right now. From a political standpoint, we have a hell of a challenge before us. To the people that are stating “let it go, he won”, enough already. This country is built on the freedom to speak up when we disagree. Civil discourse and debate are woven into the fabric of our nation. This has nothing to do with anyone being liberal or a sore loser. This has to do with people standing for what they believe is right and guarding what they believe their personal ideologies are. People standing for a right that people have lived, bled and died for. I do not mean our soldiers though I have the utmost respect and love for them because of the decisions they are faced with. Many things they are required to do by their very nature I cannot fathom. I mean people who have protested, marched and given their lives to see what is wrong with our country righted.
I am a middle aged woman and I have seen my share of justice and injustice in the world. I have criticized and been criticized like most of us have. I have debated and argued and left things at agree to disagree. If you want to see what true non-violent civil discourse looks like, go look up some of the news footage from the civil rights movement. (Check out CNN’s special on the 60s. There’s an entire episode dedicated to the civil rights movement with news footage and interviews with many civil rights activists at the time. People who stood up for this came from all walks of life. I personally learned a great deal from it. If anyone has any other great references on the topic, drop me a line. I’m listening.)
For those of you that think these problems do not exist today, you have your head buried in the sands of complacency. The problems never went away. Ask an African American. Ask a beautiful woman what happens when she walks down the street. Or any woman when she talks to a mechanic for that matter. (Personal experience on that.) People have a right to protest what they disagree with. People have a right to that civil discourse on either side of the aisle. This is how change happens in our nation regardless of what you believe or think, whether you are liberal or conservative. The labels do not matter. To believe otherwise is to betray the foundation of our nation. If you want change, get involved in your local communities. Stay informed. Ignorance of the problem will not give anyone a resolution.
That, my friends, is the magic of our country. Other countries would kill to have our freedoms. People have traveled from all over the world to live here. Speak up. Make a difference. The words “I do not agree” are not offensive. The words “I stand for (insert issue here)” are not offensive. Do not be afraid to use them. If you think about it, those same sentiments birthed our nation.
I think I am going to leave you with a quote from a man that has always impacted me in his words and thoughts about our nation and where we need to go as a people. The first quote is often shortened but the entire quote seems more relevant today than any words I can personally think of.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction … The chain reaction of evil – hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars – must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1963)
One more…
Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
– Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Stockholm, Sweden, 1964
What do you guys think? Inbox is open, comments are open. Track me down on Twitter if you want, I’m always up for a lively discussion. Attackers though, will be deleted or ignored so keep it civil gang.
Sandra Hults 
Beautifully written, my friend. I absolutely agree. There is always room for people to speak up and fight for what they believe in. No one will ever be in complete agreement, and that’s OK, that’s expected, that’s what our society is founded upon. xo
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