Sometimes words fail. I don’t know about you, but after getting past “Nazis are bad” and “hate is bad” it can be difficult to know what to say or add to the conversation. Sometimes we have to act for good, giving of our time, money, and creativity to make the world a better place in whatever way and space we can, but still can’t find the words to represent or contain our emotions and reactions and all that messy stuff we try to work through in our art, our writing, our living. So I’m rather thankful this week for the quote I found in the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Ten Ways to Fight Hate: A Community Response Guide and I wanted to share it with you.

First, go read the guide. It is full of useful tips and actions that we can all take to make the world a better place, a place of goodness and welcome, a place where everyone is valued and safe. That’s a world that I want to help bring about and I want to live in.

Second, remember that goodness has a right to be in the conversation, too. (And, whenever you need it, there is always the PSA from xkcd about free speech, too.) We can spread goodness, at work and at home, in our communities and across the world. One person can only do so much, but together we can do a lot. And while it is really, really difficult to continue creating art in such a time, we need to do that, too. It can sustain us so we can continue fighting and it can be used, as we’ve seen for resistance.

Also, if you’re like me and a lot of your creativity takes the form of writing, it can be helpful to know you are not alone in finding it difficult to write now and good to read other writers who also all about getting art done at the same time as working to better the world through their activism and support of various causes and organizations. For a bit of cheer and something concrete you can do, go read the guest post from Michael Damian Thomas on Terrible Minds then go support Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction. Also, check out the 10 Things for Good from Janine Vangool, the publisher, editor, and designer of Uppercase. 

I hope you find some way to help spread goodness today in the world and whatever kindness you can. I hope you find it in you to create and share your art because we need it, always. And I hope you find some joy in whatever small things you can because we need joy to continue our work, our art, and our lives. Let’s smother the hate of the world with goodness in speech, action, and art. I know together we can do it! 🙂