The Greatest Tool Of The Oppressor

A brief reflection on despair and hope

The greatest tool of the oppressor is despair.

But their greatest deception is convincing you that it is not despair they wield against you, but hope. They convince you that hope is the enemy, because the only hope they leave room for is the passive, fragile hope of just waiting for things to get better.

And things don't get better.

So you turn towards despair. Maybe you give up, and rot. Maybe you rage, trying to bring the walls down around you. Walls that you can never shake because they are just too big for one person, and no one will ever join you because you are just too angry. And anger has its place. There is righteous fury in revolution.

But what you forgot is the other kind of hope. Active, optimistic hope. Hope that writes, and builds, and teaches. Hope that bridges chasms and defies all odds to create a new world

When they tell you that hope is complacency, and they lure you into despair, they want to convince you that hope is foolishness, and despair is seeing with eyes wide open. They want you to forget about connection. They want you to forget about love.