contumacy
contumacy
stubborn perverseness or rebelliousness; willful and obstinate resistance or disobedience to authority
At one point or another, many of us participate in unjust systems. We say it’s a matter of survival to assuage the guilt. That may feel true at the time, but it’s rarely as black-and-white as the stories we tell ourselves.
I was a cog in such a machine. I enforced unfair policies, parroted the corporate talking points, but also helped desperate people get second chances. People made all sorts of assumptions about me and I let them. In such hierarchies, it’s never a bad idea to play your cards close to the vest.
There are people within every organization willing to break from the official line for their own reasons. Cultivating relationships where you learn those motivations, and see opportunities for them to align, makes a difference when you need to dodge the falling debris of these systems collapsing in on themselves.
It is in these times that bridges are built between the legitimate and the underground. Temporary alliances can quickly form when sympathetic parties recognize each other. You don’t need to be traveling to the same destination, sometimes a set of parallel roads are enough.
When the shadows cast by these structures expand, things grow in the shade. Find your tolerance level for low-light environments, and do what you can to guide others through. Sometimes that looks like shining a beacon, sometimes that means sharing a map. The best solutions are the innocuous ones.
If you find yourself feeling like a cog, look for opportunities to spin the other way.
ContextFall
The Abortion Pill Underground by Amy Littlefield
Visions for the Independent City of New York by Cidney Mayes