My version of atomic theory* in a dragged-on cold snap with snow up to my knees
Artful Wobbler
I learned a few things from what I did before and one is how people shut down in what seems like overwhelming odds. In the face of vastness how does one human soul make more than an atom of difference? So we turn away.
It’s true, the average soul won’t make more than an atom of a difference. But so what? You don’t need to make MORE than an atom of a difference, you just need to make your atom’s worth. Things don’t require epic effort from individuals, they require a little effort from everyone. Do your atom’s worth and be happy you did. I’m happy you did too. I hear and see people concerned about feeling any joy now when there is so much to despair over. But take it from people who know far more of despair than me, joy is part of surviving. It’s part of resisting. Without joy we burn to little crisps, useless to ourselves and anyone else. If you find a way to make an atom’s worth of joy for yourself or someone else, do it (but not at the expense of someone else, that’s cruelty). I hear and see people reluctant to make art, as if it’s frivolous at this time. If not this time, then, when? When will you, beautiful creature alive right now, find a better time to do the thing that you are made for, that you’re good at, that can bring something to others too? Do you have a limitless reserve of time somewhere stored up you can pack all that good stuff into and roll out like a red carpet at some later date? No? Then how about now. If your ability is writing, write the hell out of this time. Let it be known, let you be known. If your ability is in another art, do that. If art didn’t have power no one would ban it, no one would pump AI to drown it, poets wouldn’t be (eventually) elected presidents. Art is how we make sense of a world when the world stops making sense. It’s how we pierce the lies of the world, relieve burdens, soothe tempests, and cause them. Art alone is not enough but nothing alone is. So just do what’s within your abilities. Don’t question it, belittle it, shame it. Don’t require it be epic, let it be pointillist, let the bigger picture and meaning show through only at a distance. People good at organizing will organize. People good at supporting will support. Legal advice, medical aid, growing food, cooking food, all these things are necessary. Education. There are as many paths as people. There’s no right or wrong way, just your way. A time of despair needs joy and beauty too. A time of dehumanization needs emotion and compassion. A time of cruelty needs goodness. Just do your atom’s worth, no more is required. Let it be shown. Let it be known. Let you be you.
*Not atomic theory