We did not come into this body to be quiet or safe. We did not choose to be alive in this time and place to be sidelined, victimized, or used. We did not choose to call this endangered planet home only to be ignorant, dismissive, complicit, or bought and paid for in its demise. No soul takes a leap of faith into a human body, and then decides that silencing itself is the best way to spend a handful of decades.

We did not come here to be a silent witness, a mere bystander, an enabler, or an apologist for the ugliest aspects of our society. We are here to move the needle of justice definitively forward, not just watch it hopelessly wobble. In the words of Andrew Harvey, we are here to “transform this whole planet and all of its institutions, all of its arts, all of its sciences, into burning mirrors of love and justice.” Well, then, what are we waiting for—signs or data showing us that climate change is an existential crisis? Events and lives lost that prove that racism and white supremacy movements have not gone away but are, in fact, empowered and rising? Another mass shooting?

We did not come here with a plan to shelve our own personal power. We did not think to our soulful selves how we couldn’t wait to come down into a body and then acquiesce to someone else’s agenda at the expense of our own health, well-being, or principles. I understand—no one wants to be a sour-puss, naysayer, whiner, the lone dissenter. No one likes the kid who raises her hand in class while everyone else is ready to go to lunch (guilty as charged). It’s natural that we all want to belong. But if we put on a team shirt that violates or muffles the call of our soul, we aren’t doing the world any favors.

If something is true, then let’s state unequivocally that it is true. If it looks like a truth and walks like a truth, it probably is a truth. But if it is false and masquerading as a truth? If it is hurtful and abusive and telling us that it is the new normal and we ought to get used to it? Then it is up to us to find the courage to stimulate, kindle, evoke and unyoke. The world is counting on us to live up to a higher standard of truth. If we do this, the stories people tell in the future might not be about long-ago battles between good and evil. The stories they tell might be about those of us who woke up to our power when we needed to the most.