The Thing You Fear Is Not the Thing That Kills You
oh but you knew that already. The spider
in the garage is not the secret cigarette
in the garage, the beast in the dark ocean
is not the blood clot darkening a path
to your brain. Seventy-five percent of accidents
occur in the home—invisible puddle
outside the bath, loose handrail to the basement
that you always meant to tighten.
If we acknowledged these dangers every day,
we’d never leave our beds, except to avoid the clot.
But oh how we need to leave the bed,
except when we don’t. Oh how we need Saturdays,
the early autumn sunset on the drive home,
the clerk who beckons us to their line,
a necklace of green lights, the smiling doggo,
even the stupid word doggo. These are the things
that kill us, disasters that break us open.
The birds screech and screech and finally we understand
that they too are merely startled by beauty.
Tiny dinosaur alarms, right outside your window.
All you had to do was pay attention.
We cannot back down
We now confront a second Trump presidency.
There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.
Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.
Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.
The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”
I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.
Onwards,
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation
