This past weekend, as protestors gathered under the banner of “No Kings,” decrying a system that feels increasingly rigged, I was fighting my own quiet war on a different front. The universe, it seemed, was throwing every possible obstacle in my path, a relentless and almost comical series of frustrations designed to make me stop. But the fight against a broken system isn’t just in the streets; sometimes, it’s in the chaotic, overwhelming pushback you feel when you’re trying to build something new.
It’s been a week of intense momentum. For the Labor Pains Project and my MetaCocoMom blog, things are suddenly accelerating. I’ve picked up extra work shifts to keep cash flowing. My role as Associate Producer for the Artist Magnet Justice Alliance’s upcoming performance at Yerba Buena Gardens has shifted into high gear as we go live tomorrow. I even piloted my first story-collecting workshop for the Labor Pains archive at Eastmont Mall. While attendance was small, the interest was palpable, leading me to schedule two more sessions to connect with seniors, mothers, and unemployed women across Oakland. To top it all off, a blog post about parenting went viral, demanding more of my analytical energy just as my wife fell seriously ill. It’s been more than a week packed into seven days.
Amidst this surge, the universe seemed to conspire against me. Determined to get ahead on writing, I left my laptop at home. The next morning, it was my wallet, left behind in a fanny pack that has now vanished along with my laptop. Every attempt to be productive—to move this work forward—has been met with a technical glitch, a frozen screen, a malfunctioning app. It feels like a targeted effort to get me to quit.
The devil is a liar.
This isn’t the universe conspiring against me. This is opposition. When you are swinging for the fences, when you are trying to change the paradigm of how we view American capitalism, you should expect to be distracted. You should expect pushback.
Last year, I didn’t have a wife, a car, or a steady job. I was terrified I wouldn’t be able to feed my children. Today, I’m annoyed about paying more for gas because my debit card is missing, but I can pay for gas. I’m frustrated that my laptop is gone, but my work is saved and accessible. The feelings of frustration are valid, but they are not a sign that I’m on the wrong path. To the Christian in me, they are an indication that I am doing exactly the right thing.
The work of Labor Pains is to challenge a beastly system that has stripped away our humanity. The protests we saw this weekend are a macro-level expression of the personal battles so many of us are fighting. Our government is in shambles, not just shut down but collapsed. The cultural narratives that once upheld capitalism are crumbling because the beast has grown into a leviathan, and people are waking up to the fact they’ve dedicated their lives to lies.
That realization hurts, no matter who you are.
We can be in denial about the intensity of it all, or we can accept it. We can see the lost laptops, the missed appointments, and the overwhelming schedules not as signs to stop, but as distractions from the critical work we are called to do. This is the time to lean in, to push harder against the opposition, and to keep building the world we know is possible.
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