“It is what it is” is a nasty little phrase that reveals a growing helplessness. I remember the first time I heard the phrase “it is what it is,” I thought it sort of dropped clarity into a conversation. I hear it too much now and it is used to excuse all kinds of bad things. 

• low pay, no raise – It is what it is.
• Our town can’t recover – It is what it is.
• Gun fire ripping through our city – It is what it is.
• Denied treatment by your insurance company – It is what it is.
• Job a lot boring and a little sad – It is what it is.
• Kids kicked out of head start – It is what it is.
• Governor ordering your doctor to shove a stick up your vagina and hand you the bill – It is what it is.

“It is what it is” shows a fatalism and powerlessness that is inhuman and un-American. You are not a young fawn waiting to be eaten by a fox in the wilderness. I am not a citizen of a dictatorship. We are humans, Americans and we each get to pick our life’s course. That’s why I’ve replaced “it is what it is,” with the more annoying but powerful, “Wait…Why?”  I feel stronger already. Will you join me?