šEducation is the key. šKnowledge is the key. šEducation erases fear, hate, ignorance, and so on. Education is the key to making the world better. Donāt ever be comfortable with ignorance. Itās not formal education. Itās not memorizing passages in a book. Itās not making the grade. Thatās not what I mean (though in some cases, that could help a great deal). Educate yourself. Itās more than what you were told in school, what your parents said, what your friends think, what you saw on the news, what some religious guy told you, or what your peers believe.
šThe world is too fucking big to focus on small shit. Read. Have discussions. Talk to different kinds of people. Open your mind. Watch documentaries. Whatever. Fully understand the people around you. Understand the world, and not just your surroundings. Donāt ever give up on finding answers. Donāt ever give up on continuing to find answers. Never be comfortable with being ignorant. Never believe that you know everything.
š§ We ALL still have a long way to go. Itās up to us to understand the world, and each other. No one is going to hand it to us, and we shouldnāt rely on them to do it. āTheyā only want to keep us stupid, unaware, and comfortable. They want to make us fight, fear, oppress, and demonize each other.
āI really miss the days when I was a kid, and we (punk rockers) used to stand up, make noise, and fuck shit up (in several different ways) when we encountered injustice. We got in its face. We made people aware. We had no tolerance for sexism, racism or homophobia. We didnāt just preach to the converted; we made our voices heard, and we made our presence known. We fought for what was right. We fought against racism, but didnāt have to be oppressed. We fought against homophobia, but were not all LGBTQ+. We fought against sexism, but were made up of all genders. We didnāt just think of ourselves. We did it out of love, respect, and thorough understanding of our fellow human beings. We were not afraid of how we would be seen. We werenāt afraid of stigmas. We were not afraid at all. Sadly, those days, and those people, have mostly disappeared. Now, the remnants of who we are and what we did is reduced to playing dress-up, and knowing nothing of the past. Nowadays, it seems like people do nothing effective to combat injustice! Your comedic social media post only makes hate more acceptable.
Perhaps, over the years, trying to appear less violent to new people, who were unfamiliar with taking action, made me tone things down, but it also made me soft in a bad way. It made me do nothing, say nothing (out loud), and walk away in the face of conflict. I was criticized for being too aggressive, too violent, and the people I tried to befriend didnāt want to be around me; because they thought I would mindlessly hurt them, or start shit for no reason. I realize that those people were non-contributing cowards, and I have no business trying to be their friends. In that time, when people needed support, aid, someone to talk to among other things, I stayed quiet. Iām painfully ashamed of my behavior in those times. I could have helped people, and been the person that I actually am; but I stayed silent, while my heart hurt for those who needed support. I could have stood up for them. I could have stood up for myself, too. I could have done the right thing for someone in need. I shed tears as I write this, because I know what itās like to be left alone and rejected. I also vividly remember how exciting it was to stare our problems in the face, and not back down; even if it mean intense physical pain, going to jail, or possible death. Fighting, like actually fighting, for what is right, is NEVER the wrong thing to do; regardless of what any well-meaning coward has to say about it.
āI still have that fighting spirit. You should not walk away from something just because it may not directly pertain to you. You donāt have to be Gay to come to the aid of a Gay person. They, along with other people of different genders and sexualities, as well as people who identify as something else or nothing else, are our sisters and brothers, regardless of labels, movements, or stigmas. We are the same. We are human. Some would think that is extremely basic common sense, but youād be surprised at how many people are still ignorant, or afraid. Some of us chose to fight. Some of us had to fight. We chose to make change for the better, for ourselves and others. We went above and beyond, because we knew what was right, and didnāt accept mediocre templates from those who wanted us to fall in line.
Getting back into the anarchism I dove into when I was a teenager has made me a better, more comfortable and happy person. Iāve become more comfortable with myself, and I know what I stand for. Iām more aware of the origins and purposes of the things that are handed to us in society. Iām aware of the effects of politics, religion, social stigmas, and the like. The hate we experience comes from those things. I refuse to support the things that limit us, limit our understanding of different people, limit our understanding of the entire world, and make us hate and fear each other. Iāve let go of everything. Iāve let go of gender stigmas. Iāve let go of ethnic and culture stigmas. Iāve let go of politics. Iāve let go of organized religion. Iāve let go of the demonization of people of differing sexualities.
I can just be myself, and do what I want. I give myself full permission to do whatever the fuck I want. I donāt care how it looks to other people. Iāve been bullied my whole life. People think that Iām a certain way based on my gender, race, and even taste in music. People think that because I donāt fit into a general cultural stereotype, that Iām maladjusted, or confused. I donāt posture myself as a man, so when I cut loose and have fun, people throw sexist and homophobic insults at me. I donāt care. They can think what they want, because there is nothing wrong with being female, or queer. I accept no labels. Sure, there are some identifiers, like straightedge, or punk rocker, that I identify with, that help people understand, just a little, how I am; but I donāt need to be handed external, societal key words to explain whatās inside. When you strip away all of those things that we are told are SO IMPORTANT to us, you wonāt be afraid anymore. You wonāt be afraid to be wrong. You wonāt be afraid to cry. You wonāt be afraid to be made fun of. You wonāt let cruel words affect you. You wonāt be afraid to fight for what is right. You wonāt be afraid of bullies, or social stigmas. You just have to learn about yourself. Learn about others. Learn about the world. Donāt be scared to be a nerd about the world. It doesnāt matter.
Start fighting. Keep fighting. Learn to let go of shit that doesnāt matter. Purely suggestive, as I donāt like telling people how to live their lives, but if you want to do better and be better, do the work.
This whole thing was kind of spontaneous. The only editing was the emojis.
-Adam X Anzio