Looking Within as an Act of Defiance and Sanity: Don’t Make the Mistake of Strengthening Our Opponent Before We Fight Their Actions

Over Thanksgiving, I saw the movie Conclave with close friends. It was a wonderful film. Without giving up too much of the plot to those who haven’t seen it yet, one of my favorite scenes was a pivotal, impromptu speech by the Bishop of Kabul, responding to a previous Bishop who spoke about a supposed threat from Muslims and terrorists to Christianity. The Bishop of Kabul said;

 

What is it you think we’re fighting?

Do you think it’s those deluded men

who had carried out these terrible acts today?

No, my brother.

 

The thing you’re fighting is here…

inside each and every one of us…

 

The idea of the enemy within has a long history, not only in Christianity but Islam, Judaism, etc. It’s often referring, as the Bishop of Kabul did later in his speech, to feeling hate.

 

The phrase has also been used by politicians to serve their purpose of manipulating public opinion and public psychology with fear, anger, as well as hate. Joe McCarthy used the phrase to stir up fear and hatred of Communists, claiming without evidence “Commies” had infiltrated and were taking over our government. DT used the phrase to increase suspicion, fear, and hatred of brown and black immigrants, Democrats, and his other opponents.

 

I’d like to use the term in a slightly different way. I’d use it to describe what the fear of DT, misdirected by DT and others like him, might unleash in us. But ‘enemy’ might distort the issue. The fear is very real, but it can both undermine or enlighten us. When we view the emotion with compassion for all we’re going through, it can get us to look within as an act of defiance and sanity.

 

Most of us realize he threatens literally everything. Certainly, the environmental protections would go, which would not only undermine our health, our clean air and water, but undermine the future of humans and other species on our planet.

 

DT also threatens the rule of law, our right to vote, to speak out, make our own health care decisions, etc. His appointment first of Matt Gaetz and then Pam Bondi for Attorney General illustrates that he has chosen people not for competence or their care for the general welfare of all of us. He’s chosen those he knows will do his bidding, like dismantling the DOJ infrastructure and arresting his opponents. Once laws are made to serve one-man’s interests, the interests of the rest of us are dismissed. No longer could we rely on the law to address injustices of all kinds, including being deported for one’s race or ethnicity, or to address sexist policies, being ripped off financially, dangerous work conditions, etc.

 

Fear and confusion can create hopelessness and withdrawal. I’ve seen it in others and felt it in myself. We might want to turn off the news, or immigrate to another country or to another universe of distractions. And this might be become necessary for us. Some say, “there’s nothing I can do.” Others claim small actions are a waste of time. These responses, while understandable, can cede too much power to the would-be white nationalist dictator.

 

Actions like calling Congress to oppose DT’s cabinet picks or prevent  H.R. 9495⎼ the Stop Terror Financing and Tax Penalties on Hostages Act ⎼which would stop organizations that speak out and oppose him⎼ from passing in the Senate are necessary….

 

 

*To read the whole article, please go to The Good Men Project.

Has the Shock Doctrine Won? “If my love does not cause me to protect those I love, is it love?”

Part of me wants to just put this election and the unbelievable loss by Kamala Harris behind me, or at least until I know I can or must do something. Maybe I’ll take a vacation from news media. Focus on doing things I love, be with those who love me. It’s just so much to accept, too much to bear.

 

But his actions so far, in choosing his cabinet, administrative, and advisory positions and proposing policies might be too disturbing to ignore, hopefully too disturbing to come to fruition. He’s chosen a cabinet aimed to give him total power and undermine legitimate agency functions. People like:

Matt Gaetz, who is a subject of a House Ethics Investigation, for sex-trafficking and other accused crimes, for Attorney General.

Stephen Miller a white nationalist and creator of the policy to take young children from their immigrant parents during DT’s first term of office, as Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy.

Lee Zeldin, who questions the reality of climate change and promises to favor big oil and big business over environmental protection, to head the EPA.

