Sorry positivity police, sometimes you have to fight.

I do yoga. I practice gratitude (I try, anyway.) I have a Transcendental Meditation mantra that was whispered in my ear in a secret ceremony held in a suburban living room in 2002. I have read enough Buddhist thought to have a deep place of peace inside me — a knowing that in a larger, cosmic way, none of this matters. I am comforted by taking a very long view of history and believing, like Dr. King told us, that the arc of history bends toward justice. But, seeing as I have yet to ascend to Nirvana, and am still a living, breathing, human in the world, I feel it is my duty to speak out, resist, and, yes, maybe even fight, when I see the level of injustice we are facing.

There is an insidious, New Age complacency that has permeated my social world. I see endless platitudinal memes like “Don’t fight hate with hate,” and quotes from Gandhi and Mother Theresa about embodying what you would like to see in the world rather than fight the powers that be. These are wonderful reminders to not abandon your core values. These concepts, however, are ideals. The point of these reminders is not that you should roll over and surrender in the face of attack, or pretend like everything is okay, or detach yourself — if you are in a privileged enough position to do so. The point is to remember to not lose yourself in the struggle and to not become like your oppressor. But, sometimes, like right now, the struggle is necessary.

I am a mother. If anyone or anything were threatening my child’s life, I would do whatever it took to protect him. I would entreat the attacker, attempt to calm the situation, but if that didn’t work, I would fight — to the death. I would not stand back and say, “Everything happens for a reason, maybe I’ll understand in time why this needs to occur.” I wouldn’t don the smile of the Buddha and step back and say, “Ah, well, life is suffering.” I would fight. I would also argue that the stakes are that high right now.

We are poised to have a leader who denies climate change, and will roll back whatever paltry progress the world has made on that front, which condemns our children and grandchildren to a hellish future. We are about to have a leader who denies that women are autonomous human beings who deserve full human rights. We are about to have a leader who denies that black lives matter. We are about to have a leader who would, round up, register, deport, and intern human beings like they are so much livestock. That is, if we can’t stop him.

Perhaps the election was stolen, either through outright hacking, or through foreign involvement, or a rogue faction of the FBI, or because there is no consequence for disseminating lies and pretending they are news, or some combination of the above. Maybe our democratic system is just broken and can be circumvented by moneyed interests. Whatever led to this, it is not right. And, it is not normal. I will continue to do yoga. I will take some time each day to find the quiet, peaceful place inside myself. And, also, I am ready to fight like hell.