Rain On My Parade And I Will Cut You
Okay, first off-
*MUPPETFLAIL*
AAAAAAHH!
Wendy Davis! DOMA! Prop 9! Has this been crazy or what!?
AAAAAAAAAAHH!
I am proud of Texas, and I am never proud of Texas. And I can’t even tell you on the DOMA thing. Dude. Some days you can actually stand on a rock and watch history washing over you.
Ahem.
That said.
You know what I haven’t seen anyone say? Not once? On any of these things?
“Oh my god, you guys, we won and now the fight is over FOREVER and everyone can go home!”
Surprisingly lack of that.
Also, not much in the “The SCOTUS is the best thing ever and I totally agree with everything they have done in the last few years, GO SCOTUS!” line. Distinct shortage, actually.
Nevertheless, if any conversation goes for more than about five minutes with people going “OH MY GOD, THIS IS AWESOME!” someone will pop up and say “But the Voting Rights Act!” “But you just know that Rick Perry’s going to call another session!” “You know we haven’t really won.”
This is beginning to gall me.
Yes. This is a battle. It is not the war. It will never be the war. The war against bigotry and oppression is unending, like the war against stupidity and entropy and apathy.
We are still allowed to celebrate our victories.
We are still allowed to praise our heroes-to cheer for Wendy Davis and thousands of people who said “Fine, arrest me, I WILL BE HEARD.” That there may be another battle next week-and there will be-and we will likely lose it-does not make those acts of heroism any less heroic. It does not mean that we cannot cheer.
To put it another way, if I finish the patio, loads of rock, stone by stone, back-breaking labor and all-and I step back and go “Hot damn, the patio is lookin’ good!” and my husband* walks behind me and says “Yeah, but you know the upstairs hallway’s still not painted,” I am legally allowed to dismember him with a shovel.
(Pretty sure that was in our vows, actually. Have to double check. Unitarian minister, so it seems likely.)
So. You want to talk about this in your own space, for god’s sake, do it! Say “I have mixed feelings about this because of X and Y.” Say “I love this, but I’m scared that it won’t last.” Say anything you want-your blog, your Twitter, your opinion.
But if a bunch of people are cheering in their space, do you really need to wade in and go “Stop being happy right this minute! It’s not over! You haven’t REALLY won!”? Must you hit reply and say “But! But! But! HORROR DOOM WOE!” on the off-chance that they might possibly have one unadulterated moment of glee in a hard-fought victory?
Seriously, guys. Unless somebody is saying “WE HAVE WON FOREVER!” cut ‘em some damn slack already. Tomorrow we will pick up the shovels again.
Give us one damn day to cheer.
*Ha! I love saying that. And now a whole bunch of my friends get to say it to, with the law behind them!
Originally published at Tea with the Squash God. You can comment here or there.