3 Disturbingly Relevant Book Quotes from Recent Reads

I've never really been a person that remembers specific book quotes - or even one that makes sure to mark their favorite book quote - until I joined the online book community. The words on the page were merely a vehicle for story to be told, and to me, the big picture was greater than the sum of its parts.

So I started notating my favorite quotes slowly, and what I found as a similarity among all my favorite quotes is this: they're all disturbingly relevant to what's going on around me.

Fair warning: I'm about to get very political here, so if that's not your thing, feel free to click away. For those that are curious, please keep reading.

For a long time, I considered myself a "conservative liberal", meaning that my views tended more centrist than to the left. I'm a white, cishet woman, so for most of my life I have had the privilege to just coast by without caring too much for politics.

But I live in the USA, and sh*t has gotten crazy here, and I truly feel that I can no longer remain centrist in good conscience.

So here are three disturbingly relevant quotes from some of my recent reads.

3. "Faith is a choice."

A Touch of Light, Thiago Abdalla

I am a person of faith.

However, I believe that faith is a choice based on a very personal experience.

What we're seeing in the USA is a group of religious fanatics that want to force their beliefs on people that do not share that faith, and that's just wrong.

If you're curious about my faith, I will welcome you with open arms, but other than that: you keep doing you.

The forefathers had separation of church and state for a reason, and I've been feeling each day that the line keeps getting blurred and sections get erased to the point where there's only a faint dotted line left.

It scares me.

Religion should not influence governmental policy.

The end.

2. "Hate is loud but I think you'll learn it's because it's only a few people shouting desperate to be heard"

The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune

With all the vitriol that goes around in the political sphere. I have to remind myself that these are the voices of a minority few that have used duplicitous means (look up gerrymandering) to stay in power and that their actions are causing others that believe the same hateful things to come out of the woodworks.

To think that the hate they express is okay.

It's not.

And it never will be.

This quote is also a reminder for me to have hope. Because most Americans don't believe these things. Most Americans want equal rights for all US citizens, not just the privileged few. Most Americans want access to affordable healthcare. Most Americans want free, quality education for their children.

There's hope in that.

1. "...hope is like a piece of string when you're drowning; it just isn't enough to get you out by itself."

The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan

Have you ever heard the helicopter joke? It goes something like this:

A horrible flood comes and an announcement is made to the town to evacuate. Everyone does except one man who says, "I have faith in the Lord. He will protect me."

The waters rise and pretty soon the man has to retreat to the upper floor of his house. A boat comes by and the sailor offers to take the man to safety. The man says, "I have faith in the Lord. He will protect me."

The waters reach his second floor and he retreats to the roof. A rescue chopper comes and offers to take him to safety. He says, "I have faith in the Lord. He will protect me."

The man drowns.

In heaven, the man meets God, and asks him, "I had faith that you would protect me, why did you let me drown?"

God looks surprised and says, "I sent you an evacuation notice, a boat, and a helicopter. What the hell are you doing here?!"

This quote by Robert Jordan serves the same purpose as this story. It reminds me that nothing will change if nothing is done.

It also reminds me that you don't have to go through everything alone.

So for everyone in the USA that's been feeling like I do I have two things to say to you:

1. You are not alone.

2. Don't just complain about the problem. Do something.

VOTE.

Even with the gerrymandering and conspiracies.

Even with candidates that are less than ideal.

Show up in numbers so great that those hateful few can't deny the will of the American majority. Because we are the majority.

Don't let apathy keep you from doing the one thing you truly can do. This November will be a turning point for our entire democratic system. Do what you can to protect it.