Elon Musk, world’s richest man, a megadonor to DT’s campaign, and as Public Citizen reports, a beneficiary of government contracts while 3 of his companies are under investigation for civil and criminal charges, was picked to co-lead a proposed Department of Government Efficiency, to gut federal regulations and slash spending. His partner would be Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech billionaire. Shocking.

 

Heather Cox Richardson reported the DT transition team floated the idea that he could sign an executive order creating a board of retired senior military personnel to review high-ranking officers and recommend removing any they deemed unfit for leadership. Vivian Salama, Nancy A. Youssef, and Lara Seligman reported in the Wall Street Journal that such a board would enable Trump to purge the military of the generals whom he considered insufficiently loyal to him, so he would have total control over the military.

 

Thankfully, the GOP in the House of Representatives just failed to pass, for now, the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act which would have granted the secretary of the Treasury Department unilateral authority to revoke the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit deemed to be a “terrorist supporting organization.” It would have enabled the DT administration to revoke the non-profit status of any organization deemed to be supporting terrorism, even without proof, and stifle dissent in the US. That’s a relief. I will still have to take some time for vacations from the news.

 

Remember the Shock Doctrine, the economic and political strategy observed by Naomi Klein in her groundbreaking book published in 2008? The doctrine explained what she called “disaster capitalism,” or the exploitation and manipulation of disasters, natural and human-made, so people misperceive their own interests and accept policies they never would have accepted otherwise. It feels like the Shock Doctrine has won⎼ for the moment.

 

DT has constantly shocked us, by repeatedly inciting fear of illegal immigrants, of crime on the streets when the reality was an historic reduction in crime. Of an economy supposedly in freefall that was actually in recovery. Shocked too many of us to believe those delivering the message, reporting on or trying to prosecute him for his crimes, were the criminals. He accused Democrats of weaponizing the DOJ in order to free up a lane for him to weaponize it, as he tried to do multiple times in his first term, and promises to do in his second⎼ by imprisoning all those who oppose him. He shocked us with outrageous, even bizarre, often misogynist or racist, demented tirades and threats. It appears his motive, besides simply spreading his crazy hate, was to keep us off balance and fearful….

 

*To read the whole article, please click on this link to The Good Men Project.

I’m Dumbfounded: Are We Too Afraid and Too Ready to Accept a Simple or Convenient Lie Instead of Searching for The More Complex Truth?

I’m dumbfounded. Perplexed. Confused. And frightened. Worried. I feel a hole in my stomach. My hands feel like they’re vibrating, but it’s on the inside only. My mouth, cheeks, and eyes feel heavy, like they’re filled with concrete.

 

Dumbfounded is a good word, because I feel dumb. Have I been so wrong about humanity? Are our fellow Americans just so misogynistic they couldn’t allow a woman to be president? Or too racist? But somewhere upwards of 40% of Latinos voted for DT and helped swing the election. I’m missing something here. Or are we too vengeful? Too afraid? Too ready to accept a simple or convenient lie instead of searching for the more complex or inconvenient truth? Are our memories so short we don’t remember the chaos, fear, and malignant incompetence of DT’s response to COVID? Or his assaults on healthcare? The favoritism shown the rich?

 

Or have too many of us been so consumed by fake news we can’t see what seems so obvious to many of us? Or so deluded by disinformation we’ve voted in the King of fake news? The wanna-be Dictator of lies, hate, and fear?

 

I’m so confused.

 

Or maybe the election results are off? Or just feel impossible? Certainly, if the results prove accurate, the polling was off.

 

I was recently at a large dinner party seated with two obviously intelligent women I didn’t know. They were talking about their distrust in government. Their level of distrust and bitter anger startled me. One, who was a Kamala Harris supporter, even said, “Do we really know if we should have fought in World War II? Did we defeat Fascism?” I jumped in with two not-very mindful feet and said, “Yes. We did. Remember six million Jews had been killed, exterminated.” We shut off the ovens. We released starving millions from concentration camps. She said she agreed with me. The other woman became silent. But what about the distrust? Was I witnessing the result of disinformation aimed at undermining our trust in democracy?

