The power of "and"

Allowing us to hold multiple, opposing truths.

It feels like everything exists in a binary these days.

You either support Palestinian liberation or Israel’s right to exist as a country.

You either condemn Hamas or you’re anti-Semitic.

You either care about Israeli hostages or genocide.

You either care about Palestine or Sudan/Somalia/Yemen/Congo/etc.

False.

I care about ALL of it.

I care about the Palestinians and the Israelis. The Jews and the Arabs. The children and the hostages.

I care about Sudan. I care about Iran. I care about Somalia, I care about Burma, I care about Batam.

I care about LGBTQIA2+ rights, I care about Black lives, I care about women.

I care about workers being paid a living wage, I care about inclusive and welcoming workplaces.

I care about neurodivergent needs being addressed, I care about increasing access in all ways.

I care about the trees, about the trash littering our beaches, about droughts and famines.

I care about cultural appropriation, I care about racism, I care about religious freedom, I care about the freedom of expression.

I care about the lives of people on death row, I care about child addicts.

I care about my family.

I care about my friends in Singapore, my friends in Mexico, my friends in the rest of the world.

I care about people who will one day become my friends.

I care about people who I will never meet and will never want to be my friends.

I care about humanity.

I care about this earth we live on, and all the creatures on it — this one place we all have to call home.

I don’t understand why we have to pick a side.

I don’t think we have to.

That’s the power of “and”.

We can care about all of this and more.

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Humans are remarkable creatures.

We have the incredible capacity to hold multiple conflicting truths as valid, at the same time.

We can love someone deeply, and want to punch their face. If you have a sibling, you know what I mean.

We can care for someone a huge amount, and feel angry/hurt/betrayed/disappointed by their actions.

We can appreciate the genius of an artist in one area and find their actions/beliefs in another reprehensible.

Humans are complex creatures.

We are able to hold multiple opposing viewpoints and find the validity in all of them.

Yet, we allow ourselves to be convinced that we have to “pick a side” or that believing one thing to be true means something else has to be false.

We don’t have to.

We can fight for Palestinian liberation and speak up about anti-Semitism.

We can write to our elected reps about ending the genocide in Palestine and write to media outlets about covering the genocide in Darfur.

We can mourn the thousands killed in various conflicts around the world while taking the time to enjoy and cherish our time with our loved ones.

None of these things needs the absence of the other to exist.

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I believe that we as humanity can come together and build something better for all of us, collectively.

I believe that it can be done — and as I look at news reports from around the world about death, devastation, and destruction, I also see reports of millions of people banding together for common causes.

I see a rise in the number of people calling for better work conditions, speaking out against exploitation, against racism, against all kinds of injustices that people face in this world.

And it gives me hope.

That we will create something better for all of us, in the spaces that these systems of oppression that we are dismantling now stand.

We will nurture, cultivate, grow something beautiful, something that does not depend on the oppression of the many for the benefit of the few — something not built on oppression at all, but freedom, liberty, peace, and ease.

I’m dreaming of this future — and I’m going to make it happen.

Will you join me?

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