What I want to say is "you're not helping", "you're doing the thing that I'm trying to say shouldn't happen", and "are you even listening?"

Are you listening?

Or are you just filtering, filtering, filtering? Looking for bricks to build your house, your wall, your monument. Searching for what fits with what you already have. Refusing to take the opportunity to grow.

Today's world is frustrating beyond measure. It's mainstream now to talk about my favorite topics and to talk about them badly, loudly, belligerently. How many times do I have to say it?

I love my city.
I love my neighbor.
I love justice.

And because I love those things, I ache when my city aches. I ache when my neighbor aches. I ache when justice is denied.

And to everyone talking about anything else, "you're missing the point". It's political to love all of your neighbors. It's political to love your city no matter what it chooses. It's political to exist in a world built on injustice. But being political and being a question for the politicians is not the same thing. We have to be better than them.

When you try to wave me off as "too political", I hear "I only love when there is no risk or complication."