Xenia
• 5 minutes read •
Xenia means you feed, house, and respect the homeless,
regardless of what got them there.
Xenia means you do the work to unlearn racism, misogyny, homophobia, fatphobia, ableism, and transphobia.
Xenia means you treat criminals and felons
as human beings worthy of dignity and respect.
Xenia means you make your environments less overstimulating
if you know you’ll be with an autistic person.
Xenia means Fuck The Police.
Xenia means you talk to the elderly neighbor who’s
living on their own, and has nobody in their life.
Xenia means respecting your trans friends identities
even when they’re not present.
“Xenia is an ancient Greek concept of hospitality. It is almost always translated as ‘guest-friendship’ or ‘ritualized friendship’.It is an institutionalized relationship rooted in generosity, gift exchange, and reciprocity. Historically, hospitality towards foreigners and guests was understood as a moral obligation, as well as a political imperative.”
Xenia as a name and concept to me is one of ultimate kindness and societal community. It’s the concept of being kind to strangers, or the unknown passersby, or the elderly, or the mentally ill, as much as possible for as long as possible. It’s about feeding the homeless and those down on their luck. But just as much kindness as in xenia as there is, there is anger and justice as well. You are not kind to those who have hurt others, you are not kind to police, you are not kind to fascists and nazis.
This may or may not be a bastardization slightly of the original concept of xenia, which only speaks of kindness and not of justice. But I CHOOSE to inject my modern punk values into this ancient concept and mold it to my worldview. I CHOOSE to believe that justice IS kindness ultimately. Infinite kindness is just as deadly to community as infinite visciousness is. Xenia is about knowing who is in power, that power structures exist, and about being kind to those who are not in power and are not ultimately a threat to you. Xenia is about being against the death penalty, while doing our best to topple the power structures that puts the weak and mentally ill to death.
Kindness to strangers is impossible when people are not allowed to BE strangers. The United States is currently against immigration, against the homeless, against the very concept of travel. Clinging to the absurd concept of borders and walls, gating their communities, rebuffing strangers in favor of only the Known, The Powerful, The White. Xenia as a concept goes against the values of the average American citizen, and so be it. They are wrong on a great many principles, on a great many aspects of morality and kindness as a whole.
Let them practice their hatred, we will practice xenia.