Category: Resistance

What Darkness Does

Featured

By Amy Marchand Collins

What darkness does is bring us close, closer together, closer to the Light.

So it has always been, since first we left the trees and congregated around fires to tell the stories that make us who we are.

The woman sitting and knitting in the back of meetings and council halls going back thousands of years, has been oft-overlooked. But she hears more than you realize. And when she speaks, all in earshot would do well to listen to her wisdom. She is speaking now, reminding us of who we are, who we have been, and who we yet can be.
What darkness does is draw us close, seeking Light and warmth and the comfort of togetherness. May we in our togetherness remember to welcome and even celebrate the stranger in our midst. For we all have been strangers too. Besides. It’s just the right thing to do.

What darkness does is call forth our instincts to nurture and protect what is precious and most sacred. In the dark, seedling ideas can gestate, protected from harsh criticisms until they grow past the point of vulnerability.
Those who bring the darkness want us
Separate

And small

And voiceless

And frightened

And forgetful of who we are
But instead, here we stand.

Not against, but FOR:

For Peace,

For Justice,

For Science,

For Hope,

For the Environment,

For Fairness,

For Inclusivity,

For Kindness.

Anchored in Love

Shining our Lights

Over and over, saying to our friends on our left and on our right, “I see you. I love you. I am so glad you are here.”
—————–

Handcrafted pussyhats, the color of the sunset sky. As my hands form each stitch, I imbue them with my love and prayers, which join with the wearer’s intentions when she wears it for the March.

As we head into the long dark ahead of us, the friends, connections and memories made now must sustain us through the dark times ahead. Would that it were dawn already and these pink hats were instead harbingers of a new day!

Not all who enter this night will live to see the dawn.
But let these hats be reminders of all that we stand FOR.

We hoped to make history by inaugurating one woman to occupy the seat of power.

Instead, we who are alive today bear witness to the last gasp of a system that no longer works. For anyone. And more importantly, to the galvanizing of all of us, as we awaken to how much work remains to be done – by us – to make the changes needed, both in our systems and in our hearts to create a world that works for everyone.
What darkness does in its arrogance is revel in its power.
And that WILL prove its undoing.
Because in its power-drunk madness it forgets:

There have always been those with the ability to see right through it.

And this is why

what darkness does best

is give strength and clarity to the Light.

What the NICU (and NICU parents) can teach the Resistance

Each new headline hits like a wave — each one strong enough to knock me off my feet, leave me gasping and sputtering in the sand and salt, struggling to regain my footing.  Each one bringing a new and different level of pain, yet this combination of exhaustion mingled with fear and grief feels strangely familiar.  I scan back and quickly find the corresponding memories — of course! The NICU.  (That’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for the uninitiated.) It’s where my twins spent their first four months of life, where I began my journey as a mother, fifteen years ago.

It occurs to me that different as the events of the twenty-four hour news cycle may seem from the world of tiny babies struggling to survive, NICU moms (and Dads) and all special needs parents may have much to teach the rest of us about learning to survive and even thrive under a Trump presidency.  Strengthening our resilience without becoming hardened.  That is the balancing act called for in these challenging times.

So here are some “Lessons from the NICU” translated for a wider audience.

 1.  Look at the baby, not the monitors. Go to the Source

If you’ve never visited one before, you may be unprepared for what a noisy place a NICU can be. In the NICU, babies are constantly monitored for various vital signs. Each measure has its specific range, and alarms go off if the readings go above or below that predefined range. Preemie parents quickly learn to interpret and rely on the feedback from the dazzling amount of information on the monitors, to the point that some not so jokingly request to bring a set home at discharge.

Which is why almost from the beginning, NICU nurses train parents to look first at their BABY when an alarm goes off.

In a time when the free press is under continual attack from the president as “fake news,” where Russian bots are actively working to sow chaos and division, while it seems every day brings new revelations of how the companies we entrusted with our information have abused that trust. It’s no wonder people throw up their hands and say they don’t know what to believe.

But critical thinking is not dead. And it is a teachable skill. It starts with going to the source (or as close to it as you can get) for information on the issues most important to you.

We can train ourselves to do a few simple checks to find out where information comes from and whether it is credible.

Who is publishing the information? What is the agenda behind releasing this particular information and the timing of the release. Speaking of timing, when was the article published? Is this new information? Or is this old news repackaged with a click-bait headline to look new? Does it fit with our real-life experience of what is happening?

2.  Watch her, wait.  See what she does.  Watchful vigilance

This one frustrated me immensely when my own children were in the NICU.  I would be in conversation with the doctors about some condition or other that they had and I would ask, “What do you do for that?”  The response would come back, “Watch her, wait.  See what she does.”

I’ve since come to realize what good advice this is, not only in the NICU, but in almost any fast-moving situation where multiple factors are at play.  Rather than introducing yet more variables into the mix, it takes a fierce combination of patience and vigilance to just stay the course.  Treatments take time.  Allow what you have done already a chance to work.

The thing about this watching and waiting is that it is active.  This is not passive acceptance.  This is staying alert, ready to press the record button or take other direct action at a moment’s notice.

3.  Go get some rest Self-Care is Vital

As new parents of a critically ill infant it is tempting to stay at your baby’s bedside 24/7.  And today’s NICU, with private rooms encourages that. But while a parent’s presence is important, parents need care, too.  As more than one nurse put it “you’ll never have better babysitters than you have right now.”

It’s important to remember in any crisis situation that goes on for more than a couple days that life goes on. If you have other children, they need to get to school, and do homework and have regular meals and bedtimes. Providing that structure for them is helpful for you, too. As we remind each other in most of the resistance groups I participate in on Facebook, be aware of your needs. Tag out when you need to. Then return when you are rested and rejuvenated.

4. Keep to your “normal” routines as much as Possible

Routines provide structure and help us to move forward in our lives. This was especially important for my friends with older children at home who needed their parents and were too young to be expected to understand why their parents weren’t as available as usual while their new sibling was in the NICU.

Routines help us as adults too. While we may keenly feel the chaos of the administration, most of us have jobs or families that need us to be fully present to our own lives.