well this fucking sucks

I’m not gonna dance around it: this post is about abortion.

if you aren’t aware, Roe v. Wade has been overturned by the US Supreme Court.

right now, it’s a little hard to see straight. this isn’t the first time something truly outrageous has happened in the world, and many of the patterns ought to be clear to us by now. there will be rage. there will be violence. there will be grief, and heartbreak, and indignation, and malice, and undeniable, unstoppable sadness.

and there will be needless loss of life.

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to live is to risk having your heart broken.

and there’s no way around this fact, which can be, well… terrifying.

when we put ourselves out into the world, we have no choice but to trust others not to hurt us.

we try to protect ourselves, either with shields and armor, or swords and weapons. we take up strategic positions, either bracing for impact or waiting to strike, and we are so often convinced that life and love are a battlefield. we condense an entire galaxy of feeling and emotion and complexity into something local and straightforward. we do it so that we can make sense of this gigantic, expansive, awesome, dynamic, and incredible universe that we live in—not just with our bodies, but with our souls.

so often, this is a necessary procedure. otherwise, we might never get through any single day.

but when we’re faced with the things that matter, it’s so important that we avoid this.

it’s so important that muster the courage to be vulnerable. that we risk injury and heartbreak.

it’s so important that we stand where we are visible, with our eyes open and our arms spread wide.

because this is not a war.

it is a life.

and there is so much more to be said than just, “fuck the world.”