we are not alone

Leela Sinha: 00:00:02

They say I can't tell you what to do. That if I

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want you to change, I have to somehow work my way around the

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edges of your mind, weaving into it the seeds of possibility that

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then have to sprout and grow on their own. They say that I have

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to let you come to your own conclusions, that there is no

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way that my vision of what would be good and right and strong and

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true and powerful and beautiful, is something that I can just

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give you, that somehow your brain will not be open to

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possibilities, unless it finds them scrabbling in the dirt on

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its knees. They say that. They say that, but the thing that has

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most often given me inspiration is a window into somebody else's

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life, into somebody else's brain, into somebody else's

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transformation of frustration into possibility. And so here I

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am sitting in front of a microphone. Ari over at

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Saltwater Stars wrote this beautiful piece, and sent it out

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today; they talked about the way they've created success by

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moving from desire over and over again, and now, at the ripe old

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age of 28, and with their Saturn Return coming tomorrow, it's

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time for them to move from what that has created, what that

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moving from desire has created, which is for them freedom, which

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is for them, not breaking their back in service of a system that

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they actively do not wish to engage. And so I say to you,

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take this as your text, share your stories, do not be ashamed

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to share your stories. I don't know where we got the idea that

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sharing a story was rude. Somewhere along the way, someone

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decided that if they had gotten up the courage to share their

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story, that that meant that you should not share yours, that I

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should not share mine, that there had to be only one story

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in the room at a time because we couldn't form a collage, we

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couldn't overlap, we couldn't intersect in any kind of way

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that would be safe and strong and protective. That their story

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had to stand alone. That we had to stand alone and you know

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what? Trees that stand alone fall over. Redwoods are forests

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together. Nothing, absolutely nothing in this world is alone.

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And humans need humans. Even if we don't want to, even if we are

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frustrated and disgusted and up against, a wall humans need

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humans need humans all the time. We need each other. We need each

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other because we are not any of us perfect or complete. We are

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like the trees, we are a forest together. We also need the

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ground under our feet, the sky over our heads. The small and

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the large. The animals and the insects. The birds that fly,

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that remind us, that harken back to the times of dinosaurs and

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giant ferns. And before and before and before some of us,

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and our iPhones, closer to Tyrannosaurus Rex than

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Tyrannosaurus Rex was to other dinosaurs. That's how long they

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were here. That's how long they were here. This planet goes on

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and on and on and each layer overlaps the next layer.

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Somehow. Somehow. Each piece overlaps the next piece. Each

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story overlaps the last story and the next story, but also all

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the stories that are here at the same time. We are here at the

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same time. We are not alone. We are not alone. I have said since

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the beginning, that poetry is my first language. And that every

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other attempt to communicate is a forcing of the poem into a

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structure that someone else might comprehend.

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But I am tired of seeking other people's approval. I am tired of

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needing other people's approval. That was my first thought this

morning. And then Ari: 00:05:18

I moved from desire, I moved from

morning. And then Ari: 00:05:27

desire. We all have a desire to be known by someone in some way.

morning. And then Ari: 00:05:41

Even if it is only by the Earth itself. We all have a desire to

morning. And then Ari: 00:05:52

have a place, even if it is only enough space to breathe and eat

morning. And then Ari: 00:05:58

and sleep. But we all have a desire. We all have a desire and

morning. And then Ari: 00:06:09

that desire is connected to another desire or another being

morning. And then Ari: 00:06:13

or another, another something, a bigger something, a smaller

morning. And then Ari: 00:06:17

something, a sideways something, we are connected; we are not

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alone. Which is not to say that we are not individual. It is not

morning. And then Ari: 00:06:31

absurd to have the "I." But we are not alone. Our stories

morning. And then Ari: 00:06:43

overlap. And the worlds we are creating are not solely our own.

morning. And then Ari: 00:06:52

Our worlds overlap. Intersect. We Venn-diagram our ways into

morning. And then Ari: 00:07:03

community, supporting and co-supporting and decomposing

morning. And then Ari: 00:07:08

and breaking down together. Constantly together.

morning. And then Ari: 00:07:18

We are not alone. And your story is as important as mine. Each

morning. And then Ari: 00:07:27

story is as important as each other story. And when we bring

morning. And then Ari: 00:07:33

our stories together and we tell them and we share our narratives

morning. And then Ari: 00:07:38

and we share ourselves, we... we exist. For the first time

morning. And then Ari: 00:07:50

perhaps, we exist, when we are together. Which is all the time,