 

Maybe she had a point neither of us recognized right then. Maybe the fascism continued underground. Maybe we saw its ugly face last night?

 

I don’t know.

 

But maybe the not-knowing can be a good thing….

 

**To read the whole article, please go to The Good Men Project.

Reducing Anxiety so We Can Live Through the Next Few Days. Final Thoughts: In an Autocracy, We as Citizens, Consumers, Patients, and Workers Lose Our Rights

First, a personal concern:

How do we reduce the anxiety most of us are feeling about the election to something we can live with? DT has done all he can to make this difficult. He has worked to make the election as chaotic and threatening as possible. He’s done all he could to try to fix or hold up election results and frighten election workers. He’s promised if he wins to rule like a dictator, use the military against those who oppose him, and violence if he loses. He has falsely claimed for years that the 2020 election was rigged, and now he claims this one’s been rigged, so whether he loses, or wins, we won’t know who our next president will be for hours, days or weeks after Tuesday. But the evidence shows that the only candidate in the 2024 race who’s tried to illegally interfere in the election process is DT himself.

 

I’m tired of him. I want him to just lose, again, but this time, disappear from the political stage. I’m trying different strategies to keep my eyes open while keeping my heart rate as comfortable as I can. One strategy is to do whatever and as much as I can to get out the vote, or as Michelle Obama said, to do something.

 

I’m also considering my own health, mental and physical. One way I’m doing that is to study how, in the worst of times, maybe we can get stronger. In the midst of my fright, maybe there’s buried the way to face what frightens me. In a book about the Japanese Zen teacher and philosopher Dogen Zenji by Shinshu Roberts, the author quotes Dogen and other teachers on facing what we don’t like. The mental states that we wish would just disappear, he says, might just reveal the wisdom that we need. We don’t find wisdom in a vacuum. There are things we must put off; it’s difficult to talk about wisdom when our mind is focused on survival. Yet our lives are so much better when we can bring as much awareness as possible to whatever we face.

 

Maybe if we can just stop what we’re doing, and sit, stand, exercise, or take a walk in a beautiful area; maybe take a breath. Feel our feet on the floor. For one minute we can take a holiday and feel this moment, now, so fully we won’t have the space to imagine later. Maybe when it’s possible and with as much awareness as possible, we can write down or dance out the thoughts in our mind or the feelings in our body, without editing or hiding them. Then we will better perceive how to face the next moment, no matter what occurs. And, if we haven’t done so already, we can be relaxed yet alert when we vote.

 

A last argument before the election:

A week before election day, Kamala Harris gave a powerful final argument for her campaign. She said we all know who DT is and what he’d delver, more chaos, hate, and division. More power and wealth to the rich at the expense of the rest of us. For example, his 10-50% tariff on imported goods would raise the burden on most of us hundreds to  thousands of dollars while proportionally reducing the burden on the rich. Many economists warn his plans could crash the economy.

 

But what needs to be said more clearly is that the economy and the cost of living is not a separate issue from that of democracy….

 

*To read the whole article, please go to The Good Men Project.

It’s Almost Time. The Day is Near: One Action of Our Pen, One Word to Someone We Speak with, One Instance of Caring Can Have More Affect Than We Realize

Where do we find comfort, or answers when it feels time itself might stop? When the idea of a specific future event makes us shake with dread and anxiety one minute, anticipation and hope the next?

 

Humans, in the past, and many in the present, look to the natural world, especially the weather for answers pertaining to the human, social world. If it’s raining this moment, we might think it a prediction or metaphor for the next moment. On September 26, the southeast U. S suffered the devastating destruction of Helene, and less than 2 weeks later, Milton. Yet, in the northeast just a few days ago, many witnessed the northern lights, then a supermoon. And the fall colors; the forests, hills and mountains are so painted in beauty. What is the answer in nature?

