In times like these”¦
Being in Rome as I write this and seeing the ancient ruins, I often wonder how often throughout millennia conversations have started with those exact words.
A lot of people are asking, “How did we get here?” Maybe the better question to ask is, “What next?”
I know when great upheaval occurs people frantically, desperately seek answers for things in order to feel safe amongst chaos. I get it. At one level, we’re all scared of our mortality. What will come when our world is turned upside down? How do we cope when everything feels so disconcerting? So we put all kinds of control in place to keep us from having to actually feel. Because realizing you have no control is scary.
So I did the same thing we all do. I went to the source of reason and understanding and wisdom to help me feel safe in a world gone wild and ease my rising panic.
Oprah.com
Surely Oprah would have some sort of calming, profound insight about the uncertainty of it all. Surely, she would have the solution and answer to”¦well”¦everything. (I also wondered why the hell didn’t she run for President?)
But as I read her thoughts ”“ all good and all forward-thinking ”“ I also realized, nope, no one has any answers for anything. Ever. We’re all fumbling toward uncertainty.
Always. And often, the more certain I think I feel about something, the more I realize I feel that way because it makes me feel safe. To feel certain.
Donald Trump has no more answers for us about the cosmos and the nature of existence or what any of it means than President Obama did or anyone else who has come before. That doesn’t mean we don’t initiate our civic responsibility and elect officials who we hope can lead all people in a more peaceful, conscious, and healthy direction. That doesn’t mean we give up or stop fighting for equal rights for all people or give up on the ideals of a more tolerant and inclusive society.
But to think one person ”“ elected or otherwise ”“ can solve the problems that have beset humanity for as long as human beings have been on this planet and calm the battles that rage within each individual seems almost naive.
I’m on a journey, as are you, as are the billions of people on this planet for as little of time as we have, to hopefully figure our shit out and leave here having shared just a tiny bit more love with others. That’s all that’s left behind. Goodness. Kind acts. Love. And that’s ultimately all that endures.
So we try to manage ourselves first. We work on ourselves first. We try to keep the channels open. Unclutter our environment of fear and hate in our own lives. Write poetry. Let our lives be an act of service. Show people, by example, that love is the way. Make art. Impact people by seeing other points of view, realizing theirs can be as real to them as yours and mine are to us. Work toward finding valid space for all things to co-exist. And come to terms with the truth that as hard as it is to stomach sometimes, without some form of upheaval, we’d have no art or activism or fight or inspiration or cause for people wanting to get into politics and create change.
With everyone posting all kinds of opinions all over the place on social media, reacting, not seeing the big picture, freaking out (!), bullying, spewing hate, quoting statistics, offering up alternative theories; all while not even knowing what will come next or what the outcome of something will be, what if we just collectively breathed first? And got more silent before we spoke. Again, I understand. If we express our opinions (even as I’m doing here) for all the world to see, then everything’s going to be okay. As long as my voice is heard I have some control over things that feel uncontrollable. I am heard, therefore I’m safe.
Maybe it would be better for all of us to follow the teachings of the great musician Leonard Cohen who just died this past week. With the lyrics of a recent song he composed, he had a way of “slowing down the world to make it easier for us to understand,” and his benediction couldn’t be any more timely than in times like these.
Listen to the hummingbird, whose wings you cannot see
Listen to the hummingbird, don’t listen to me.
Listen to the butterfly, whose days but number three
Listen to the butterfly, don’t listen to me.
Listen to the mind of God which doesn’t need to be
Listen to the mind of God, don’t listen to me.
Actors in video: Tamara Perry and Jessica Graham