Certainty
或謂子列子曰子奚貴虛 Someone asked Comrade Liezi, "Friend, why do you value neutrality?"
列子曰虛者无貴也 Liezi quipped back, "Someone who's neutral hasn't got any values."
子列子曰非其名也 Comrade Liezi continued, "That's not what I mean to say. 莫如靜 莫如虛 Best be calm. Best be neutral. 靜也虛也得其居矣 取也與也失其所矣 In calm, in neutrality, find the strength of your convictions. In union, in faction, lose your objectivity. 事之破䃣而後有舞仁義者弗能復也 And when the party does something cruel and destructive, then turns around and pretends to be the kind and responsible one, it's impossible to recover either."
Notes
This post is for people who think of themselves as liberal and progressive but don't understand why they're losing so badly. It's because your parties, your unions, your factions, have become illiberal and regressive across the board and you're doubling down. It'll be a long time before the rest of us can trust you again, and in the meantime, more Trump. Now I can only cross my fingers that Pollievre ends up being a responsible adult, because if he's not, Canada is cooked, and the truckers won.
Unless you're family, in which case I love you exactly as you are, next time you lose your minds, I'll try to be braver and speak up a lot sooner so at least I can say I told you so.