 

We might look to the news like we look to the weather. We look at polls, which show Harris with barely a 1-point lead. We look for events and new information that might turn the tide. On Friday of last week, Jack Smith was able to get Judge Chutkin to allow new details to be unsealed regarding DT’s actions to interfere in the 2020 election. One document gave insight into his thinking on Jan. 6, when he incited his followers in the Capitol to “fight like hell”. He then returned to the White House, sat down by the tv, asked a staffer to bring him a diet coke, and did nothing for hours but watch his speech and listen as the rioters chanted “hang Mike Pence.” Any other year, any other campaign, this revelation would turn the tide and mean the end of his political career. Any other year, any other campaign, Jan. 6 would’ve meant the end of his freedom.

 

Or at an appearance for Univision, the largest Spanish news network in the US, he called the attempted coup at the Capitol “a day of love.” Really? Love? The participants were aghast. One told DT “I had voted for you in the past” and was formerly registered as a Republican, but your “action and maybe inaction” regarding the coronavirus and January 6 was “a little disturbing.” “What happened during January 6, and the fact that you know, you waited so long to take action while your supporters were attacking the Capitol…” And “during the coronavirus your administration misled the public. Many lives could have been saved if you had better informed us. “ He asked DT “why should I want to support you” when so many members of his former administration, even his former Vice President, don’t support him.

 

DT replied with a swath of lies. He said, “You had hundreds of thousands of people come to Washington. They didn’t come because of me, they came because of the election.” He said no one was killed on Jan. 6 except for one of his supporters. He failed to mention the police officer who died from injuries sustained from the attack, or the four others who committed suicide, and the140 who were injured.

 

As described by Julia Conley in an article in Common Dreams, “Univision‘s camera panned over a section of the audience as Trump replied to [the questioner], showing one woman visibly shocked as the former president claimed ‘no one was killed’ in the riot…” We can witness DT’s lies for ourselves on X. Any other year, any other campaign, this performance would mean the end of his political career….

 

 

*To read the whole post, please go to The Good Men Project.

Let Care, Reliable Facts, and Compassion Be Our Guide, Not Just Fear and Anger: History Can Help Us Understand that an Opposing Viewpoint Can Be a Lesson to Be Understood, Not an Evil to be Destroyed

Do you ever listen to Travel With Rick Steves on NPR? I love the program. It usually focuses on places to visit in different areas of the world. But this time, the focus was on how 3 countries in Europe were dealing with autocracy. Steves interviewed tour guides from each country. They talked about the reality of life in a dictatorship; and how countries that were once dictatorships and now democracies are learning what it is to live with freedom⎼ to live with the power to make political decisions that could greatly change their lives. The program was reassuring and provided clarity to my thoughts and emotions regarding the election.

 

A few countries in Europe had democratically elected leaders who were trying to end democracy. One from the more distant past was Hitler. Another, more recently, is Victor Orban, in Hungary. Both were elected on a platform to stop political instability or stop a perceived immigration crisis. They elected leaders who claimed, “Only I can fix it.”

 

We in the US have lived in a democracy since 1776. People all over the world envy the political power we citizens have. Yet not so long ago many of us were saying, “why should I vote?” Or “there’s not a nickel’s worth of difference between the two parties.” Today, the differences between parties are dramatic.

 

Steves’ program gave me a broader perspective on our own country and the threats we now face from DT and his Christian, white nationalist and/or fascist agenda. It taught me how a country can recover from a dictator or would-be dictator and the hate he can incite. I realized all sorts of changes are possible; change can take away our freedom or increase it. It can undermine our concern for other people or strengthen it.

 

The fear of a loss of our rights, or anger against the threat from a would-be DT dictatorship, is not the only reason to vote, or to do whatever we can to get out the vote.

 

Tomasz Klimek took us to Poland which is now a democratic country. But they had to fight Communism to get their freedom and only succeeded fairly recently. It’s a country that, even since achieving democracy, saw voters swing both right and left in their choices. But the swings were not extreme, more slightly one way or slightly another. Because they had to fight for freedom recently, people vote in large numbers.

 

They don’t tend to treat opponents as enemies, as the GOP in the US are now doing.

 

Klimek said autocrats focus on one enemy, like immigrants, to demonize. But modern Poland united to help the Ukrainian people. They united out of concern for a neighbor.

