May 2024 Author Spotlight

Thank you to all those who submitted for May. If you want to submit something for June, you’re welcome to do so here.

Rapper, actor, and poet Lyndon Laveaux wrote a stream-of-consciousness letter to the world about the importance of empathy, and we wanted to share it with you here. He is also the first official guest on the Moxie Press Podcast, which you can watch here and listen here.

Empathy Letter

by Lyndon Laveaux

The lack of empathy will be the death of humanity.

The idea of solely looking out for self is, although it may seem ironic, the sentiment is antithetical to our survival. I can speak to famine, genocide, poverty, and greed, all filled with the nuance of human existence but rooted in people being driven by fear, insecurity, and scarcity mentality. By thinking there’s only enough for me we find ourselves sacrificing our humanity for the sake of profit, turning a blind eye to another's humanity for the sake of dogma, but the truth finds a way. There’s many pathways to the truth, Divinity holds many tongues.

To hold your truth as the most virtuous is an ego trap, now of course have your core values, hold esteem to what’s important to you but be open to the idea that you can always learn more and sometimes those lessons may come in the most unexpected of places. There’s a significant difference between knowledge and wisdom; we have accessible knowledge at our fingertips, but it’s through experience we gain wisdom. A Republican may be anti-gay till their daughter is; it’s through connection we break past apathy and cultural programming. The extremities of any belief do not represent the whole, but sensationalism sells, especially when chasing an algorithm. So what can you rely on when it seems like most outlets are just chasing a digital carrot to no end?

Well, we lean on each other and hold ourselves accountable, especially those in power. The Matrix is always gonna be the Matrix, but as long as we remember the rules of the game and that the key to freedom will always be within, we can endure, but to move past that, I believe we must hold a mirror to nature in a way that’s uncomfortable both individually and globally, Each generation is given an opportunity to advance the zeitgeist for the better, what will you choose?

To see the past one’s experience can be herculean but on the other side of that is freedom. When we understand to our core that past caste systems, past AI, and past hashtags, we are one, and everything else becomes trivial. Take these stoner thoughts with a grain of salt in addition to a reminder that although the world through brainwashing will make you thrive in division, your wings take you to new heights when you can see yourself in another.

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