Saturday, March 19, 2016

A Tortured Beacon

A beacon, noun:

1.  a guiding or warning signal, as a light or fire, especially one in an elevated position.

2.  a tower or hill used for such purposes.

3.  a lighthouse, signal buoy, etc., on a shore or at a dangerous area at sea to warn and guide vessels.

4.   Navigation. 
radio beacon.
a radar device at a fixed location that, upon receiving a radar pulse, transmits a reply pulse that enables the original sender to determine his or her position relative to the fixed location.

5.  a person, act, or thing that warns or guides.

6.  a person or thing that illuminates or inspires.

7.  Digital Technology, web beacon. verb (used with object)

8.  to serve as a beacon to; warn or guide.

9.  to furnish or mark with beacons:  a ship assigned to beacon the shoals. verb (used without object)

10.  to serve or shine as a beacon:  A steady light beaconed from the shore.

(Thanks, dictionary.com!)


The way I see a beacon is mostly like the lighthouse example, except I think a little deeper and I tend to personify it. I see the beacon as standing, watching over, witnessing everything, all-seeing, taking it all in and able to do nothing about it except to warn.

Helpless. Screaming out about the danger but unable to actively do anything to change the outcome.

I've felt like this for years.

"Tortured Beacon" comes from an Alanis Morisette song called "Joining You" off her "Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie." It always resonated with me:

"you and I we're like 4 year olds we want to know why and how come about everything we want to reveal ourselves at will and speak our minds and never talk small and be intuitive
and question mightily and find god my tortured beacon
we need to find like-minded companions"


Good stuff. I feel like I stand alone like a lighthouse, at the edge of land, calling out warnings and seeing everything going so horribly wrong, and can only watch while my warnings go unheeded and humanity keeps dashing itself against the rocks. What I see troubles me greatly. That's why I have put the call out to others who feel as I do under Womyn Rising. If I can get enough us to stand, to shine, to illuminate, maybe we can have some effect on this whole outcome. Right now we are a closed group on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1472817166343197/), gathering forces, gathering steam, but we hope to be more than that. We hope to be a force. We hope to have an impact, to create change, to speak out and to keep speaking out in the face of denial and disbelief and ignorance.

We have to. Do you feel this way too? Join us. If we shine enough light, we can do this. I have to believe that. If we share the torture that we feel, we can help each other shake it off a little at a time. Let's be like-minded companions.

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