Issue 37: It's not all on you - it's on us
This comes from the 37th issue of the Sex Positive You newsletter. It felt important to make it available to a wider audience.
I honestly don't know what to say, ya'll. My heart is heavy every day knowing that thousands of innocent people are being murdered in Gaza, Palestinians are being terrorized in the West Bank, hostages from Israel may never see their families again, Islamaphobia and anti-Semitism are on the rise, much of what's out there continues to perpetuate harm rather than shared liberation – and this is only one of the many places across the world where people are being displaced, oppressed, and killed.
As subscribers to my newsletter, I don't know all ya'll politics but I invite us all to consider the importance of centering humanity and relationships as we act, share, and work toward justice and liberation. And this work is urgent. People are dying. Many children have been orphaned, spouses widowed, and entire families have been violently erased. Intergenerational trauma is being replayed and written anew. However, the moment we begin to dehumanize others we lose our own humanity. We cannot be free at the expense of one another and we cannot be free through the dehumanization of others.
For those of you who, like me, feel overwhelmed and unsure about what's next - perhaps you've shared about something going on, donated funds, marched, called your representatives, had important 1:1 conversations, etc but a range of issues remain heavy on your heart and mind and you want to continue (or start to) to support (whichever cause you choose) but also not be completely consumed by what is happening locally and internationally, I want to share a practice I saw during my regular doom scrolling.
Identify a goal for the day. Choose one thing you can do to contribute to justice and liberation today (or tomorrow if you plan ahead).
Complete that goal.
Remind yourself that you are one of the thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, and perhaps even billions of people who care about your chosen issue for that day and we all have roles to play in that liberation but that labor and responsibility is divided among us. You are not solely responsible and shouldering that weight or responsibility is not sustainable - you need rest and connection to maintain yourself and your community.
Continue with your day.
Repeat this process the next day. There may be days when you do more, which is great - but it probably can't be every day.
If you want an easy way to share these tips, I posted them on Instagram, too.
If you know the video that inspired me to write about these steps, please let me know as I can't find the video and want to credit them.
Yael
P.S. If your politics are similar to mine, consider reaching out to your representatives about the oppressive violence the Israeli government and settlers are enacting in the West Bank, too. I received an email from a synagogue where I once attended services who shared this message. (Also, because people sometimes forget - people are not their governments. Israelis should not be equated with the Israeli government and Palestinians should not be equated with Hamas).
Ways for those in the United States to contact representatives (with links to help you do so) that are pretty automatic. These make the process go smoothly.
Call: 5 calls App
Fax - you can find instructions here, too
Email - this one is a bit trickier for me to share since each one comes with it's own message but you can use the other two options above to know whose email to send your message to.
