Dear friend,
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re a thinker. One of the things you think about is the damage we’re wreaking on the world we inhabit. Perhaps you’ve been actively involved with Extinction Rebellion, in Lewes or London or somewhere else. Perhaps you’ve been supporting us in other ways. Perhaps you’ve been thinking about getting involved, or you’re just visiting our website out of curiosity.
At a time like this there’s so much more to think about. The dreadful death count. The fear for your loved ones. The sheer, unprecedented scale of it. The huge, deeply unsettling uncertainties. The changes in your own life, and in society; the way the disease has laid bare the systemic shortcomings and inequalities and injustices. And the positives. Communities coming together. People supporting one another. Less traffic. Fewer planes. The spring unfolding around us. Nature having a breather. What to make of it all?
It’s hard to know what to think – and yet at such a time thinking becomes even more important. And so this is a plea for thought. We’ve been inspired by the wonderful art gallery our Creative team has put together by sourcing art from our members – if you haven’t seen it, visit http://xrlewes.org/art-gallery/ – and we’d like to do something similar on our website for the written word. So, please share your thoughts with us! They can be in any form you choose – a poem, or an essay, a piece of creative writing, a lockdown diary or an idea for an action or an idea for societal change or a joke. We aren’t being proscriptive!
For surely now, sharing our thoughts with one another is one of the best things we can do. As a way of therapy, of helping each other to deal with the terrible stress of it all, and also so that new ideas might emerge – ideas that may just help us to build something positive, so that out of this tragedy we might create a better world, with climate justice at the heart of it.
Please email us at xrlewes@gmail.com
Love and hope,
XR Lewes Central