How Can I Embrace Love to Sustain My Activism?

Recognizing the Pull of Despair in Turbulent Times

As I sit down to write this in a local coffee shop, I am feeling the heaviness of these tumultuous times. 

Oh, the things I wish I could say when the barista casually exclaims, “Hi, how’s it going?” as I order my coffee. Without thought, I simply and instinctually respond with “Fine, thanks!” in a pleasant attempt to appease the societal expectation surrounding this informal chat.

I wish I could be honest.

At an urban protest, people walk through the streets with signs exclaiming "No Justice, No Peace" and "Silence is Compliance." Photo Credit: Kelly M Lacy
At an urban protest, people walk through the streets with signs exclaiming “No Justice, No Peace” and “Silence is Compliance.” Photo Credit: Kelly M Lacy

I’m angry. I’m disgusted, afraid, enraged, deeply concerned, and hurt.

I am straight-up not having a good time.

Instead of unloading my true feelings on a stranger, I began to ask myself questions. Why am I so angry? Why do I feel an incessant bubbling-over feeling, like a scream is building in the back of my throat? Because I can see that everything is Bad with a capital B, and we are only at the beginning of a long, dreary onslaught of very Bad circumstances.

The urge to turn away from it all, to disengage completely, is so tempting right now. I want to escape, run away from this dumpster fire as fast as I can. The inclination to crawl under a rock and allow the paralyzing fear to dissipate into a wave of soft, gentle dissociation sounds really lovely.

Perhaps you are feeling the pull towards detachment as well.

This time around, with the inauguration of Trump 2.0, I almost succumbed to numbness. I don’t want to go through this again; I don’t want to bear witness to one injustice after another for the next four years; stewing in a simmering rage; marinating in an icy panic.

In frustration, I asked myself: what do I need to do differently this time? 

What is going to keep me engaged, activated, eager and energetic to participate in the restoration of justice in my country? 

How am I going to hold it together when I sincerely feel like melting into a puddle of detachment? Hope isn’t going to work this time.

The Root of Activism: Love

When did it all begin for me? Going back in time, I return to my desk in my college Animal Physiology classroom. Twenty-one-year-old me is in awe, learning about the mechanics of a bird’s wing; the superpowers of a freshwater fish’s kidneys; the ability of a frog to breathe across its skin. I grew up loving the birds, the frogs, the fish, and the bats. In college, learning the intricacies and inner workings of my beloved animal kin, that love only intensified.

There it is. It’s love.

A woman holds a young child close to her chest, gridded sunlight shining down upon them. Photo Credit: Edward Eyer
A woman holds a young child close to her chest, gridded sunlight shining down upon them. Photo Credit: Edward Eyer

I am enraged that my country, once again, has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, because of how deeply I love animals and trees and rivers and the infinite universe that exists within a gram of soil. I love snow in the winter and gentle thunderstorms in the spring. I love the intricate, artistic masterpiece that is a patch of moss. I love fireflies on a warm summer evening; the glorious privilege of spotting a red fox in the morning; the smell of crisp, clean air in autumn.

This is not a brief, fleeting, surface-level love. 

No, my love for the natural world defines me, sustains me, nourishes me. The deepest core of my being is luminous with love.

It is unfortunate that my joyous, glowing love is so easily stamped out by fear and anger.

Every social injustice inflicted upon marginalized communities by the current set of billionaires in the Oval Office has made me furious. Why? I’m a middle-class, white, cisgender woman without any disabilities – the attacks inflicted by Trump 2.0 are unlikely to affect me! Why should I care about transgender erasure, mass deportations, villainization of DEI programs, suggestions of ethnic cleansing, attempts to strip away what little reproductive freedom remains for women, censorship of science, dismantling of public health and education, and so on? I can still go about my daily life as if nothing is wrong. Right? No, I’m enraged.

There it is again. It’s love.

I learned about community love from one of the greats.

bell hooks: Envisioning Life Through a Love Ethic

bell hooks (1952 – 2021) was a poet, activist, author, feminist, and professor. Her works shed light on the intersectionality of sexuality, race, gender, and class in eloquently beautiful ways. In all about love: new visions, hooks unveils the concept of a love ethic:

“Culturally, all spheres of American life – politics, religion, the workplace, domestic households, intimate relations – should and could have as their foundation a love ethic. The underlying values of a culture and its ethics shape and inform the way we speak and act. 

A love ethic presupposes that everyone has the right to be free, to live fully and well.” – bell hooks

Activist and author bell hooks believed revolution must center on love and self-transformation as much as changing the world. Her work tells us that we cannot continue to undermine or hurt each other if we wish to build a better society. Photo Credit: Karjean Levine
Activist and author bell hooks believed revolution must center on love and self-transformation as much as changing the world. Her work tells us that we cannot continue to undermine or hurt each other if we wish to build a better society. Photo Credit: Karjean Levine

By practicing a love ethic, we do not question the value of every human being, every leaf on every tree, or every animal relative. We can solidify a love ethic into the essence of our culture “by embracing a global vision wherein we see our lives and our fate as intimately connected to those of everyone else on the planet.”

We survive and thrive only alongside the survival and flourishing of the waters, the soil, the air, the plants, the animals, and our communities.

Guided by a love ethic, we advocate for the rights of our neighbors, regardless of their race, sexuality, economic status, religion, or nationality.

The current administration thrives on our collective fear of the “other,” feeding us reasons to condone violence against those who do not look like us. 

“Fear is the primary force upholding structures of domination. It promotes the desire for separation, the desire not to be known. When we choose to love we choose to move against fear – against alienation and separation. The choice to love is a choice to connect – to find ourselves in the other.” – bell hooks

Love as An Act of Resistance

It hit me – to succumb to my fears would be letting the billionaires win. If I allowed my fear and anger to wrap me in a cocoon of numbness, this hateful administration would win.

Two hands join, illuminated by a prismatic ray of light. Photo Credit: Cottonbro Studio
Two hands join, illuminated by a prismatic ray of light. Photo Credit: Cottonbro Studio

Love is an act of resistance.

Entwining love with everything I do will sustain me and my activism. But it will not be easy. 

“To live our lives based on the principles of a love ethic (showing care, respect, knowledge, integrity, and the will to cooperate), we have to be courageous. Learning how to face our fears is one way we embrace love. Our fear may not go away, but it will not stand in the way. 

Those of us who have already chosen to embrace a love ethic, allowing it to govern and inform how we think and act, know that when we let our light shine, we draw to us and are drawn to other bearers of light. We are not alone.” – bell hooks

Have you adopted the love ethic into your daily life, into your activism? 

I invite you to choose love over fear, today, as soon as possible.

I invite you to take my hand, stand tall with me against the pillars of hatred that have been erected in our country’s capital, and shine our light upon the barriers to justice.

The road will not be easy.

Anger and fear will try to numb us, but love can carry us.

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Briana Anderson

Briana is a wildlife ecology and conservation enthusiast. She has researched best practices for coral reef conservation in Belize, pioneered non-harmful methods of researching bats with white-nose syndrome, studied the relationship between the microbiome and cancer, and sought ways to reduce migratory bird mortality due to giant, reflective skyscrapers. She currently serves as Director of Community Engagement for Scraps KC, and she also teaches biology at Metropolitan Community College. Along with trying adamantly to reduce her consumption of single-use plastic, she is on a journey to implement activism into every aspect of her life in a balanced, mindful, heart-centered way.  That is why I felt compelled to create this "Ask The Resilient Activist" column, to answer the questions I found myself asking as I started my resilient activist journey.