 

Andrea Makkay, from Hungry, talked about how people elected a leader who then took away many of their freedoms. They had had a history of turmoil, from Mongol invaders to Soviet Communist dictatorship, and so didn’t, and still don’t, know what it is to live democratically. They don’t feel their power or think they can make a change. They are only learning the hard way….

 

 

*To read the whole article, please click on this link to The Good Men Project. Thank you.

A Political Sparring Match: He Lied So Smoothly the Smoothness Remained in the Air Longer than the Obviousness of the Lie

Last night, I felt like I was witnessing a boxing match, not a debate. But instead of using fists covered in gloves, they were using words, smirks, and smiles. Sometimes, it felt like I wasn’t watching but participating, or that I wish I was participating, or wish that my words could be up there. My anxiety was certainly right there. Because it felt so personal. It felt like my life was up there, the life of my neighbors and all those I loved, maybe the whole world was up there.

 

But first, the setting. Hurricane Helene, fueled by the increased ability of air warmed by climate change to hold more water, just a week ago brought devastating rains, winds, and floods, making it one of the worst and deadliest storms to hit the US in history.

 

In the Middle East and Ukraine, the wars continue. I, like so many millions, have been appalled, frightened by the violent destruction there. The violence disturbs me terribly. Not only the initial horrifying attacks by Putin in Ukraine and Hamas in Israel, but what has followed. But my feeling of horror is now focused on Netanyahu ordering Israeli forces to spread the war from Gaza to Lebanon to root out threats to Israel. But by doing so, thousands of innocents are being killed, homes and infrastructure totally decimated.

 

And I don’t know but wonder, as some news sources do, whether Netanyahu is purposefully prolonging the war to serve not his people but his own personal motivations. For example, to avoid possible prosecution, and to stay in power by satisfying his religious conservative base, (like his friend, DT?) and frustrate President  Biden’s continuing efforts to negotiate peace and free hostages.

 

And, in the U. S., of course, there’s this extremely contentious election, where one candidate has been indicted or convicted of several criminal charges, with new evidence of wrongdoing and court filings being revealed even today. And in retribution, threatens to imprison his political rivals if he gets elected to office.

 

So, this is background. Some commentators remarked on the relatively tame or civil proceedings. J. D. Vance on one side, slickly, sickly throwing words and lies like punches, trying to knock out the more neighborly Tim Walz. But Walz would not go down, physically or morally. In fact, he seemed to feed on the attacks, getting stronger and stronger as the night wore on, trying to counter lies with facts. At times, he seemed so filled with ideas he couldn’t get them out fast enough. Or he seemed shocked by Vance’s ability to lie so smoothly the smoothness remained in the air longer than the obviousness of the lie.  And so Walz sometimes stumbled. But he always rose up again. And by the end, he dealt a blow that woke up the world, I hope.

 

And I feared some people would forget that lies, no matter how often repeated, are still lies; that threats, no matter how smoothly repeated, are still dangerous.

 

The last topic of the debate was the 2020 election and DT’s refusal to admit he had lost and peacefully turn over his office to the rightful and obvious winner, President Biden….

 

**To read the whole article, please go to The Good Men Project.

Once We Break the Bonds Committing Us to Truth, All the Beasts of the Human Mind Can Be Released: The Shot that Rang Out from the Golf Course

I was unnerved, so very disturbed by the shot that rang out yesterday (9/15) from a Florida golf course.

 

And it wasn’t only because the shooter seems to have intended to aim at, and kill a fellow human being, and a presidential candidate, but was thankfully thwarted by a Secret Service agent. That intention is despicable enough. But the whole context was shocking, the timing, the election. Just when a shift in people’s perception of DT was being reported, from the polls, and the debate⎼ just when so many more people had been coming to recognize the craziness he spreads to all of us, the threat, and then this happened.

