This past weekend, International Women’s Day was celebrated around the globe. It may have been removed from many a tech company’s calendar, but it happened nonetheless.
It happened with marches. It happened with protests. It happened with community.
There’s a lot to say about what’s going on with women’s rights and (gestures vaguely) everything else, but for the sake of brevity (and my own sanity) I’m going to focus on my local Women’s March.
If you’ve ever been to a march or protest, you know there is a lot going on. People are giving speeches, chanting, singing, and letting their voices be heard in every way. This past weekend, my favorite moments came from a quieter corner where organizers had brought supplies for protestors to make their own signs. At any given moment, several adults were sitting or squatting on the ground, marker in hand, searching for their words of protest.
From this pile of protest potential, every few minutes someone would pause mid-writing, look up, and ask the group around them a question about spelling, apostrophe placement, or some other grammar-related query. What followed every question was a descent of helpers ready to assist a stranger with finding the right word, letter, or punctuation.
As a writer, random acts of grammatical assistance warm my heart. However, beyond the spontaneous spelling support, it was a nice reminder that there are usually a handful (or two) of helpers around. You just have to ask.
Amidst the flood of cruel and careless words from some of those in power, there are still those who take the time to make sure their words are clear and correct, and there are even more people ready to help them.
If you’re someone who is trying to ignore the news to protect your peace, I get it. I just hope that your peace doesn’t rely on ignorance or indifference.
There’s a lot to take in and most of it appears to be chaos for chaos’s sake. I’m not suggesting that you start drinking from the firehose of a news cycle, but maybe reach out to your handful of helpers and come up with a way that you can all stay informed while protecting your peace.
Be Kind. Be Brave. Stay Awkward.
Onward & Awkward 