“Life is hard, you know, and laughter is how we come to terms with all the ironies and cruelties and uncertainties that we face.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu
I just got in from rucking German Hill. For the majority of you, who don’t know what the fuck it is, rucking is wearing a weighted vest and doing whatever exercise you’re inclined to do. For little old me, rucking is walking up and down German Hill, with a purpose and determination that is invigorating. Music is always with me and this time, going out, it was to Rhapsody and Blue, my favorite piece of music, period.
I had made up mind that after this dose of rucking, I was going to begin writing my next story, a subject I came up with days ago. The problem with the subject I chose is that it neither has a happy ending, let alone a way to gracefully deal with it. The subject itself is a problem and something that has been on my mind for years. So, I figured I’d make it into a story and see where we go with it. The formula for Facebook, successful writing is to always have happy endings, ones that lift up all your friends, who leave smiling faces and hearts, and best of all, the caring face.
When I went back to the first story I wrote on my blog, back in 2014, Facebook was some foreign idea and all I wanted to do was my blog, having no idea if anyone would read any of it. God, it takes me forever to get to my story, but that’s why you’ve put up with me and I am beyond grateful.
Class, the subject for the day is COPING. I think about it all the time. I don’t care how old you are, every one of us has thought about how we’re going to cope with all that is coming our way. We get to choose between a crook and a cadaver to run our country for the next four years. In these next years, hard and important decisions about our future, either need to be made, or the consequences will be devastating for those who come after us.
I am here to tell you those decisions will not be made, because they are far beyond our control. They are in the hands of a relatively small group of people, who engorge themselves with the status quo, even though they are all well aware of the consequences of their inaction. The inequality between the hysterically rich and the rest of us, makes the Grand Canyon look like a pothole on the highway to doom.
Now, the consequences of their actions have put this planet on a crash course, its natural response to abuse. Planet earth doesn’t giving a flying fuck about our agenda. She speaks the language of nature, this beautiful symphony based on a balance.
There are consequences to every action, those between each of us and with her and all her sentient subjects. In these wars we are waging with each other and her, there will be only one winner, planet earth. She has been here over 4 billion years and survived way more shit than we are throwing at her in our thousands of years here.
This week, in the midst of thinking about this, I read a story by a pediatrician in Gaza. She wrote about trying to save the life of a little boy, who had his limbs blown off and not being able to save him, because she had no tools at all. Now, this is a story you quickly read and then move on to Taylor Swift and the guy, who designed her team jacket getting a contract with the NFL. Please, I am not pointing fingers, trust me. If you have a fucken pulse, what do you do? I don’t know.
I have been thinking, I will stop reading at all about what is going on in the world. I will get up every morning, do my Zen sit, my yoga practice, get on the stationary bike, eat my breakfast of an orange with blueberries and grain, do the bathroom stuff and get dressed and head out. I will avoid everything going on everywhere and live in a blissful state of oblivion. If I was still smoking pot, I’d probably think it is actually possible. Shit, I am straight and a smart road, avoiding potholes, no pun intended, is just not going to happen.
Yesterday morning, I got up at 5AM, made coffee, put on ugly sweatpants and a hooded sweatshirt and headed to Nawiliwili Harbor to go fishing. There wasn’t another soul there, just me. This idea of coping was on my mind and I was just standing out there, thinking about how I could maintain a sense of equanimity in the midst of all that is going on. Forces of evil seem to be running rampant, all around this jewel in the middle of the Pacific.
I started thinking about being a human island just like her. I have my world, people I care about with all my heart and others, I cross paths with, people like you. With however much time I have left, all those big issues that herniate my coping abilities, have to be put to the side. The trajectory of our behavior as a species has taken us to exactly where we are today and it will continue to mimic our history. What the hell are you and I supposed to do about it?
Remember I talked about the formula for “successful” social media stories? Mine doesn’t have one, because I’d be full of shit if I wrote about envisioning a happy ending to our future here. I care about my future and so should all of you. How we choose to behave and treat others, in the midst of thishttps://www.buzzsprout.com/1292459/episodes/14433779 ongoing and forever shit show is all that matters. We are not going to change the world, which puts a lot of pressure on this idea of coping.
I don’t know if it is because I am old or a reaction to so many awful things going in the world, but I have a chance to be a better person than I was yesterday. I know I have taken more joy in being funny around others. Making others laugh and feeling better about themselves is one of the ways I have chosen to cope with all that is outside my control.
This writing thing I do is one of those ways I can make a minute difference, surrounded by stories of the Gaza decimation and the soulless thieves intent on stealing our future. Maybe, reading my stories helps you to cope, which would be unbelievable to me. If you promise not to tell anyone, I am pretty sure it is what has forced me to keep writing to you.
If you have gotten this far in my story, I am humbled and grateful.
Thank you very much.