Nothing Survives Without Food
Evolution doesn’t care if you’re happy.
Genes want survival: sex and cake.
Nothing survives without food,
said the Buddha. You are hungry
for the story you already believe.
You’ve already waited for God,
in his Judge Judy robe,
to tell everyone you were right.
And maybe you were right. But
you already know how that thought goes,
how it ends. That story
doesn’t care about your pain.
Stay with her.
Your pain, I mean.
Your pain is in pain. She is anthropomorphizing
herself. She has nothing to eat but story,
and nowhere to rest.
Stay in the room. Offer her the couch
for as long as she needs. You are learning how to listen
to her terrible wailing, how to hear wailing,
though she will want to make it because.
How to hold her.
How to listen without telling her
her story,
how to bring her tea, and how
to starve her.
Become a Sustaining Donor This September
Between the reemergence of right-wing red-baiting and Donald Trump’s use of the chilling National Security Presidential Memorandum–7 to criminalize left political organizing, we’re seeing McCarthyism reborn before our eyes.
This assault on democracy cannot be ignored or wished away. Resisting it requires bravery in the face of threats and repression, a steadfast commitment to the truth, and the unwavering belief that we can—and will—overcome this darkness.
We must have an independent media that sets the record straight, unearths corruption and abuses of power, and advances a politics of justice and dignity for all if we’re to win this fight.
That’s why I’m writing to you today. This September, The Nation needs to add 100 monthly donors to sustain our progressive journalism. Your contribution makes the next investigative report, the next truth-speaking column, and the next pathbreaking essay all possible.
I hope you’ll support our work with a recurring donation today. If you donate $10 or more a month, we’ll send you a brand new “Hands Off the Free Press!” sticker to recognise your commitment to our cause. Please, donate today.
Onward,
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation
