For years, they’ve held us back. Pushed us down. Stolen our voices. Our power.

They. The false dilemmas. The dualities. The accepted belief that we must be one or the other. The narrative that screams ‘you cannot be both’.

For generations we’ve accepted the idea that we must choose one or the other.

We must be kind or be honest.

Be peaceful or be bold.

Speak up or settle down.

Be strong or be soft.

Be a uniter or be a protector.

But none of it is true. Not a single bit of it could possibly be true, because you cannot have one without the other. You cannot be one without the other.

We were crippled by the choices. Each manufactured dilemma was like a link in the chain that kept us from knowing our strength.

But times have changed.

And we are remembering.

We’re remembering that sometimes love is the bared teeth of a mother protecting her cub.

We’re remembering that we can practice compassion while still calling out the bullshit.

We can feel the connectedness of all things but with an eagle’s vision pinpoint where the work is needed.

We can love and forgive others but still feel and express our anger at injustice.

We can be peace AND take solid form to fight for it.

We can be gentle yet carry a fierceness that makes giants shake.

All of the philosophies and categories. Boxed in by adjectives that we believed were mutually exclusive – they kept us in place. In line. In silence. Because when forced to choose of course we chose peace. And love. And connection. And the still quiet of an open heart.

But there was never a choice required.

We can dance with peace and activism in the same night. We can play musical chairs with hope and anger and forgiveness and still be having fun.

We can be whole and still make use of each of our parts.

We can be humble while having a thunderous voice.

We are hurricanes and also gentle, flowing rivers.

We can move a chess piece without forgetting that it’s only a game. Not held down by identifiers or pre-packaged sides.

We can walk and talk and be in peace even as we swing the sledgehammer that tears a castle down.

For years they held us down.

But times have changed. The chains are not holding. We remember.

©️ Cristen Writes