Being Woke

In honor of Internationally Women’s Day, March 8, 2019:

In this months “O” magazine they ask, “here’s the question on the minds of well-meaning white women like me: How do you get woke?”

Merriam-Wester defines the term: “aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social injustice).”

It’s a term that has lost some luster over the years, but has come full circle once again. With the forces of social injustice and social media, hashtag movements have taken down goliaths in many industries, as millions marched across our nation and elsewhere on the planet. Our job is to “be woke, stay woke, live woke.” We do that by seeing and saying that which has been unseen and unspoken for way too long.

I believe many of my generation, then as now, are “woke.” You see them at every march, rally and demonstration, in every city and town across America, having reasons now to show up. What has changed is in the conversations we are having. No longer “afraid” to bring up uncomfortable subjects, we are finding common ground. DNA tests are also lending itself to just how much we have in common. Sister’s, arm-in-arm, are waking up the world. Exclusion is lonely and confusing. Inclusion and being heard is healing.

So, let’s take this a step further. My convictions to social injustices has always been part of my fiber. What has changed is how much of it we see every single day in the news sources and on social media. We are bombarded by it. This is where the struggles are. This is where we can easily become overwhelmed to the point of turning it off completely, or worse, start letting the negative seep in. How do we stay focused and grounded for the better good?

For sure, seek the truths beyond what you read or hear. For sure, show up and vote, even in your home town circles. For sure, have the difficult conversations. We have eyes and ears meant not to ignore, but to seek truth and justices for all. Solitude is a good thing to bring you balance, but not to hide away from the world that you can help by your involvement to make it better. Be present. Be kind. Volunteer. Every small deed raises up the vibration of the planet.
This I believe is being “Woke.”