I’d like to share with all of you, something that I am currently dealing with, in the hopes that everyone will take some time to really think about the way we react to each other (and especially the way we react to others that don’t agree with us). We have taken a stand against those who would strip our freedoms in this craft, and I do not intend to demean anyone in any way from doing so. I, myself, took a stand against such tyrannical practices, that’s why I’m here.
And while it’s true that I have left Facebook groups that openly approve, and share in R’s decisions against the evil/radical right wing thinking, and I have chosen not to support those companies/ individuals that have chosen to speak out in favor of R’s decisions, I have to admit, a feeling of uneasiness, and alarm has been creeping into my bones, due to some of the comments and attitudes I’m finding everywhere, over this whole situation. We’re closing our hearts, and drawing lines in the sand, saying to ourselves, and each other, ‘this far, no further’, and ‘if you are not with me, then you are against me’, and yes, to some extent I’ve done this, too… even with the uneasiness in my heart and mind.
So they have drawn their line in the sand, and we have drawn ours. We have this wonderful site full of people that are like minded, in one respect, at least, in the respect of personal freedoms. Those lines in the sand, having been drawn so deeply, they begin to touch the bedrock below us, cutting us off from everyone that would disagree with us. And we seem content to be so. But are we truly? These thoughts bring me to my story. It’s not an epic story, but hopefully is one that gives food for thought…
As some of you may know, I’m taking part in the Freedom Hook-along, that was started July 4th, running until Aug 4th. I had two projects I’m working on, one I know I won’t complete, my infinity shawl (I made it too big, and have to frog back to the very beginning), the other a baby blanket for my cousin’s infant son. I’m using some yarn that was given to me by a friend, that was part of a large box of sample yarn she gave away. I didn’t know, when I started the project, that this yarn I was using had been discontinued.
So I’m about half way through the project, and I realize I’m running out of one of my chosen yarns, and I may not have enough to finish the project. It’s a brand I’m not familiar with, so as soon as I realize this, I start looking to purchase another skein. This is when I found out this particular yarn had been discontinued. I can’t buy it in any of the stores. So I start searching in earnest, trying to find anyone that might have this specific yarn they might be willing to sell me. Which ends up sending me back to the dreaded R site, because someone there had recorded their stash, and the yarn I’m looking for is there.
Of course, I deleted my R account, so all I can see is the page that shows the yarn. But I did manage to learn who had the yarn I needed. It took me another day or two to track her down, thankfully, on Facebook. I message her on Facebook, explaining who I am, what I’m doing, and that I’m looking for a specific yarn that according to her yarn database she has available. I ask if she would be willing to part with a single skein, and that I would be willing to pay her for that skein.
Unfortunately, her database is out of date, she gave away a lot of that yarn. But she’s willing to ask around, to find the person she gave the yarn to, in the hopes she might help me procure a skein of this yarn. She also tells me she knows someone just finished a project recently with this color/type of yarn, and I could contact them on R to see if they would part with their partial skein. I, of course, then informed her I was no longer a member of R, that I had deleted my account. Which brought me to the question I was secretly dreading. ‘Why?’ she asks me. ‘Why did I delete my R account?’, ‘yes’ she responds.
This was the one question I was hoping against hope she wouldn’t ask. I, like so many others, have felt the political hurricane that comes with sharing your political views. I asked her if she had been on R recently, and if she had heard about their new policy. She had. I knew I was quite probably shooting myself in the foot, but I told her, honestly, why I left. I told her that I was one of those hated Trump supporters. I told her that I was against the policy R had enacted, and that I stood up for myself and voiced my thoughts against this policy. I told her that I had called R out for political discrimination, and explained that’s what this was, and my reasons for calling it political discrimination. I told her I couldn’t support a company that would persecute me, by stripping away my personal freedoms while allowing others those very same freedoms. I told her I believed within every fiber of my being that this practice was wrong, and I could not stand for it. ‘makes sense’, was her response.
‘Knowing’ as I do the way political opponents are leaning toward complete annihilation of opposing political views, I then told her I would understand if she decided she no longer wished to help me on my quest to find this yarn I need. I asked her to please, just let me know either way. And then I waited for the tirade, and the inevitable blocking that I was sure would follow.
But that didn’t happen. I waited for, what seemed to me, an eternity for her to respond. When she did, I have to admit, I was knocked for a loop. ‘[LEFT][SIZE=13px]I keep my crafts and politics separate. You need yarn to finish a project. We’ve all been there. The fact that we don’t agree politically is a separate issue. Nothing to do with yarn.’[/SIZE][/LEFT]
Those blessed words made my heart take flight. But it also solidified the uneasiness and alarm I’ve been feeling over the past month. She reminded me of the unwritten Crafters Code. It’s that code I even made the motto for my business: It’s all about the craft. We are all crafters first, and foremost, and everything else is secondary to the crafts.
There is an unspoken code of ethics that comes with being a crafter. True Crafters are united. We share each other’s triumphs and discoveries in the crafts. Crafters support each other in whatever crafting endeavors we put our minds to. Crafters help other crafters. Whether the craft is knitting, crocheting, jewelry making, wood working, painting, spinning, dyeing… it doesn’t matter what crafts we participate in. Crafting is a fellowship that is ascendant, a fellowship that rises above the petty differences of the world. It’s more than hobby or even a talent. It’s a philosophy, a state of being. A crafter can’t help being a crafter… no matter what else one might do, a true Crafter is a crafter first, and the ultimate goal is to share that craft.
R seems to have forgotten this code… but then, to some extent, so have we. The political winds have become a hurricane that is tossing everyone about, and we’ve allowed ourselves to be taken up by the gale. We all need to re-center ourselves. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t take a stand for what we believe in. It is the nature of the Crafter to do what he/she believes to be right. If we don’t, we aren’t being true to ourselves.
But there is a difference between taking a stand, and drawing a line in the sand. By taking a stand, we acknowledge that a wrong has been done, and we take whatever steps we can to right the wrong that has been done. Drawing a line in the sand, is a division, a separation that dare not be crossed, with no possibility of bridging the chasm it creates. That line in the sand is the beginning of breaking our humanity, our creativeness, the very essence of what makes us Crafters.
We must always remember, we are Crafters, first.