#20 - HINDSIGHT

The road behind. K/W March for Solidarity on 35mm - June 3rd 2020.

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It’s ’20, I am 24 - and up to this year, I had avoided figuring out the real work entirely.

After moving to Kitchener in January, I was settling into my new home when our generation was faced with our first ever internet-age psuedo-apocalypse. Since the coronavirus pandemic began, many have deeply felt the weight of loss in human lives, in future plans, in missed income, connections, or in hope for the future itself. 

The whole planet joined in on a journey of reflection and deconstruction once the status quo was disrupted - and the reactions to disaster have yielded both inspiring and disheartening results.

In May, the death of George Floyd re-sparked a worldwide conversation about systemic oppression that was made more evident by the spread of the pandemic. I felt the weight of how I had allowed my own problems to cloud my vision - and the weight of those genuinely in need in their universal human right to be advocated for. Less than 10 days later - I found myself in a masked sea of thousands, fists raised and echoing songs of solidarity - demanding freedom for the truly oppressed. The energy was powerful, I was inspired by those who layed down their own freedom of quarantine safety to show up for our brothers and sisters in the Black community. If I was looking for a purpose -  the liberation of all peoples from the lasting oppressions of the now felt like a good place to try to start. Where else?

As we potentially head into another lockdown, I would encourage you to continue to explore your path and how you can pursue meaningful action now instead of later. It takes hindsight to realize you’re living history in every breath, and that a world free of the constraints of today is not only possible, it’s inevitable. Building that world, and helping others to believe in it - that’s the real work I want to do. A better, more just, and truly free world is possible - we just have to believe in it.

“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change . . . I am changing the things I cannot accept” - Angela Davis