“In politics, being deceived is no excuse.” – Leszek Kolakowski
So starts Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. He offers many practical ideas for how to remain your own person pursuing goodness in the face of growing tyranny.
His ninth suggestions is
Be kind to our language.
Avoid pronouncing the phrases everyone else does. Think up your own way of speaking, even if only to convey that thing you think everyone is saying. Make an effort to separate yourself from the internet. Read books.
– Timothy Snyder, p.59
Read books.
Often I try to alternate fiction and nonfiction in my reading, and this week I fortuitously read both of these books.
This week I’d say read these books: On Tyranny and Children of Blood and Bone.
As I finish and process Tomi Adeyemi’s novel, Children of Blood and Bone, I wonder if she has read Snyder’s book; she has certainly put into practice several of his principles all while keeping the reader utterly enthralled with the characters and their mission. I’m already anticipating the sequel’s release which isn’t until March, 2019!
Early in the novel, Mama Agba, a trainer, mentor, wisewoman, advises Zelie, the heroine, “When your opponent has no honor, you must fight in different ways, smarter ways.” (Adeyemi, p. 18) This novel calls up a great cloud of witnesses in the fictional world of Orisha to act as a great cloud of witnesses for today, witnesses of past hate and violence and the current expressions of it; witnesses to understandable and unprocessed anger and grief giving way to hard heartedness and violence, witnesses to compromises that cannot be made; witnesses to the difference courage and step by step going after what’s right can make. And just so the reader is left with no doubt about Adeyemi’s intentions to fight, she makes it explicit in her Author’s Notes at the end. This very engaging piece of writing is an act of resistance and calling out for life preserving and life honouring goodness and the courage to persevere when the call is not heard or not responded to.
Resisting and restraining evil can be met with
- spunk
- grace
- resignation
- resistance
- hiding
- preparing and training
- compromise
- violence
- hate
- misunderstanding/misinterpretation
- mindless following
- personal aggrandizement
But always there is a cost, a personal and collective cost. The novel emboldens emotional engagement and thinking about how and why to put into practice Snyder’s 20 points of engagement.
Read these two books hand in hand and be inspired to live as reflectively, truthfully, curiously, warmly, generously, and courageously as you can.
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