Now is the Time for Monsters
“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.”
-Antonio Gramsci
It is quite easy to be myopic about the World at this moment. It has a lot of problems with no easily discernible solutions. So, it is quite natural and inevitable for everyone to stick to their individual routines and try and work on the issues that they have some control over. It can be exhausting to listen to the news, scroll through one’s social media feed, or just talk to family members who feel like they are gaslighting you at every possible opportunity (the last point is more of a projection than a universal expectation). The tragic and brutal modern-day lynching of George Floyd and the concluding international protests it might be tempting to just treat that tragedy as another checkmark on this insane 2020 timeline. Our if you are truly creative, blacking out that square in your Apocalyptic Bingo game.
I don’t mean to be grim here. I am saying that I understand that temptation. We all need to practice self-care during these anxiety-ridden times. However, self-care is not equivocal to apathy. It is a way to take care of yourself — to heal your wounds, rest your muscles, emotionally reset yourself so you know exactly why you are fighting before you go back into the battlefield. It is NOT an excuse to never go out again however. Before I go on I am reminded of a quote from one of my favorite books as a child, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings where, in Fellowship of the Ring Frodo and Gandalf are talking about the journey ahead:
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
I will bring up why I thought of this quote this week in a bit but first I wanted to confess that this week in particular, after the protests, the police brutality, the President’s rhetoric, and heretical photo-op with the Bible in front of that historic church became too much and instead of logging off I just became increasingly angry on social media about friends and family’s reaction to these protests. It wasn’t just this actions of this past week but the continual arrogance, ignorance, and hubris projected against those who are hurting in our society. I suppose I will write another article later on about the politics of grievance in my community but just know that their reactions are deeply rooted in being constantly aggrieved. Despite the realities around them they still feel like they are constantly under attack. They are like martyrs for some unforeseen cause; and again, this is deeply rooted in our history, embedded in our collective Christian DNA. The only uniting element for the majority of my community are to rally against outside agitators; liberals, Muslims, Immigration. Some of their fears are grounded and a small percentage of their complaints have merit. These complaints have not been addressed again by-the-powers-that-be. Just like the spontaneous rioting and protesting erupting this week, their anger towards this system was just as destructive and that was the election of Donald Trump. So, it is perpetuated and weaponized by the powers-that-be to keep them in power and it is an ideology that I have been burdened to help stop and heal my communities heal. I struggle to figure out ways to talk to my friends and family that I grew up with. I fear going back to my hometown, deep in the heart of East Texas because I feel like a Stranger in a Strange Land, not someone coming home. It is disheartening but not uncommon during turbulent times.
So, I go back to the two quotes mentioned above. Just like Frodo and Gandalf fearful and anxious about starting off their journey to throw the ring into the fires of Mordor, now is the time for myself as well as my work to inspire my entire generation, to own up to the time we are born into. We were not asked for this burden, but we are tasked for to make the World right again.
Gandalf and Frodo had to slay many monsters in order to build the new world and rid the Middle-Earth of the evils that lurked there. Now it is our time to slay the monsters that lurk all around us — in the forms of systemic racism, white nationalism, and Christian identitarianism.
