There’s a lot happening in the world right now to make you feel as if you have no power, as if it’s better to shrink back into the shadows and not be seen. And yet, when times like this happen, this is exactly the time to stand in your truth and honor your chosen deities with your steadfastness and your honesty. This is not a time to fracture, to end up mired in squabbles that would serve to divide us. Of course we can discuss that which is important to us, talk about how our deities manifest in our lives and the work we do in their names. We can have disagreements and not come together on how best to handle something. But when faced with an existential threat to our very beliefs, it’s also vital that we pull together and unite in what we have in common–a belief in the gods, in ourselves, and that we are a manifestation of the universe.

There is kinship among all of us, even though some people choose not to see that. The eloquence with which some individuals speak far surpasses any choir of birds on a beautiful spring morning. Your voice, even if it is not as polished, even if it isn’t as school as some, is needed in this moment.

Now is the time to be bold. Remember that weak people hide behind others and the laws that are passed on their behalf to shield them from consequences. Weak people do not take responsibility; they thrive in the lording over of others in their power. Weak people do not follow the path of righteousness, they seek to impose their will upon others, even when that will classes with higher moral authorities.

We cannot ignore the fact that this is a time which brings despair for so many communities. To ignore that is to engage in toxic positivity; it is to ignore the truths that exist around us. We must feel our emotions, no matter what they may be, and doing so doesn’t make us weak. It makes us strong to have empathy and compassion for our fellow humans, for communities whose struggles we cannot imagine because we have not lived them. Empathy and compassion are part of our existence, and they can be our bold strength.

We can take the bold and decisive action of choosing to honor our chosen deities by calling upon them. We can stand like a vanguard against the darkness which seeks to consume us. We can look clear-eyed and level-headed at the future fights to come. We are not undaunted by this task. We rise to it to become the gods’ champions in a world which seeks to forget them.

Now is the time to be bold, because this moment calls for no less than that.