What if we …

Author’s image taken 30 April 2025

“This is the time when artists go to work. Not when everything is alright. Not when it looks sunny. It’s when it’s hard. And I thought of all those people who wrote in prisons, in gulags,

under duress, they were doing it… so it’s more interesting to me, the more complicated, sophisticated, creative ways people do good things… as something that one can inquire about as well as execute.” 

Toni Morrison reads from and discusses “God Help the Child”” at 92nd Street Y, New York

https://youtu.be/w1c–uSctVg?si=9qqHjawv3513KvY6

What if we focus our attention away from the show of strength and power and move towards those who are being creatively productive human beings? 

What if our vision shifted to those who hail from places around the world where most of our raw materials, a lot of our food and much of our human talent lies?

What if we were to support movements of the less powerful in the world and seek alliances with each other?

What if we moved away from the relentless consumerism of media that conjoins fake and real news so that we can be more consciously critical?

What if we ate from our localities, consumed from what is created in our midst?

What if we joined a new model of non-aligned states to construct our own ways of living and being in and with the world?

What if we became more reliant on each other and all our talents, skills and bounty?

What if we break free from the single story in western ideologies and western thought towards a greater understanding of our indigenous families around the world?

What if we were to make just one decision that could connect us to writers, thinkers, creators, innovators that are forming their own distribution networks and becoming more interconnected and equitable?

What if we held fast to our own beliefs about the world?

What if we recognised that it is within us to turn our focus elsewhere?

This is the time. When it is hard and when we are bruised, but not broken. A time when we recognise the infinite possibilities for the 8 billion humans on this planet, the non-humans and all our natural resources with one small change in our focus. I believe this is the time. 

And this song, written and performed in 1988 by Tracy Chapman holds true for me today.