THERE IS A LOT OF TALK about \u2018wokeness\u2019 these days. Especially from those who were once called conservatives. And I\u2019ve got a word or two I\u2019d like to say about it. But first\u2026 <\/p>\n
I came upon the story today. A nice woman who runs a wildlife rehab facility which, like most, is completely full and overwhelmed. \ufffcBut she quickly volunteered to take in 4 baby raccoons. They had been in a tree hole den for 3 days with their dead mother, who had climbed the tree with her last ounce of strength before expiring. Killed by a farmer, with rat poison. A terrible, slow, agonizing death. Two of the babies subsequently died, also poisoned, and the last two are very quiet. Scared. Traumatized. Not acting like baby raccoons. She hopes she can help them survive and recover. Like all the wildlife rehabbers I know, this person is a hero. An extraordinarily empathetic, kind, hard-working hero. <\/p>\n
What has this to do with being \u2018woke\u2019? Everything. Woke is simply shorthand. Street slang for awake. Awakened. Aware. And empathetic. Next time you hear someone disparage the term, or those who embrace it, please remember that. It sure doesn\u2019t sound offensive to me. Not something that should be banned from an entire state, like Florida. <\/p>\n
And the opposite of woke, one would imagine, would be\u2026 asleep. Unawakened. Unaware. But no. In Websters Dictionary terms perhaps, but in actuality, in practical terms, the opposite of woke is\u2026 cruel. Sometimes thoughtlessly or unintentionally, but more often intentionally cruel. Watch Ron Desantis\u2019 face and listen to his voice when he disparages or attacks the concept, the people\u2014the vulnerable, marginalized people. It is entirely intentional. It is an application of cruelty that says plainly, you don\u2019t count. You don\u2019t deserve. Your history doesn\u2019t matter. It isn\u2019t real. You aren\u2019t real. Your suffering or disenfranchisement isn\u2019t real. You don\u2019t get to be \u2018a part of,\u2019 you are separate and \u2018less than.\u2019 Your existence is an affront. To \u2018us.\u2019 To all the good, normal, people of the right religion, the right skin color, the right sexual or gender identity, the right political party. And because you are \u2018woke,\u2019 which is now an epithet, we can feel good and righteous about it all, without a single pang of conscience. <\/p>\n
That is the actual opposite of \u2018woke,\u2019 my friends. And it is nothing like being \u2018asleep.\u2019 The farmer in the news story was certainly not woke. Not empathetic in the least. But he was not asleep, either. He knew precisely what he was doing, what would happen, the agony that would be inflicted, and the time of year that a mother animal would have babies. He acted, yes, with a lack of awakened empathy, but more to the point, with intentional disregard and cruelty. And the rehabber who took the babies in, who extended compassion and kindness, was in the fullest sense \u2018awake.\u2019 <\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know, but if dim memory serves, there might even be a story, perhaps a passage or two, in the Bible\u2014the right wing\u2019s supposed proprietary good book\u2014about the very concept. The concept of empathy. Caring for the naked, the poor, the sick, the hungry, the different, the outcast, the other. For exactly those we all are\u2014or will be\u2014at one time or another. Sooner or later. And for those of \u2018the right\u2019 who do love animals\u2014their cats and dogs and pets and even wild things, but have more trouble with humans\u2026 maybe you could try harder. Maybe we all could. Open our eyes a little wider. Be a little more awake. If not woke.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THERE IS A LOT OF TALK about \u2018wokeness\u2019 these days. Especially from those who were once called conservatives. And I\u2019ve got a word or two I\u2019d like to say about it. But first\u2026 I came upon the story today. A nice woman who runs a wildlife rehab facility which, like most, is completely full and overwhelmed. \ufffcBut she quickly volunteered<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":4467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,37],"tags":[146,144,145],"yoast_head":"\n