Let Today Be The Day You Prove You Are Who You Say You Are

I have this quote hung next to my bed that I told myself I would read every morning

I’ve been wrestling with my lack of action regarding the Israel and Palestine war.

I consider myself to be somebody who values justice and activism, yet I’ve scrolled past many social media posts about the war, I haven’t publicly shared my opinions , I haven’t participated in any protests or rallies. 

Many days have gone by where I decided that while doing something was non-negotiable, doing something today was not necessary. 

As I write this, there are a few reasons that come to mind why doing something today has proven difficult.

To do something today, I actually have to make up my mind about where I stand on the issues. This isn’t to say that I’m going back and forth on whether bombing innocent civilians is wrong. If that’s the argument going in your head, I don’t think there’s much this article can do for you. But rather, making up my mind about the issues is recognizing that the war crimes we’re seeing today sit within the larger context of a decades long conflict that I admittedly have not paid enough attention to and that clearly has many people divided. Acting today without addressing that big C Israel and Palestine Conflict and its complexities and nuances seems insufficient and almost haphazard.

To do something today means I have to take accountability for my actions. Other people will see what I do. Other people will judge what I say. This really shouldn’t be an impediment, but who among us doesn’t feel a little uncomfortable speaking out on a divisive issue. It takes courage. Even if you’re sure it’s the right thing to do.

To do something today takes effort. Physical less so than mental and emotional. Exposing myself to severe injustice and pain is hard. It makes me sad. And then it makes me angry. And then it makes me shameful when I think how I’ve let my pain and anger stop me from acting, recognizing that if it feels this bad just watching what’s going on in Israel and Palestine how much worse it must be to experience it.

What these concerns eventually lead me to do is hide behind activism past and future. I tell myself that I have good reasons for not doing something today, but that I’ve done well in the past and will do better in the future. 

I say things like ”I usually take these kinds of issues seriously, but I just haven’t felt up to this one”. “I spoke out the last time”. ” I’ll do better tomorrow”.

I’m not here to tell anybody that what they’ve done in the past doesn’t matter or to claim that none of us will keep our future promises, but what convicts me as I write this is and reflect upon my reasons for inaction today in favor of activism past and future is that yesterday is just made up of lost today’s and tomorrow is nothing more than today’s yet to come.

It’s comforting to hold on to past activism, but like that quote next to my bed was supposed to remind me, yesterday is but a dream. Past activism was important then and of course it matters now, but it won’t save anybody today.

Similarly, pledges of future support are noble and necessary, but tomorrow is only a vision. It’s not real. 

The hard truth: Today is what lies between my romanticized promises of future activism and my rememberings of past support. Today is the only day that means something. Today is the only day that’s real. Today is the only day where my visions of the future and dreams of the past can be tested against the reality of action or inaction. 

“In today’s brief course lie all the verities and realities of your existence.”

In other words, Today is the only day that I can prove I am who I say I am.

Today is the day to do the work to make up my mind about the issues. Today is the day to muster up the courage to speak out for what I know is right. Today is the day to put in the physical and emotional effort on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Israel and Palestine. 

What I’ve done yesterday and what I hope to do tomorrow are irrelevant. Not unimportant, but yes, irrelevant.

If I see the atrocities of the Israel and Palestine war, and I choose to do nothing every today, then I have not only affirmed who I truly am, but I have also condemned every yesterday to be a nightmare of grief and every tomorrow a vision of suffering for the people of Israel and Palestine.

“But today well lived makes yesterday a dream of happiness and tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well therefore to this Day”

MAKE THIS CAUSE, YOUR CAUSE

So what now? How do I actually look well to this day?

The first we thing we should all be doing is donating.

I understand the skepticism around the impact of giving money to non-profits, and I can appreciate the sentiment that just giving is not enough, but money matters. The organizations on the ground, sitting with and serving the people of Israel and Palestine, need money to do what they do. And what they do – offering medical assistance and supplies, finding clean drinking water for children, providing holistic education, social, and health services to Palestinian refugees – is probably more helpful than most of what you and I, who aren’t in Israel and Palestine, can do.

The next thing we should all be doing is finding a way to make this cause personal.

Much of the complaints about modern day activism are that it appears inauthentic and performative. I can appreciate this. We’ve all seen it – you’re scrolling on instagram and in between your friend sharing their favorite song from Drake’s latest album and their whimsical Halloween costume, they share a super serious post from the NY Times about the rising death toll in the war. I’ve been this person too so no judgement at all, but, truthfully, posts like this can look a bit out of place. Kind of like “alright fine here, let me interrupt my normal content stream and share the latest infographic that’s been making its way around social media”.

It’s too easy to scroll past that as “just another post about the war”, especially when that’s the 17th time today you’ve seen that exact same post.

Raising awareness and communicating a consistent message – like the inhumanity of a rising death toll – are necessary. We need to keep making noise until people listen. But I think we also need to make it look like we – as unique individuals – genuinely care about what’s going on. If you don’t look like you actually care, why should I?

People want authenticity. People notice authenticity. People take time out of their days to engage with authenticity.

So my challenge to you: find that thing about this war that rubs against your identity. Find that thing about this war that stands in opposition to who you say you are. And then share that.

For me, I have a very strong, sometimes narrow, sense of right and wrong. I’m extremely sensitive to things that appear to be moral infractions in my mind. This may sound like a good thing, but, truth be told, it has it downsides (we’ll get to that in another post). But in this case, it’s made me really sensitive to the immorality of innocent death. That’s what really clashes with me.

I’m also a big on personal consistency. Hence all the “today is the only day you can prove you are who you say you are” propaganda. Maybe that doesn’t resonate with you. But thinking of my action – or rather my inaction – in the face of what I deem to be immorality, through the lens of my desire to be personally consistent, is what motivated me to write this post in the first place.

And there’s the last thing – I enjoy writing. Writing feels authentic to me. I don’t post on social media often, so throwing up the latest infographic on the war would feel disingenuous. On the other hand, writing a smooth 10 minute think piece about the war through the slightly philosophical argument that only today is real and that personal consistency is all that matters is, strangely enough, more representative of me than just posting on social media. And I hope – emphasis on hope – that people will see that and feel more inclined, or curious, to engage with this vs. an Instagram post.

WHAT FEELS AUTHENTIC TO YOU?

Some of you make music. Some of you make videos. Some of you write poetry. Some of you are great teachers. Some of you are just really good at having genuine conversations with friends that could make them see the war in a new light. Some of you are really funny and can make jokes about the war that are funny but also somehow respectful of and help illuminate the lived experiences of the people suffering in Israel and Palestine? Listen, I don’t know what you do. But you probably do something. Keep doing that. Just don’t make it only about you this time. Find a way to use it as a voice for your activism. Use it to make this war personal.

MY LAST SLIGHTLY PHILOSOPHICAL ARGUMENT ABOUT ONLY TODAY BEING REAL AND THE IMPORTANCE OF PERSONAL CONSISTENCY

Tomorrow becomes today so quickly. During past crises, many of us have said we’ll do better tomorrow. But today is the tomorrow of the Russia and Ukraine War. Today is the tomorrow of the Uyghur persecution in China. Today is the tomorrow of the last Israel vs Palestine conflict. Today is the tomorrow of the Black Lives Matter Movement. Today is the tomorrow of all the past pain and suffering that we’ve seen doled out to innocent people around the world.

Please. Let today be the day that you prove to everybody else, and most importantly, to yourself, that you are exactly who you say you are.