If you believe in timelines or different worlds where 2023 is completely different, that seems to me like an inspiring idea. That means in a timeline next to ours, they took their first step into making the world we would like to have.

Who’s to say we aren’t doing that here now? Who’s to say we can’t be the timeline where we get communism in our lifetimes? If multiple universes are possible, then in one of those universes, the timeline diverged right now and a chain of events will unfold leading to the reversal of climate change. Bad things are happening right now, but there’s still so much possibility out there. Looking back as a pessimist, I didn’t expect same sex marriage getting legalized, the positive conversations around sex and consent in general, massive contradictions of capitalism getting noticed by the population as a whole, or the destigmatization of leftism in the US.

It’s bad out here, but the me from 2016 expected worse. I’m not saying slow down or disengage from the world if you have the bandwidth to do so. I’m not saying we should wait for the universe we want to bring itself into existence. I’m saying that we can still do things to make the world we want to see. I don’t think it’s too late and anyone who says otherwise benefits from our apathy. Join an org, talk about politics to people who will listen, answer questions even if it’s obvious to you. If nothing else, take care of yourself and survive knowing that every day you spend enjoying your life deeply and personally hurts chuds everywhere. If we keep persevering through this, we might get to see our efforts pay off. We could be in a good timeline.

Anyway, I wrote this as a thanks to the community I met here who validated my experiences and made me read theory. I just finished Parenti’s Black Shirts and Reds and bell hooks’ The Will to Change. I’ll share them with my IRL friends.