We tell our kids all the time, “Stand up for what is right!” as if that’s all they need to know. That IS what we need to tell kids, and it’s also what we need to model for them every day and how we should all be living our lives. But are we afraid to tell them the truth about what is very likely to happen when they do stick their necks out there in the name of justice or compassion or hope? Should we allow them to think that if they simply stand up for what is right, then all the ducks in the wide world will magically start flying in V-formation?
Because it’s a crap shoot.
Really. It is.
I feel compelled to tell people the truth about being a Hope Giver: We don’t win every time. Yes, I know what you’ve heard about ‘walking in victory’ and how we should ‘run and not be weary’ and ‘fight the good fight’. Here’s one for ya:
They don’t call it a battle for nothing.
A girl could get hurt doing this… and so could the boys.
I still tell people to go out there in the world and be heroes – just know that you could be a hero with a great, big black eye.
What? Did you think evil was just going to lie down and slither away because you showed up with a cape and a tiara – which is how I try to show up to life every day – ready to conquer poverty and hunger and war and addiction and child abuse and terrorism and inequity of opportunity and every other societal ill?
Evil won’t.
When a person goes up against injustice and takes a strong stand, he’d better buckle up – that’s all I’m saying. He could end up bloody. And he could lose. I know this because I’ve lost some of these battles, and I’ve bled plenty. I’ve also stood up for what is right and been patently dismissed and ignored, having been abandoned in the silence of others’ indifference. That scenario has been called, When Good People Do Nothing.
Sometimes I think I prefer throwing it down with evil as opposed to having to endure the utter betrayal of silence. Even if I get banged up, at least someone took me seriously enough to put up a fight.
So what can we say to those Hope Givers out there who are getting their butts handed to ‘em? Because it’s happening. Right now.
It is.
People who have mustered every ounce of courage they have and have found their voices are speaking out and standing strong against the very forces that sought to destroy them – and getting knocked around with accusations and threats… as if they’re the ones who have committed some horrible crime.
And what should we tell them? What should we say? I’d really like to know. Because this writer, this wordsmith, has got nuthin’. What can we fellow Hope Givers do but sit with them? Lay down beside the wounded and tend to the cuts and bruises and broken hearts?
The laborers are few, and I think this is why – being a Hope Giver is hard. Even so, we are in great need of capes and tiaras out there who will go out and stand up for what is right – instead of what’s easy.
Be brave.
Post Script:
Here is a Facebook post that I put up this last Wednesday:
I’m taking a personal day today. Since I can take advantage of having extra time this morning to be alone in a quiet house, I did my yoga which is always followed by my prayers. My prayers probably don’t look like other people’s prayers — I don’t say a whole lot. I don’t ask for things. I’m usually silent. I have a song list entitled, “Prayers” that I play specifically for my post-yoga-just-me-and-my-Creator time, and I listen. I often cry. Today I did.
My kids and I write “6-Word Memoirs” every year. Mine is:
“A Phoenix Risen from Her Ashes”
I’d forgotten the part of the myth that says phoenix tears have healing powers. And why wouldn’t they? A phoenix is utterly consumed by the flames — repeatedly — and always rises up out of them. Why wouldn’t her tears, in her resurrected state, bring healing to those who are also being consumed? Why wouldn’t they?
So I prayed today for all of you who have been consumed by the flames; who, even now, are writhing in anguish — that you will be comforted, that you would be healed, and that you would be resurrected. And I cried. I know that phoenix tears are only a myth, but I prayed that my tears and my prayers might move the hand of God to be with you today and raise you up out of your circumstances.
I love you. I bless you with Hope.
Daisy Rain
Daisy Rain Martin is an author, speaker, advocate, and educator as well as a founding member of The Flying M-Inklings Writing Group. She lives with her husband, Sean-Martin, in the beautiful state of Idaho and teaches English and Literature during the school year to the best 7th graders the world over. Daisy spends her summers writing, speaking, researching, creating, gardening, and canning.
Hope Givers: Hope is Here, is the sequel, of sorts, to her comedic, spiritual memoir, Juxtaposed: Finding Sanctuary on the Outside, which was Christopher Matthews #1 top selling book in 2012. She has also written a free e-book for anyone who has or is currently being sexually abused called, If It’s Happened to You.
Please follow her weekly blog, SATURDAISIES, which addresses a plethora of current issues including child advocacy, all things hilarious, and matters of the heart. She would love for you to join the Rainy Dais Community by friending her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.