FIGHTING WORDS

by Lady Passion, High Priestess, Coven Oldenwilde

First published in Blue Sky Asheville, Spring 2006

"They don't call it The Struggle for nothing."
                                          -- Robert the Red

I see a dejected apathy of late that seems to pervade the best of folks' hearts, minds, and actions. No doubt this is a result of our government's neo-fascist policies, but I confess I find this reaction quite antithetical to my Witchy sensibilities.

I'm not blaming the victim here, but it strikes me that these days no one with spiritual conscience can afford to succomb to such a doomed mentality. Nay -- this is a time when everyone must act on their principles and do things they feel compelled to do simply because they're right to attempt. When a thing is right, worth doing, it innately touches people's hearts -- minimal effort is required to evoke their empathy, AP news coverage follows swiftly behind, the power structure's foundations duly quiver, and real changes occur in the world that exceed your wildest dreams.

When the going gets rough, fighting words like Robert the Red's give me comfort beyond compare because they help me know when a matter matters. Coming from Texas, I know all about fighting the goodly fight. Few thought I'd win my 6-year defiance of North Carolina's 53-year-old, unconstitutional, religiously bigoted anti-divination law -- but I did. And now Pagans in Australia e-mail me that they're grateful for my struggle,and are defying their own countries similar ban. Similarly, few thought I'd win another 6-year battle against the largest corporation of its kind in North America -- but I did. And in the process, I changed North Carolina's previously sacrosanct "hire-and-fire at will" law.

Now I'm just one small woman -- a lone voice in the global wilderness, perhaps, but my Witchy sense of fairness has proven that one person can and does make a difference in modern, complex times. In the doing, I've learned that one has but to to rise up, be loud and proud, clear, concise, and consistent in order to change the daunting dominant paradigm into the common-sense reality for which we all yearn. Put more bluntly, the squeaky wheel gets the grease -- but only when you dare to squeak.

So to the trepidatious timid out there, I maintain that this is no time to lay low waiting for a kinder, gentler time. Refuse, resist, revolt -- for being bold is the only way goodly folk ever win. Step outside the box, defy convention -- eschew stifling, enculturated politeness in favor of pursuing your highest ideals to your utmost.

I guarantee that your efforts will bear fruit. Be they behind the scenes, or in the foreground, they will translate -- financially uncompensated perhaps, but nonetheless into changes that really count -- on behalf of innumerable voiceless, downtrodden folks in your state and the nation at large.

"Let none stop you, or turn you aside."
                                   -- Aradia, 1300s.

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