I spoke to a friend this morning. I told him that I was yelling at the TV yesterday as I heard representatives defending the fact that Trump chose to spread lies, attempt to obstruct the vote in Georgia, threaten public officials, incite an angry mob to "fight" rather than act within the law peacefully, and sat back and watched the deadly insurrection for hours without using his power to stop it. My friends response was, "Don't watch it because you can't do anything about it anyways."
Do you know how many times in my life, people have told me not to act and to ignore injustice--thousands, and perhaps tens-of-thousands of times. As a young child, I would often report injustice at home, and one parent member would say, ignore it. As I grew up many friends and mentors also advised me to look the other way rather than stand up to injustice. This advice, in and of itself, felt like injustice. Why should I look the other way in the face of injustice and oppression--why should I allow myself to be a victim of such oppressive actions and words?
So, as you might know, I rarely to never have stayed silent in the face of injustice, and while my words and actions may have been awkward, unpolished, and without the deep societal, political, or legal knowledge that would better my response, I have spoken up time and again following the words of so many leaders past and present who encourage us to speak up and act with love, peace, and one another in the face of injustice.
I don't believe that we can't do anything about it. I don't believe that most people are so insignificant that their words or actions don't matter. In fact, I believe that oppressive words like, You can't do anything about it, actually serve the oppressors, not the people.
But, as with any statement, there is some wisdom to be culled from the statement, You can't do anything about it--that wisdom is to be mindful about the actions you choose, because some actions to counter justice are more powerful and successful than others. There are good, better, and best ways to act. What does good action include?
First, the more you understand an issue, the better you can speak and act against it. So, we all have to do our research as best we can.
Next, we can counter injustice with greater strength and success if we work with others. This has always been a challenge for me as I don't like allying myself with one group or another--I have some mistrust of organizations probably because I've encountered corruption in multiple organizations over time. Too often I've found that leaders in organizations sometimes let the power they have corrupt what they can do. Yet, I know there is power in numbers, and I must reach out and work with good organizations going forward--organizations that I can trust, and organizations that forward the beliefs I have about a country and communities that work with and for the people to uplift lives.
And, we have to be openminded by continually discussing our viewpoints with others, learning more, reflecting and being willing to change our minds, compromise, revise, and finesse as we see positive and good.
The phrase, You can't do anything about it, needs to be exchanged for, What can you do about it? How can I support your efforts? How will you monitor your work so that you are working for betterment in ways that you believe are right and good for the people?