Monday, February 03, 2025

Joy Doesn't Have to be Ignorant

People talk about being blissfully ignorant. And so I think there is a temptation to believe that being happy when terrible things are happening must mean you are ignoring them. Except I can be informed and happy. When we talk about things like hope being a discipline (to paraphrase Mariame Kaba) it means that you have to work at being hopeful. 
As a teen someone told me when I was upset about something that I could just choose to be happy. And oooh, that felt like being told to calm down. To choose happiness.
But perhaps, what that adult was (badly) trying to say to me is that there will often be terrible things, injustices, and unfairness. Some of them will be things I can help with or plug into in some way. And some of them will not.  But I also needed to make space to find joy. Because without the ability to find some joy I was going to flame out and also things would still be unfair or terrible. 
It is hard when several of my communities are being attacked. My hyper vigilance wants to watch. But I also need to eat food that makes me feel good, and read stories about people flirting and baking. 
To pick climate change as an example me watching how many hottest days we have, refreshing temperatures, scrolling flood stories, it won't change things. I can't will climate change to slow. (Rude but true.) I can, of course, do my part. And I can stay abreast of the changes. Lobby for more.  But if I never go walk through the park, or admire the sky, what even was all that worry for?