“Against” is a funny preposition

Consider these two sentences:

He stands against oppression.

He stands against the wall.

"Against” describes a relationship between two things that rely on each other and prop each other up. When you seriously oppose something, you’re against it because you choose to lean your identity on it, to use it as a reference point for making sense of yourself and your place in the world.

The purpose of this newsletter is just to grow leaves of thoughts up against time’s trellis, like ivy growing up a garden wall. Subscribe if you’d like to step into my garden each Sunday evening and take a peek at what’s been growing there.