We’ve all heard it said that we no longer need to wonder what we would have been doing as the Nazis rose to power in the 1930s because it’s whatever we’re doing now. I would hear that and think, “I need to go to a rally or protest or something. I can’t just sit here.” Even as I thought that I knew I would never go. I can’t handle crowds.
It’s not JUST that I’m a LVL 9000 introvert, it’s the fact that being in large groups of people has physical effects on me that make it difficult to carry on. My breathing becomes laboured while the muscles in my back tighten to the point that it becomes difficult to stand and there’s nothing I’ve found that can make them relax again aside from getting out of the crowd.
I’m from the American South and spent time in the military, so I would tell myself that I would have been fighting the Nazis, but really, by then it’s too late. I wanted to add my voice to the chorus but struggled to find a way to do it. Even commenting on other peoples’ blog entries proved difficult. I would write, edit, and eventually discard everything I tried to say.
I saw a sign at a protest recently that read, “Things are so bad that even the introverts are here.” It made me laugh and then it made me angry that I wasn’t doing ANYTHING. It was shortly after that that I had the idea to start making street art in protest.
It’s still hard to get the courage to put them up. The anxiety is no picnic, but times are so f*cked up that I start feeling worse the longer I DON’T do something. Funnily enough, it’s not the idea of getting arrested or fined or whatever that makes me feel anxious, it’s the thought that I’d be forced to TALK to somebody in the process. If a cop just silently handed me a fine or put me in jail, I’d be fine with that as long as it meant I didn’t have to have a conversation :) .
I meant the title literally, by the way. If you’re one of the much braver souls that go to rallies and whatnot and you want to slap one my pieces on a sign, feel free. Or if you have an idea for a stencil and you need help figuring it out, message me and I’ll see what I can do.
If you like this stuff, you can find more on my Instagram thing and I’m going to try to get more involved here, too. I’ve been reading DK for quite a while without interacting, but now I feel like I need to get off my ass and do more. What little I can, at least...
Thanks for stopping by!