When Acceptance Becomes Resistance

September 3, 2021

Putting aside the big issues for the moment, what I truly want boils down to a very ordinary act: I want to walk into Trader Joe’s and go straight to their complimentary coffee urn and pour myself a tiny cuppa before I shop.

I admit it’s absurd to long for such an inconsequential privilege, but that’s where I am these days. 

I am glad that I’ve somehow hung onto my sense of incredulity about the state of the world. That I am neither numb nor resigned, but continue to question and look for answers.

Numb resignation was probably counted upon to allow the takeover of ourselves and our world to proceed as envisioned by those who would control humanity.

Instead, what they got was people who would fight for the silly right to get a free cup of freshly brewed, fragrant French roast coffee while patronizing their local grocery store. 

*****

I am sensing a bubbling restlessness just under the surface of my immediate world. (1) I noticed a frenetic quality to people’s behavior yesterday when I took a family member to a doctor’s appointment and ran some errands.

While I am bit troubled by the simmering lunacy that people seem to be emanating, I wonder if that’s not exactly what we need to push through the madness that’s been imposed upon us. Perhaps the waking-up process that is endlessly discussed by commentators and channels has reached a point where acceptance of absurdity and repression has leveled off and begun to boil over. 

Acceptance can become resistance. And resistance, despite the assertion of the Borg, is not futile.

At this moment, my areas of potential rebellion are circumscribed by what I’m willing to do. I like to imagine that I would wave my religious exemption badge and walk unmasked into a store, but I confess, I’m simply not that brave. I don’t want to be forcibly escorted from the store, or relegated to online shopping.

But what would it cost me to ask, every time I walk into Trader Joe’s, “When are you bringing back your coffee and product sample bar?“ 

*****

Wouldn’t it be a wonder if this extraordinarily high-stakes, life-and-death struggle we’re engaged with came down to a person here and a person there standing up for seemingly inconsequential rights? For seemingly unimportant levels of normality that were previously taken for granted?

Most of us don’t live in the high-drama world of international intrigue and military movements and clandestine operations.

Most people in relatively comfortable circumstances (which is all I’m personally familiar with) buy groceries and gasoline, take the kids to school, go to work.

It stands to reason that it is predominantly in our immediate surroundings that we can make a positive difference, and from there, potentially affect the world at large.

For me, that sounds like having a friendly chat with the Trader Joe’s manager, refraining from lecturing about vaccines and masks—just enquiring about the return of the coffee bar. It’s easy to guess the response. But that isn’t important. Asking the question is what matters.

It sounds boringly passive, no glamour, no glory.

But the quiet satisfaction of standing up for the human right to enjoyment of one’s life, in whatever prosaic venue such occurs, can still make me feel heroic inside.

(1) I read the following in Valerie Donner’s channeling after I wrote this article:

“We observe that humanity is not behaving in its normal ways. People seem to be out of sync with themselves and others. The imbalances are almost catastrophic. We encourage you to stay out of the fray and to take excellent care of yourselves to bring forth balance, reason and harmony in your life. Step away from the discordance and anchor yourselves into the light. This is your role and we will not let you forget it.”