The Ebbs and Flows of Battle

A timely letter to activists, organizers, dreamers, fighters, and all those who are championing a better world | 11.20.2021

There is an ebb and flow to battle

The pendulum swings back and forth

If you are defeated at one time and one situation

You will be victorious in a different time and different situation,

If you are clever enough.

Both your strengths and your weaknesses

Differ greatly from those of your enemy

Know that a battle can be won

Before stepping foot on the battlefield

Through strategy.

Do you know what you are fighting for?

Do your actions match those of the future world your heart leads you to yearn for?

What you have the most control over is yourself,

And the influences the self makes through connection.

Imagine that world, and bring it in

Through embodiment, through relationships with others and the Earth

We are all connected, what happens to one happens to all

Nothing is without consequence

An action done through love or done through hate

Both have a powerful rippling effect

And make way for more of the same.

If you are called to fight, please do

Creatively

Cleverly

With your heart and mind as one

Connected to those of your comrades

And feeling the pulse of the environment you are in

Go slow

Don’t let rage or ego overtake you

Be smart

It is time to fight in a different way

Than before.

If you truly want to bring in your heart’s world, you will understand

We need to survive and to advance

Sacrifices will need to be made.

Not of our lives, but of the actions and inactions that uphold what must come down

Be it beliefs or material comforts.

There are times to stop, recalibrate, and regroup

No one person’s strategy is more vital than the other

But combined, we will figure out the ways

To sabotage

To poison

To inject venom in the veins

Of the arm of the state that chokes us all

Keep going

Dance with the ebbs and flows of this battle

Trust that you are here in this time for a reason

Look ahead and pull from the future, from the world you love and know exists, the strategies to get there

Don’t despair

You are love

You are courage

Embodied, feel it in your heart and let it push you

If nothing else, let your everyday actions

Bring the new world in

The interactions with yourself, with others, and with the Earth

Enveloped in love, appreciation, and reverence

And motivated by a burning desire for justice

Are more powerful than you know.

Soft waves along the shore

Eroding the sand more and more as each one crashes.

A tree branch under a certain amount of snow, made up of microscopic flakes

Is bound to break and fall from the weight

If the storm keeps going.

Little by little,

Keep going.

Every action matters.

For the branch to fall, each snowflake is needed

Every unique crystallization packed to form one force

We all have our purpose, our gifts, and our ways

In this fight

Keep going, but please

With the warnings and ways that you’ve just heard.

We must survive, and advance,

With love: courage: strategy: creativity: and each other.

What are you willing to give up to bring in the world your heart longs for?

Do you know what you are fighting for?

Do your actions match those of the future world your heart leads you to yearn for?

It is time to fight in a different way than before.