Mistakes Were Not Made
A video tribute.
I’ve had a reflective couple of weeks. The heaviness was feeling heavier.
I have struggled to find balance between seeking the truth and having a world view that feels worth having. Calling it out versus calling it in.
And by calling it in I mean invoking optimism for humanity’s ability to overcome, evolve, and heal. The distinctly human nuance of calling it in. Our capacity to make possible what once wasn’t.
The je ne sais quoi that makes us…us. This is what I want to highlight and inspire.
AND I want to call out the bullshit and burn this mf down.
But I never want my awareness of the bullshit to syphon joy from my life at a disproportional rate. When every stone that gets turned reveals evil, greed, power, control…and most of all, a blatant disregard for human life, the joy syphon becomes strong. And then I find it necessary to step back and reclaim my joy.
If I allow myself to actively participate in the relinquishing of my happiness, then I might as well just run out and get a bivalent combo jab and a brain chip, with a double shot of Ozempic and an adrenochrome topper…and call it a day.
Anyway, I had to do a quick self check and that’s why I’ve been quiet, should anyone have been wondering.
I started working on a video last year… the day I read Emily Oster’s amnesty article. I couldn’t stop thinking about all the innocent souls that were cast away during this whole debacle, like they didn’t matter…and how incredibly callous her words felt.
I wanted to make a video that paid tribute to our elders. And to our children. The people that should have been considered first. The ones that hold the stories of our past and the potential of our future.
Every time I tried to work on this video I would be moved to tears, and would end up walking away. A couple of weeks ago I mentioned as much on a comment thread, and someone I admire immensely encouraged me to finish it. Apparently their little bit of encouragement was what I needed.
So this is it.
My homage to the oldest and youngest generations of our collective community, that were so miserably failed during Covid.
If you haven’t read Margaret Anna Alice’s poem, “Mistakes Were Not Made”, I highly recommend it.
And here is Tess Lawrie’s lovely reading of Mistakes Were NOT Made: An Anthem for Justice by Margaret Anna Alice
I can't watch your movies because there are no captions, but thank you for saying my words. A few months ago, I went through a same kind of heaviness, and I became seriously depressed - every turned stone revealed an uglier truth. I have been following those stones for almost 50 years, digging into what was up with the great 'They' to whom we always refer, and it's wonderful, under these horrifying circumstances, to start seeing people really become aware, and validate my uneducated feelings. Since I lost a daughter to SIDS in 1978, 9 days, I believe, after receiving the DPT vaccine, I've become more and more leary of modern medicine. I've spent those years researching and trying to educate myself. I feel validated. I was so much more right than I'd hoped to be.
This is so beautiful and deeply touching Sarah. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, words and completing this magnificent video. ❤🙏
...and thank you for your strength. I know how hard it was. You are greatly appreciated and loved.