Echo Chamber
Nov. 6th, 2020 08:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bartstationbardLiving in historic times isn't much fun--but I wouldn't trade it for any more comfortable time. I do wish this was over, though. Seeing Stephen Colbert on the verge of tears was powerful, but not something I wanted to see.
I've been waking up in the middle of the night, nightmare scenarios involving either the election or the union running through my head. I read somewhere that Trump is considering running in 2024 and had to haul myself back from wishing him dead. No one, no one deserves to die. That is not the kind of person I ever want to be. But for a moment, I was. I look at him and all I can see is a fat rattlesnake. He is actually willing, eager, even, to destroy his own country. If he can't have it, nobody can. How did we come to this?
John Beckett says that the soul of our country is rotten. I don't agree, but I can see why he says it. An imperfect comparison--there are plenty of people showing courage, starting with the Pennsylvania registrar who stood up and told us straight up what was going on, even as a red-faced Trumper pitched a fit behind him. He let the guy wind down, then went on with his job. One act of violence would have been all it would have taken to end him, and a segment of these people are completely unhinged right now.
Biden was not my first choice, but he's what we have to work with, and he is calling for calm. He is modeling proper behavior with every appearance he makes, and I am happy to do the same. Peace begins with me. Peace begins with each one of us. We can choose what we support, and what we will not countenance. We can choose what we grow within us and what we share with the world. We are not apples, we are specialized sense organs of a living superorganism called Planet Earth, and we are responsible for our actions. We can choose to leave this planet better than we found it, or we can act as if it is a storehouse we can plunder for our own pleasure. Paradoxically, the more we care for it, the better our lives can be.
Every day I talk to my deities. Every day I pledge myself to be a blessed ancestor. There are plenty of opportunities, after all. Beginning my day that way means it is fresh in my mind as I make my first choices. Recently I added Lady Liberty to my practice. On my first--and only trip to New York I stopped in a tourist trap and bought a little statue for my altar. She has stood in the East ever since. E Pluribus Unum is a pledge we can work with every day as we work to form a more perfect union. Mine means re-membering my relationship with all beings, from the microbes to the stars. It means paying my land tax to the First Peoples as well as Uncle Sam, and so many other small acts as they cross my path. Last night it meant not wishing an awful little man dead. It means not writing off the people who voted to return him to office. They hurt, just as I hurt right now. Demonizing them only adds to the pain.
There is no "them," there's only us. That is why I wanted Bernie, but settled for Biden. For now. He is the candidate that can be reasoned with, though it will take all of us. There is a core of goodness in all of us. We just have to choose to listen to it.
I've been waking up in the middle of the night, nightmare scenarios involving either the election or the union running through my head. I read somewhere that Trump is considering running in 2024 and had to haul myself back from wishing him dead. No one, no one deserves to die. That is not the kind of person I ever want to be. But for a moment, I was. I look at him and all I can see is a fat rattlesnake. He is actually willing, eager, even, to destroy his own country. If he can't have it, nobody can. How did we come to this?
John Beckett says that the soul of our country is rotten. I don't agree, but I can see why he says it. An imperfect comparison--there are plenty of people showing courage, starting with the Pennsylvania registrar who stood up and told us straight up what was going on, even as a red-faced Trumper pitched a fit behind him. He let the guy wind down, then went on with his job. One act of violence would have been all it would have taken to end him, and a segment of these people are completely unhinged right now.
Biden was not my first choice, but he's what we have to work with, and he is calling for calm. He is modeling proper behavior with every appearance he makes, and I am happy to do the same. Peace begins with me. Peace begins with each one of us. We can choose what we support, and what we will not countenance. We can choose what we grow within us and what we share with the world. We are not apples, we are specialized sense organs of a living superorganism called Planet Earth, and we are responsible for our actions. We can choose to leave this planet better than we found it, or we can act as if it is a storehouse we can plunder for our own pleasure. Paradoxically, the more we care for it, the better our lives can be.
Every day I talk to my deities. Every day I pledge myself to be a blessed ancestor. There are plenty of opportunities, after all. Beginning my day that way means it is fresh in my mind as I make my first choices. Recently I added Lady Liberty to my practice. On my first--and only trip to New York I stopped in a tourist trap and bought a little statue for my altar. She has stood in the East ever since. E Pluribus Unum is a pledge we can work with every day as we work to form a more perfect union. Mine means re-membering my relationship with all beings, from the microbes to the stars. It means paying my land tax to the First Peoples as well as Uncle Sam, and so many other small acts as they cross my path. Last night it meant not wishing an awful little man dead. It means not writing off the people who voted to return him to office. They hurt, just as I hurt right now. Demonizing them only adds to the pain.
There is no "them," there's only us. That is why I wanted Bernie, but settled for Biden. For now. He is the candidate that can be reasoned with, though it will take all of us. There is a core of goodness in all of us. We just have to choose to listen to it.
