Together In The Flames

After many conversations over the course of the last week, one thing has become clear to me: we need to stand together.

The point of Nerdom is to create a safe space for nerds to come together. It's also a place for us to share our nerd knowledge with others, so they can learn about our world. It was never meant to be a platform for me to use as a soapbox, but today we open up to the world as a whole, outside of ourselves. It would be negligent to use this platform to post as if nothing is happening, while our country cries and screams for justice.

I myself posted shortly after the protests started that words are not enough, and they aren't. Words are not enough, but it is incredibly important that distinctions are made clear, especially when everything around us feels so uncertain. My Mess stands with you. The oppressed, the silenced, the hurting, I stand with you. I never want there to be a single thread of doubt for my black friends and family that I would do anything besides stand with them. I cannot possibly begin to imagine the fear and the rage that is echoing through their hearts, but I have sobbed and I have mourned. I have felt a disgust so deep it begins to surpass understanding because how could anyone discredit the immensity of human life?

"Life is messy" might be part of our slogan, but this mess is something that cannot be condoned. This is a mess that needs to be cleaned up. Many people are stumbling through their days in a flurry of mixed emotions, trying to make sense of a movement in our time. I plead with all of you to cling to at least this one truth: there is nothing on this planet more valuable than a human life. I'm not asking you to all of a sudden make sense of all of your emotions, but to remember that life is fragile, and our lives, our loved ones' lives, are fleeting. If there is anything in this world worth protecting, it is the value of human life indiscriminately, and we CANNOT forget that. I have watched both cities that I have lived in and loved, burn. As I watched the flames from the safety of my phone screen, with notifications from friends and family still in the Twin Cities and Chicago, I felt useless as my heart caught fire. It caught and burned with the desire for radical change. It burned with the hope that these cities could be rebuilt in a future where life is not looked at so cheaply but cherished. Where justice prevails and fear has no place.

For those of you who don't know what to do, I challenge you to try researching where you can help. Here is a great starting point with a lot of resources. If not physically at the protests or clean up efforts, know there are plenty of organizations where you can donate to. If you don't have the financial means, know something everyone can do, is to reject silence. We are stronger when we stand together. Raise your voice and add to the choir shouting for change. Radical change comes at price that cannot be paid for alone, nor should it be. Stand together, for a future brighter than the flames we're in.