A Covenant of Kindness

When hate was offered, we answered with hope. When cruelty rose, we crowned kindness.

Hate is a choice. But so is hope.

Negativity is a habit. But so is kindness.

I have seen words typed in shadow,

that would never be spoken face to face.

But I believe we are more than shadows.

We are voices. We are neighbors. We are kindness.

True fascism is not disagreement.

It is the silencing of disagreement.

It does not reason, it punishes.

It does not argue, it glorifies harm.

And it cannot survive the light of empathy.

So let us choose another way.

Let us choose empathy over enmity.

Let us choose clarity over cruelty.

Let us choose kindness over fear.

Let us choose permanence over spite.

This is our turning point.

Not left, not right, but forward.

Not the politics of spite, but the kindness of spirit.

Not a culture of blame, but a culture of belonging.

Let our words be bridges, not blades.

Let our discourse be seed, not ash.

Let our legacy be permanence, not oblivion.

And let it be said of us,

when hate was offered, we answered with hope.

When cruelty rose, we crowned kindness.

When division called, we built unity.

The culture of kindness begins here.

The culture of permanence begins here.

And we begin it together.

Know this: these lines were never carved as poems.

They were carved as warnings.

And they will endure as covenant.

–Joe Garvey