My tent across from the main camp. Mere days before winter snow hit, the wind and temperatures were challenging. But having real meaning in my work, and waking up each day to the sound of morning prayers from over the water was... indescribable.

In mid-November of 2016, I was a Water Protector at Standing Rock. At first my goal was to play investigative journalist; documenting then writing about every detail for my article readers and online followers. However, by the time I actually got there, all my goals had changed.

The camp was not a place for egos. A few visitors did spend their time on their own projects, but my conscience would not allow for me to be so selfish. It was an opportunity to put action and real effort behind my words; a chance to step up and prove my often preached principles.

To be around people giving, honoring, and respecting felt like... well, it felt like home. I gained serious insight and perspective being away from society's divisive distractions, working alongside real humanity personified. It made our sponsored con artist imitations painfully obvious.

Now look at us. Trump fills all the headlines. We debate whether either corrupt political parties might be saved, who might be (s)elected for what positions, and immigration has become the top issue. Nothing ever got resolved, nor changed- except for our attention wandering.

This is how injustice occurs. Too many causes overwhelm us, even when we truly care. As soon as our heads get turned, the bravery of the few is stomped down so it doesn't inspire others. The media is complicit too, facilitating apathy by only chasing profit-based narratives.

When I watched my fellow Washingtonians head to the front lines to be hurt, abused and arrested by militarized police thugs just for the protection of oil profits, I felt that this was the line in the sand We the People must recognize- that announced or not, this is a Civil War.

And unfortunately, I was right. The EPA and National Park Services are under attack. Tomorrow the police move in to arrest indigenous people from their own land, and close down the camp. The historic coalition of all remaining tribes will end so we can be "Great Again."

We're all waiting for an answer as things worsen. We're all lost and hoping some leader will stand up, point the way and show us hope- but I fear we've been trained to do so, by the very toxic culture which is destroying everything truthful and sustainable to perpetuate itself.

I felt like I barely did anything there, in the grand scheme of things. Sure, we built stoves, dug a food cellar, erected structures; but the weather turned bad, I got sick (as did many other people) and what started out so positive turned into a stressful early retreat back home.

What I learned, though, is that's what being a hero actually is. Not just hitting "Like", upvoting or writing rants; actually putting in the effort and standing with those fighting. Not because it's guaranteed to win, or even be effective- but because of what happens if we don't.

This is the cycle of control. The poor are powerless, voiceless, often uneducated and without perspective. Those hanging onto their jobs like a lifeline dare not risk making waves. The wealthy seem removed from all reality, living their entire lives without consequence or conscience.

That isn't a sustainable system. It isn't a democratic system. It only serves the ignorant or psychopathic, increasingly at the expense of the many, our happiness, our morality, and the only planet we have to live on. Our own path to destruction is being successfully normalized.

There is alternative energy. There is enough resources for everyone on this planet. We now have the technology to solve world hunger, even reverse some climate change. Since we plan, fund (and profit) from most violence going on, millions can be saved ending our war machine.

So why isn't this happening? Because our leaders lack the personal and political will. Because we now provably lack the ability to replace them or even hold them accountable. Because scientific reality itself is being framed as a partisan debate. Civilization itself lies in jeopardy.

Protecting water. Rebuilding crumbling dams and infrastructure. Finding alternatives to the outdated theory that we must all earn our very existence by acting against our own best interests in desperation and despair. Rational humanitarianism isn't 'leftist' opinion; it's just sanity.

Trickle-down change through rigged voting for selected, sponsored and lobbied non-representatives has proven as ineffective as trickle-down economics. The issue is incentive, ethics, and actual responsibility- namely, that those characteristics have been largely outmoded.

Like a spoiled child intent on ignoring reality, America- and the world- must grow up and begin enforcing sane policies and structures that benefit all, not just a handful of insulated individuals that make the rules for everyone else. Tyranny, no matter how well disguised, is still wrong.

To accomplish that, more is needed besides nodding along to this article, or even sharing it (though education is an excellent and necessary first step). As Albert Einstein said, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Neither authority nor legality is a power unto itself. They are constructs created by the people, to serve the people. When they do neither, and suffering results, it is the people's responsibility to correct it. Such sentiments aren't blasphemy, but core principles of our nation.

So get to Standing Rock. Make a stand in your hometown. It's not our small individual contributions, but the sum total which is the force we require. Protest. Utilize civil disobedience. Stop making systemic injustice so convenient. Either we fight for better, or we accept our demise.

This is our country, our lives, our planet. It's time to take them back.