Can you imagine being nostalgic? I mean, of course you can. That’s what nostalgia is: the remembering of memories. And I will never discount that, because it is totally dope to have that sometimes. I mean, you see a kid with a Lite-Brite, and you’re like, “Yeah, you go ahead kid, with your reusable picture guides!” Or Dunkaroos. Sugar upon sugar. No need, but who cares, shit was awesome.

But then you remember, nostalgia is selfish. Almost un-apologetically selfish. Everyone forgets how terrible this country was up until this very moment. I don’t care what time you are talking about in history. There is no better time than right now to be a woman, disabled, gay, transgender, black, Muslim, Latino, Japanese, Irish, Jewish, a little person, albino, autistic, or just different. You like nostalgia for two reasons – you were a child at the time of the memory, or you are a bigot who hates that they elected a “lady dogcatcher” last November.

And I’ll admit, there are plenty of turdbombs being thrown at all the adjectives I just typed. But now, there are plenty of guards up, and constantly going up everyday. Most didn’t have that before. There were allies, maybe abolitionists. Male suffragettes and feminists before that was even a term. A sympathizer for internment or a Nellie Bly to reveal the horrible atrocities in mental institutions.

However, the rest of the scared or ignorant world trumped them. They had info from maybe one or three sources. One of whom might have been a diabolical cat. Yet, we are so lucky today, because we have literally millions of sources. People on the ground, people behind the camera, people manning drones, people digging into case files and government documents and trash bins until the midnight hour and beyond.

I once saw a tweet that read (as I paraphrase), “If you ever feel bad, remember that in all the time in history, you were alive at the same time as Beyoncé. That’s amazing.”

I will never, ever denounce Beyoncé, but you could replace her name with uncountable amount of others: Jon Stewart. Cory Booker. Lady Gaga. Anderson Cooper. Lin Manuel-Miranda. Prince. Obama. Biden. Michelle. Michael Jackson. Ted Cruz (because I’m pretty sure he’s a 900 year old alien from the planet NoChinNoSoul). The person who invented YouTube. The people who created Viagra. The people who decoded the human genome. Olivia Benson (yes, I know she isn’t real, but she could be). The whistleblower who can’t get a job anymore. The doctor who works 89 hours a week in a country where citizens aren’t welcome in America.

We go from tangible to intangible, because we can. Even the most intangible “person” is out there in THIS country. We are lucky to be alive at the same time they are, even if just for a brief moment. There is a high school sophomore out there who just took their final exams today (and def smoking weed right now) that will be our national hero in 6-8 years, whether it be in sports, politics, arts, or maybe even some altruistic deed they didn’t expect to be documented. It’s basically statistically guaranteed. You have better odds at living in the same neighborhood as an Olympic athlete than winning the lottery.

We got this, America. We got this bullshit, because if America is good at anything, it is shoveling, swallowing, and slinging bullshit. It’s almost in our DNA, because we don’t even know what our DNA is made up of anymore. So they made it up. Well, I’m tired of them making things up. They are making up the rules along the way. I’m tired of living in a world that “House Rules” don’t just mean drinking games, but the House of Representatives.

So what can we do? We are just a group of free, alive, literate, healthy, beautiful people. What are we going to do? We can just publish anything, or protest anything, or marry anyone, or identify as any gender, or pray to any god(s), or speak any language. What should we expect? White noise? Crickets? A form letter? A thought and prayer?

Be a loud citizen. I mean, super annoyingly loud. Like your senator wishes he can mute you on Facebook or block you on Twitter for trying to sell them Ginsu knives. Be THAT level of annoying. Call your representative because it actually works. Vote. EFFIN VOTE! And I know that sounds cliche, but if you’re ever like “ughhh. it’s like 4 blocks away” remind yourself that at some point, every single one of your ancestors would have been blocked or banned from voting at one point in history. Every. Single. One.

Stay alive. Stay proud. Stay Connected. Stay Amazing. I want to add “Love” but I know that means so many things to so many people, so I’ll leave that to Tumblr. But lastly, and most of all, Stay Present. I know it can be immensely painful sometimes, but it is the only way you can appreciate that you are alive at the same time as FUCKING Beyoncé!