Politics tears friends apart and brings enemies together.

— Anastasia🌟Valentine (@Celestial8Pearl) January 15, 2020

I am very sick and tired of politics now, and I have been for most of my life. So much so that from the moment I found out what anarchism was years ago I decided that I was an undeniable and unapologetic anarchist myself. I have not changed my mind since— In fact, if anything, everything I have seen up to this point in my life has only ever strengthened my beliefs that anarchy is inherently the most natural and wonderful government that Earth has ever seen. All other forms of government employ some degree of fascism and violence (admittedly some more than others) under the guise of “this is what is best for us”. But governments of all forms have failed humanity time and time again. Even with all of history behind us there are so many people TO THIS DAY that will voluntarily place their faith in political candidates only to be disappointed when they realize that, ‘OMG this didn’t fix everything after all’ later on. I won’t put my trust into politics or political candidates: I’d rather occupy MYSELF.

Life is too short and too precious to be wasted casting our pearls amongst swine. The swine is our oppressors, our pearls are our attention. Throughout my own journey through life I’ve learned that there will always be swine, and there will always be pearls, but we can individually choose to give our attention to one or the other. I used to be of the opinion that not giving attention to bad things means that the bad things will multiply & overtake us— you know what I learned from that? The bad things will multiply ANYWAYS whether you’re paying attention to them or not, but the good things that are ALSO multiplying won’t even scan on your radar. The only way my life has ever gotten BETTER is when I decided to pursue joy despite everything, when I decided to pay attention to my own thoughts & feelings in spite of existing in a world that is always fucking burning somewhere. I know I’m gonna die one day, I’m not trying to escape my mortality-- but I AM trying to live the best life I can right now, and that can only happen when I am occupying MYSELF.

Maybe that makes me selfish... but then again, so is every single person engaged in the socially corrosive bloodbath we call politics.