6/19

i'm thankful to have been able to make a donation to an organization helping protect the rights of immigrants in the united states and i'm thankful that there are a number of such organizations you can donate to if you are able. i'm thankful to know that such a donation is a drop in the bucket with regard to the torrents of injustice that have been and continue to be perpetrated by my country since its inception, that one person's tiny action is not meaningful in the grand scheme of things, but to know that a drop in the bucket can, if enough people are compelled to contribute their drops, combine with other drops to form something larger than itself. i'm thankful that though i sometimes cringe at social media "activism," which often feels like it's as much about likes and retweets and a platform for the mouthpiece as it is advocating on behalf of something or someone bigger than oneself, and that, because of that, i feel weird writing these notes about this (but i would also feel weird not writing these notes about this, even though i don't write about all the things that i think are important here and even though there is no tipping point today that made me need to write this letter today, since the US government was doing immoral and unjust things last week, too, when i didn't write about it, and the week before that, when i didn't write about them, and so on back to 1776, and that i may not write about this tomorrow or the next day, even though the US government will still be doing immoral and unjust things), that i also believe that there is value in keeping up to date on the ugly truth of the the things that are done in the name of the place where you live, in your name, by extension, that there is value in being firm in what you believe is right and wrong and, when you can, to be loud about it, and angry, and confrontational, when people lie about that truth or acknowledge it but make claims and arguments in favor of the oppression and injustice it represents. i'm thankful that though words and sentences don't have the power we wish they did, and that sometimes they come out awkwardly or inadequately, that they still mean something and they're still worth writing and saying in support of what is good and right and true.