Kneeling on the bricks in our town square, my older son seemed to be attacking them with chalk. Intently focused, he was rubbing his blue piece of chalk onto a brick.

“I’m rage-chalking,” he informed me.

“Ah,” I said, now understanding. “Yes, that’s absolutely something you can do.” I nodded and went back to filling in my own squares.

If there was an event to be rage-chalking at, it was this one. We were attending a rally to make the streets safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. Our task was filling in the words “Safe Streets Now!” in the main plaza of our town, both an art project and a rallying cry.

A few feet away, a young volunteer was writing the names of people who had died from vehicle crashes in the last few years in our county. She had been doing so for a long time and wasn’t done yet. 

Later on, the leader of the organization spoke, her voice sad and passionate. A mother of a young man who had gotten killed spoke as well, telling a funny story about her son. My hand instinctively went to touch my older son’s shoulder. 

My son knows both the freedom of biking on our streets and the fear when a driver cuts too close or passes too quickly. The cause is real and concrete to him. 

Everyone who attended the rally were not there because of the death and sadness of the past but because of the life and beauty that is at risk in the future. In art, we managed to mourn and honor those who have been lost as well as demand better. All in bright colors and with the help of children who flocked around the buckets of chalk. 

As I look out the window and see haze filling the sky from wildfires in Canada worsened by climate change, I’m reminded of what I told my son at the rally. Beauty and fun and sadness and anger can all co-exist – they can even feed each other. We can have these deep, serious feelings but work them out in seemingly counter-intuitive ways. 

Activist work – making a better world – is hard and complicated. It should sometimes be fun and celebratory too. In fact, one of the best ways to stave off despair about climate change is not just to take action, but to make meaning out of that action. To build community, cement friendships, make art. To find fulfillment in the process, not just the impact. 

So if you are despairing about the air quality, climate change, and the state of our world – as I find I am far too often – maybe think about what rage-chalking looks like for you.