Thread by @javeedsukhera

Strangers in a strange land...

A thread about you and I, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. About connection, and disconnection. About where we we want to go from here...

I tiptoed very tentatively into online discourse. Yet, quickly, I embraced how this platform provided a unique opportunity to connect with complete strangers and foster a sense of shared humanity.

There have been amazing moments of connection, and darker moments of hatred. I have grown tremendously as a person and professional. I have found a mechanism to amplify advocacy and fight for a better world. I have made real life friends that I treasure and cherish.

Yet now, in the twilight of this global catastrophe, I don’t feel the way I once did.

We were once strangers in a strange land, on a voyage of discovery. Now we have connected while alone and disconnected. We are obsessed with maintaining our comfort and addicted to our rage.

We tend to turn strangers into enemies and retreat into an absolutist mindset. We perpetuate the worldview of dictators and fascists. We shun coexistence as inconvenience. We uphold the idea that only our opinion can exist and that others opinions are a threat.

We have completely forgotten what really matters. We (You and I both) have lost our ability to wander with each other; to listen together to a story that has not yet been told. We have become sensitized instead of sensitive. We have grown further apart instead of closer together.

It is getting worse every day. We are starting to lose more than we have gained and we cannot let it continue. We need to fight together to co-create a different kind of space for dialogue and conversation.

I don’t know what the future holds. I don’t even know what tomorrow will bring. But I refuse to believe that we should give up. We need to keep fighting. So here’s what I’m going to try and do:

No more unnecessary snark. No replies to strangers I disagree with. If I know you in real life, I will text you or message you instead of having a public conversation. I ask you do the same. You can find a way to contact me if you want.

If something bothers me online, I won’t reply or burn in anger. I’ll just go on with my day and talk about it with real people in real life. No engagement without relationships. No advocacy without solution. No dread without hope.

I know in my heart that it doesn’t have to be this way. We can get back to something better. We don’t have to keep starting fires or fuelling fires in our neighbours home. If we don’t start extinguishing the flames, the fire will be at our front door. We have to take action. /END