{"id":5774,"date":"2020-06-05T19:23:56","date_gmt":"2020-06-06T02:23:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=5774"},"modified":"2020-06-05T19:23:56","modified_gmt":"2020-06-06T02:23:56","slug":"i-understandthat-i-will-never-understand-victoria-bc-06-05-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=5774","title":{"rendered":"I Understand\u2026That I Will Never Understand \u2013 Victoria, BC \u2013 [06\/05\/2020]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"There\u2019s a cry in the distance
\nIt\u2019s a voice that comes from deep within
\nThere\u2019s a cry asking why
\nI pray the answers up ahead
\n~ \u201cI know where I\u2019ve been\u201d, Hairspray<\/em><\/p>\n

AND<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish it need not have happened in my time\u201d
\n\u201cSo do I. And so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for us to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us\u201d<\/p>\n

~ Lord of the Rings<\/em><\/p>\n

I do not have the resources to donate, and I do not have the mental strength to rally. But I have words. That\u2019s the one thing I can do. I can give other people my words and hope that someone\u2019s eyes are opened because of them.<\/p>\n

I feel that if I do not say something I am \u2013 as so many including myself are often guilty of being \u2013 complicit in my silence. And yet, I don\u2019t have a clue as to what to say.<\/p>\n

I watch the events unfolding on the other side of our closed border with a kind of horrified fascination. Just when I think it is impossible for things to get any worse, for things to explode anymore, there is more fuel added to the fire. More pain, more violence more\u2026everything.<\/p>\n

So I will try and sort it out in my head as best I can. Starting first with the little bit I know:<\/p>\n

I am caucasian, so caucasian that if you put me in the sun too long I turn into a lobster. I am, most definitely, one of the lucky ones. I am privileged. I won the genetic lottery in every sense. Over the years I have struggled with understanding what that meant, and there are many times when I still struggle with it. Acknowledging privilege does not mean that one has to carry \u2018guilt\u2019, but it does <\/em>mean that I have to try my best to carry responsibility. <\/em>It means acknowledging that I am lucky enough to move through the world with little (or at least much much less) resistance simply due to the privilege of the colour of my skin. It means acknowledging that many many others do not have that luxury. \u00a0<\/em>Just like there are no rights without responsibilities, there is no privilege without responsibility either.<\/p>\n

I understand that I will never understand. It is impossible to me to comprehend the mindset or the day to day reality of a Person of Colour. I will never know their thoughts, their fears or their perception. I walk through the world differently than they do, and while that is not my fault<\/em>, but I\u2019ve also done nothing at all to earn it.<\/p>\n

The unrest and violence that\u2019s boiling over across our shared border makes me heartsick, and all I find myself able to do is try to educate people as to why<\/em> it is happening. Try to make people understand that this didn\u2019t just come out of nowhere. This is the climax of a long, bloody, uphill battle that has been fought and lost for centuries that people like me will never understand<\/em> because we do not live it. It is not our daily reality.<\/p>\n

But just because I do not understand it, and do not live it every day. Just because I am lucky enough to be able to walk by a police car and think nothing more than \u201coh hey look, radar gun\u201d, does not mean that I can afford to be unaware<\/em> of it.<\/p>\n

This is a case where \u201cthoughts and prayers\u201d will do nothing. Not everyone can donate to a cause, or participate in a rally, but everyone<\/em> can educate themselves, educate their social circle; everyone can open their eyes just that little bit wider. Everyone can acknowledge the issue and work as a whole to change it from the inside. Everyone can change their attitude, their perception, their way of interpreting and acknowledging reality.<\/p>\n

And for all the many people saying \u201cbut all lives matter!\u201d. Yes. Yes of course <\/em>every life matters. We know that. Everyone knows that. No one has ever said anything against <\/em>that. Every blessed being that walks, stumbles or crawls across the surface of this perpetually breaking perpetually healing planet matters<\/em>. BUT that not what this is about. All lives cannot matter<\/em>, *UNTIL* Black Lives Matter. And right now, it is Black Lives that are in danger. THAT is the house that is on fire. That is the portion of the \u201call\u201d that desperately needs our help and acknowledgment and support.<\/p>\n

A friend of mine said that we are only as strong as our weakest link, and right now our \u201cweakest\u201d link needs us. Needs us to use our power, our privilege, even if all we have to give are our words.<\/p>\n

Please. Open your eyes. Open your ears. Open your mind. Do not erase our differences: embrace them, use them to move forward. Use your power to create the change that needs to happen in the world for those of us that have less.<\/em><\/p>\n

And stand with those who need us the most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a cry in the distance It\u2019s a voice that comes from deep within There\u2019s a cry asking why I pray the answers up ahead ~ \u201cI know where I\u2019ve been\u201d, Hairspray AND \u201cI wish it need not have happened … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vacation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-1v8","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5774"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5776,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5774\/revisions\/5776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}