Planes have landed. Buses are loaded. Signs made, coffee consumed. We pack our children up, put on our hats and shirts and head toward a moment. A moment to capture.
But will we back tomorrow?
The Women’s Marches across the country today are an important moment, emblematic of a moment in our national story. But is it only a moment? Only one day?
In fact, some women have declared that they’re not marching today for that very reason. They don’t want to fall into the trap of feeling accomplished. They anticipate a lot of today’s marchers will feel they’ve checked off the box on their activism to-do list and can go back to liking things on Facebook and signing online petitions.
And they’re not wrong. After all, in some ways it seems that we have made the march into a bit of crutch – something to look forward to, a mere symbol of what is to come. But who is planning for tomorrow? Or for Monday? Do we just rest? Do we wait? Do we sit and watch our social media for the next event invitation? Do we become sheep again?
There is certainly strength in numbers. There is undoubtedly a beauty in all of us walking in solidarity as one.
But there is a beauty in the next day as well – a beauty in the work of the next day.
That work is slow. It is hard, unforgiving and thankless. It will take time and commitment and it won’t be on TV or on social media or acknowledged in any way publicly. It will be the words we tell our children tomorrow. It will be the books we pick for them to read, the music we listen to, the art we patronize. It will be learning from, listening to and even questioning those who teach our children.
But it will also be in our community. Not just our larger, metaphorical community, but our actual community. Our neighborhoods, our schools, our counties. It will require us to make time to participate in our local PTAs, our village boards, city councils, school boards.
It will mean that we get up and vote at the local level – not just the national level, but local. Yes, your April primary matters. Yes, those ballot initiatives, referendums, open seats for this board, that commission, the county and municipal courts — they all matter.
It will mean that we get to know those who represent us. Not just nationally. Not just in soundbites, in tweets, or even in our local news. It means we show up at the town hall and ask our questions. It means we attend those council meetings to voice our support or our dissent. It means letter writing. It means phone calls.
It means that we engage. Spend (and invest) in our local businesses. Local community centers. Our neighborhood associations. Engaging in our schools and in our teachers. Our principals, and our superintendents. Engaging in the non-profits – who support our community, our children, our loved ones, our friends and neighbors and our most vulnerable.
It means we stay vigilant. That we call out not just those who might oppress us, not those who would stay silent, not just those who are supposed to represent us, but ourselves. And we take that lesson and we hear and we learn and we do better. That we realize that it is not just about the apology for our mistakes, but how we make those mistakes right.
It means we support our children – with conversations, with reading, and even with disagreement and debate. We teach them by word and example — we show them how we engage, how we support, how we stay active. We support them in learning, in experiencing, and in voicing and demonstrating their talent and intelligence, and sometimes we even support them in their own dissent.
It means being honest. Honest about what you know and what you don’t know. Honest that you might have once been apathetic. Honest that you’re now showing up where some of us have been present for a long time. Honest that those of us who’ve been here a while appreciate your showing up, but we might not give you a pat on the back. Honest when we don’t feel like doing it today, but we do, because we have to, because the bar is set higher, there are more steps for some of us to get where we want to be, where we want our children to be
It means we give back. We give our time to volunteer. We give our time to participate, appreciate, plan and execute. We give our steps to follow those who need us. We show up not to speak for them, but to stand with them.
It means that we understand that it’s not just about the one march on Saturday – it’s about the long march ahead.
It means we come back tomorrow, and Monday and the next day. In any way that we can.
