Loki's Wisdom: Annihilation is Easy, Hope is Hard
- Max the Ronin that Writes
- Aug 20
- 8 min read
WRITEntanglement Note: This is a drop from the Archives. I figured that now would be a great time to revisit this work, as the world continues to grow in conflict. People feel more slighted now than ever before. People are questioning why certain folks are always on top, stepping on the necks of those not so fortunate or wise or battle tested to succeed. Why we have to seemingly fight and compete to survive when our 'beliefs' try to counter and tell us there's something for everyone? Truth is...Annihilation is Easy...Hope is Hard.
About a year ago, I watched Marvel's Loki: Season 2 with a careful eye. I was completely hooked, as a lot of people were. I don't quite recall the scene itself, but the words he shared were so powerful I wrote it down on a piece of paper. Of course I lost said sheet of paper and I was not able to store the quote digitally. So...I forgot about it all together. A few days ago, I discovered the sheet of paper laying face down on the living room carpet. I turned it over to read my urban chicken scratch and to my surprise the following quote stared up at me:
"Sure...Burn it down. Easy. Annihilating is Easy. Razing things to the ground is Easy. Trying to fix what's broken is Hard. Hope...is Hard." - Loki
My first reaction to hearing the quote was to pause the video and talk to the screen and tell it to WAIT! (I'm sure you've all had moments where you yelled at a screen as something was happening) I re-winded back to listen three more times before I decided to write it down. So finding this quote after I lost it so many months ago was a sign I needed to seize the moment and talk about it's significance to the world we live in.
Our World is in Chaos..and we passively okay'd it
Let's be real here. We are in tough times. Our world has changed so much. Prices for basic necessities has risen to new heights while we may feel we have nothing to show for what we paid.
There's political turmoil within many of the big countries, even civil unrest and violence.
But here's the thing. We collectively have made the choice. We decided to create a stat quo of uncertainty. Of chaos.
Many of us wanted change so bad that we decided left was the way to go. To get someone that better aligns with our views which of course are ALWAYS right and better than the other person.
We point the finger and say this person is weak, but vote in someone who is morally questionable and weak in other aspects....and no I'm not talking just about Mr. MAGA either because all candidates and persons in power have questionable traits.
We all have questionable traits.
My point here is we choose, thinking our choices are for the best but they come with a cost always.
We are in a world in several skirmishes.
Not just between nations but between cultures and people themselves!
I look at my black people. My African American people, and there's arguments over taking the fight to the government, the white man, and the authority because of how we've been wronged.
Violence and disdain helps them understand right?
We cant speak to them because they don't want to hear us so lets be wild, lets be violent, lets be ratchet, lets be who they broadly perceive us to be!
Lets make them fear what they don't relate to or understand. Let's make them remember that our ancestors (whom we do a terrible job of honoring on a month we've fought for) suffered for us to get here.
Let's make them remember that over 400 years ago we were slaves and we're angry and bitter, hurt, disdained, and we want to be seen and heard for our suffering (but we are slaves to our own vices without a fight...external validation, religion, weed, alcohol, sex, pornography, getting our deathamine hit from social media, etc).
Its easy to want to burn it all down, as Loki said. Its easy to break something, punch someone in the face, cancel someone who is speaking their bottled up opinions that came out because of a bottle (don't mind me, I'm sipping tea). But, does all of this fix things?
Sure, we tried a few times and those efforts fell through the cracks. I get it. But, times have changed. Rather than run around ratchet, why don't we stand up and mobilize in an unorthodox way? Why don't we work on ourselves at the individual, family, and community levels and stop trying so hard to be trendy in a way that makes us look like fools?
What if we put our ulterior motives away and STOP VOTING people in that don't give a damn? What if we start nominating people that actually care about the greater good and less about lobbyists and getting some free campaign money?
Dare I say, what if we policed ourselves and rewrote our narratives as individuals and as a culture?
