Resistance. It’s a powerful word that is linked to pride, to rebellion, to independence, to suffering and redemption. Many of history’s central generational movements have taken root due to the quiet resistance of the few or the loud and unwavering resistance of the many. Wars protested, equalities demanded, injustices righted.
Resistance is brave; it is righteous and respected and beautiful.
On the other side of the coin, though, it is also stubborn. It is short-sighted and afraid, and it is small. The resistance to change, to the unknown, to opening our minds and our hearts, to those whose ideas are unlike our own.
Last year, I turned 40. For the past several years I have been becoming more and more acutely aware that I am not 21 anymore, or 28, or 34. Time is floating on by like it does for all of us, and like me, I think that many of us might have that steadfast internal resistance to the clock’s continual ticking. If only there was something to be done about it.
My kids, on the other hand, look at time in a much different way – in a way that I used to look at time, too. They have that deep-seated excitement that every child has to gain independence, to resist the rules and the bedtimes and the circumstances of being a kid, and so they happily count down the days until their next birthdays, until those seconds that they will become one number older. We’re in straight opposition, in this tiny little way. I fiercely calculate how to slow my hours down, and they struggle to push through the boundaries of the calendar, emerging older on the other side.
I think we each have our own multitude of battles, resistances big and small, crusades righteous and stubborn, that we diligently fight out loud or in quiet as we move our way through our lives. It has been a particular joy for me to read all of the submissions to our Resistance theme and to live inside all of these battles for a moment. I want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who submitted their work. Please consider submitting a piece to our next theme, Body & Soul. Submissions are open until August 1, 2023.
We would also like to send a sincere and heartfelt thank you to our departing Nonfiction Editor Stacy Brazalovich and to send a warm welcome to our new Nonfiction Editor, Ellen Herbert. Stacy has been with Halfway Down the Stairs since its very start in 2005, and she has been instrumental in its continued success for so many years. Thank you, Stacy, for everything that you have done for us. We will miss you. And to Ellen – a huge and happy welcome!
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Carrie Bachler is a fiction editor at Halfway Down the Stairs.
© 2023, Carrie Bachler
Halfway Down the Stairs 