Complacency is death. Accepting that which we are given, what happens to come our way, the lies we are told, the platitudes tossed casually in our direction, is to be something less than an apex human. 

Living in this moment is to feel hemmed in by a phalanx of seemingly intractable problems, issues so entrenched that we are made to feel that we cannot make a difference. Those in power, those tragicomic troglodytes that pollute our media and our minds, they want you to shrug your shoulders and accept that “it is what it is.” Don’t.

We and those we love are besieged by monsters of all stripes — buffoonishly dangerous (or dangerously buffoonish?) presidents, corporate sharks, seventh grade girls. Part of their power, their ability to lurk and linger, is in creating the impression that they are inevitable, that any ensuing misdeeds simply cannot be avoided, that it is all just somehow part of the fabric of life. Hypnotized by the circular nature of the reasoning, the intrinsic urge to resist the capital-fascist conglomerate that is our current scourge could fade into the background, willpower drained.

Bollocks to that idea. Free of will, strong of heart, righteously indignant, we must stand against the very idea that we must live with that which is imposed upon us. Authority has always been irksome, the idea of a hierarchy based on circumstance or collusion or oppression being highly anathema to the organizing principles of merit and justice that have formed my core. Wealth being the corollary attribute to sociopolitical and economic dominance, I have long held a distrust of the rich and powerful and the values that they espouse.

Stubborn enough to believe that I can effectuate change, I refuse to consider that I cannot accomplish something that I want to do because it is too big or too set in stone. I chafe at being told that something is being done because it has always been done that way. It does not make sense to me that we can allow behaviors to occur simply because they have occurred in the past, regardless of their depravity or deviance. Barriers to action need not be actual bulwarks; the mental blocks can be even more insidious. 

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I seriously and probably delusionally think that I can help dismantle the broken legal system. I feel like it should be possible to have a communal economy. I think that any person suffering under a long-term unhappiness in their relationship should leave. I cannot imagine why we would abide teenage girls behaving with the empathy of Torquemada. It is maddening that we have come to accept a corporate overlord sapping the soul of our mountain community. There is no logic to me in sitting idly by while agents of chaos threaten our lives and livelihoods and sanity. 

It is easy to understand why we have become frozen. We are exhausted and overwhelmed and our motivation to fight obvious wrongs is outweighed by our desire to live a simpler, quieter life, insulated from the distractions. It is ironic that we watch reality television to escape from the actual reality broadcast on the news — that this trope is becoming overplayed accentuates the depression of its truth. We don’t think we have the resources, we assume we must be the only ones appalled, we don’t know where to begin.

Start now. Speak up. Call it out. Take a stand. Plant a tree. Give your enemy a hug. Forget your troubles and focus on someone else’s. Write your senator … a poem. Or, maybe, send him a drawing of your middle finger. I suppose you could do both. Do something. It does not have to be how it is. 

T.J. Voboril is a founding partner at Alpenglow Law, LLC, a local law firm, and the Owner/Mediator at Voice Of Reason Dispute Resolution. For more information, please contact him at 970-306-6456, tj@alpenglowlaw.com, or visit AlpenglowLaw.com.