Diary of a know-it-all: A friend to all is a friend to none

Dear Diary,

I envy the members of our society who walk freely without strings tied to politics. The ones who disengage from heated debates and walk away at any given sign of turmoil – knowing they will never be affected by the consequences. 

I’m talking about the ones who cover their ears when they hear a different perspective and the ones who shrink away from the disasters happening in front of them. 

It would be wonderful to turn your head away from the messy and cruel, to simply live without the weight everyone else carries on their shoulders. 

I don’t feel safe knowing I live in a world where so many people find it easier to turn a blind eye when atrocities are occurring right in front of them. 

Celebrities such as singer Ed Sheeran and actor Glenn Powell have chosen to use their platforms to express their disinterest and dissociation to the world of politics because they think it only creates harm and division. 

This is undoubtedly the definition of privilege: someone who rests so comfortably in a world that doesn’t fight or challenge them, entitled to living a life without worrying when their rights will be tugged out from under their feet on a Tuesday morning. 

Many people think it’s safer to claim themselves as apolitical, alleviating the fear of backlash or discrepancies that may ruin their image. They choose to be someone who “doesn’t deal” with politics. 

But the cold hard truth is everyone deals with politics the minute they enter this world. Everything we do is political.

There are two types of people who call themselves apolitical: the ones who have everything they need and live comfortably without strain, and those who are simply not educated and don’t wish to waste the effort in trying. 

Ignorance is certainly bliss in both case scenarios. And equally offensive.

We live in a society that hopes to stifle our voices and bully us into conformity and silence, influenced to feel small so we never threaten their control. They claim we have liberty of speech, but it isn’t that simple. It feels impossible to share your opinion and perspective because the media is quick to clap back with vicious attacks on the speaker’s character and even appearance. 

I can admit to a time when all I wanted was for people to like me. Oftentimes that meant suppressing my beliefs and opinions to be insufferably agreeable to views I didn’t align with. 

My body would break into chills and my jaw would tighten. I’d nod my head as “friends” talked about the ways in which my family’s suffering would be inconsequential in comparison to their personal gain. As a daughter of immigrants, people argue to my face that my family’s safety and wellbeing is less valuable than their loyalty to a president that desires a homogeneous country. 

I didn’t feel good about it, but I had to do whatever was necessary to survive in the claws of public high school. I had to blend in. 

I can’t lie and say my hands don’t shake or my face doesn’t get warm when I challenge someone else’s opinion. But I’d choose those few moments of discomfort over silence any day. 

We’ve fought much too long and hard for us to quit using our voices now. We live in a world so accustomed to hassle free tasks, we’ve alleviated all the ways in which we face challenges. 

But the truth is politics has never been easy and it never will be.

Unfortunately, navigating conflict resolution isn’t as simple as pasting a prompt into ChatGPT and receiving an answer in the least strenuous way possible. 

Change demands that you sit with uncomfortable problems, place your feet in other people’s shoes and explore what your core values are and what you’re willing to stand up for. Growth calls for discernment and scrutiny. 

The way to growth is through discomfort. Discomfort is crucial to the survival of independent thought and critical thinking to invest our time and energy into resolutions that will make a better world, whether someone faces the direct impacts or not. 

Being apolitical isn’t an escape from these challenges, it’s the problem and anyone who chooses to stay silent reinforces it. 

There are no exceptions to the people in power that try to subjugate us to submission in this world. Sacrificing one’s right to speak doesn’t grant them peace and a seat on the bench from this war. 

Only when it’s too late — when they no longer have the ability to speak or form opinions — will people wish they said something.