How do we honor ourselves when we run around parading and raging as the victim in the story we wanted to write on the backs of those from the past?
It starts from the center (Self and Family)
Before I get canceled for slandering the culture or insinuating something against the people trusted to lead our nations, I want to shift gears on families, especially in our urban communities.
Our families are getting destroyed because of our unwillingness to set our ego's aside and work together.
Some of us refuse to look inward and acknowledge that we are the problem. We are the barrier that continues to resist the other person because of past scars you may or may not have directly received (yes, read that again!).
Too often do we see kids nowadays raised in separate households. Why? Inconceivable differences? We fight for whats ours.
How often do you see or hear someone fighting with the other parent of their child over money? Cheating (or hints of it even if they are doing something honest like hanging out with a friend)?
Lack of quality time or intimacy?
Ultimately what a lot of us don't realize is we made the choice to get into those relationships, and even bigger we may be carrying baggage from the past that we still cling on to as part of our identity. We may be at fault for the fights in the first place and we can't figure out why because we are distracted with the dopamine effect during the fight for what we feel is "right."
(WRITEntangled Bonus: I thought of this the other day. Its not that you are not compatible, you're out of alignment...and probably were never aligned past the physical level in the first place)
We want to WIN rather than figure out the root of the problem. To win, we have to compete.
To win, we have to fight, which is what we are indoctrinated to do on multiple levels.
To win, we have to pull out all the stops so we can say "I did this for my child" when in reality you may have merely did it so the other person didn't have a leg to stand on.
You burned it down. You annihilated the household with the fighting. You razed things to the ground. That is all easy, regardless of the hurdles you may have had to endure in and out of court or the legal system.
I was, up until recently, on the verge of having my kids split up between two households. My wife and I were on the rocks, not for fighting, but with a loss of direction for both of us as a couple and at the individual level.
I had to go rogue to be brought back full circle. She had to suffer a lot to be brought back full circle. Individually we needed to check ourselves and in the process we began to realize what mattered.
From my perspective I realized I tried way to hard to find and keep love, when I had to shower myself with love and appreciation and not put her on a pedestal.
I had to take the edge off of myself, blaming myself for everything wrong...and THAT was hard.
It was hard to realize that she is a good woman and that she needed my support as she started getting herself together. She wanted to stand on her own, contribute to the household, and have friendships and connections with peers. Understanding THAT was hard...really HARD.
Coming to terms that I searched for love outside of marriage because I feared being or feeling alone and rejected on a romantic level was HARD! Even now I still battle with it. But, after a long talk I realized that I had a responsibility to rebuild, now that I understood my shortfalls. Sure there's the unknown still looming out there, lots of questions and potential worries, but the Loki quote adds a sense of calm. Its easy and honestly normal to feel a bit of tension, fear, and concern. But the real work comes from sitting in the midst of the tension and taking each passing moment at a time.
(WRITEntanglement Bonus: Though the above revelation was true at the time of it's writing, its time for me to fully let go what no longer serves the greater good. She is not at capacity to be in a loving relationship as she has not come to terms with herself. I have moved on with someone that is aligned with me. Damn near a mirror. We talked and though this will be a very long road, its time to move into the future and dissolve what cannot be saved...but can be salvaged in a different, wholesome way. It's time for me to claim what and who is right for me, and both are on my horizon waving at me with a smile)
When it comes to relationships, choose what works for you. I'm not saying stay in an abusive bond for the kids. I'm not saying stay with someone who doesn't respect you or the kids. A lot of the time when a person fights with you that's a "them" problem, not you.
You can chose whether to fight on their level or be respectful to show a better example. The key here to understand is, we don't always have to fight for what's ours, but rather work for it, one bit and peace at a time (yes, I said it like that on purpose).
What do you think of the quote for this entry? How did you feel about the show if you watched it? What lesson can you take away from Loki's words?
What is something you want to burn down? Why? Are there any other alternatives? Let me know
Lets Stay #WRITEntangled
Comments