 

And now, this newest example of intended gun violence is sharing the media news cycle with how DT would lie, say or do almost anything to get his way, no matter who he might hurt. How he used racist lies about Haitian immigrants to rile up his base, to shock and destabilize our nation and spread anger, hate, and the sense of continuous threat. And the result of his comments? Bomb threats and other violence are being aimed at those he maligned and hurt, and the city they live in. He and his VP were just beginning to be held accountable in many media sources when the Secret Service agent’s shot rang out.

 

But the mere attempt to kill a political leader in this country is shocking.

 

DT has continuously, from 2016 to today, viewed our nation through a dark lens, describing us as a crime-ridden, failed, “third world” country. He talks about not being able to go out for a loaf of bread without being raped, mugged, or shot at. Most of us go out every week without getting mugged or raped or shot at. Despite FBI statistics showing a historic 26.4 reduction in murders and similar reductions in rape, robberies, and crime overall in 2024, we might still fear violence due to the anger, hate, and sense of grievance DT stirs up. He helps create the division and violence he describes and attributes to others.

 

For example, his violent rhetoric has helped turn compromise into a dirty word, helped  turn people who have different viewpoints into enemies. He undermines political cooperation by turning discussion from a way to share viewpoints and create a greater understanding, to a way to destroy opposition. He thus undermines democracy itself.

 

In a specious manner, he makes claims that the violence he incited was caused by those who have revealed his role in said violence. For example, he said President Biden was trying to overthrow the United States by saying DT was a threat to democracy. Meanwhile, on Jan. 6 it was DT who actually tried to overthrow the constitution and the will of the American people (and then continued to lie about it ever since). His statements misrepresent the facts and the blame is his own.

 

His constant lying undermines not only the specific facts he distorts, but a general sense of truth, or reality. Once we break any commitment to truth, all the dark, imagined, feared beasts lying dormant in our minds can be released….

 

*To read the whole article, please click on this link to The Good Men Project.

Just Listen to What He Says. Listen: Many Report on the Drip of Normalcy and Neglect the Flood of Offensive Nonsense

If we doubt that much of the corporate media is helping DT with the way they cover him, just listen to what he actually says. We just need to listen, carefully, if we can stand it.

 

Even I, when I read the text of his statements, find myself normalizing him. I read or listen and look for a drop of normalcy, or for how his followers would hear him. I subconsciously do the work he wouldn’t do and look for meaning or critical thinking amidst all the gibberish, and then dismiss the gibberish. But right there on the page, right there on the screen where he stands, his words are often nonsense, and offensive, frightening nonsense.

 

The major reason he’s still in this race, and not being laughed off the stage, is because so many of those who support him are locked behind a wall of disinformation or bias and fictionalize him, and those who report on him are either afraid of him and told to normalize him by corporate higher-ups, or are inured to his weirdness and self-absorption. Many see the drip of normalcy and neglect the flood of incoherent, belligerent, and offensive inanity. We must not allow ourselves to get so used to him to the point that he uses us.

 

The recent debate provided a good example of his belligerent inanity. I almost felt sorry for him a couple of times because he was so out of his depth, so lost and out of control. He had no facts to show he cared about issues and people, and often pushed beyond the debate agreements of 2 minute comments to aggressively ramble on with conspiratorial lies.

 

And the simplistic, malignant nature of these lies almost surprised me. I didn’t expect him to so blatantly repeat on national tv the weird crazies he repeats on smaller stages. For example, his old debunked refrain about millions coming across the border to steal and rape, even repeating racist disinformation about Haitians stealing pets to eat them. He ignored the fact that most Haitians in the city were here legally, and immigrants in general are less likely to commit crimes then other U. S. residents, certainly less likely than DT himself.

 

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” said Trump. The police and other city officials have repeatedly said there were no such reports, but DT claimed it was true because he saw it somewhere on tv.

 

Of course, when asked directly at the debate if he wanted the Ukrainians to win the war to defeat Russian invaders, or if he would veto a national abortion ban, he showed his true values and that, maybe his ramblings serve a purpose all his own, and refused to answer the actual question asked.

 

Recently, at a Fox “News” town hall, he was asked about the mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia that led to four deaths and multiple injuries. DT avoided the question to talk about the support he received from Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orbán, the same autocrat he mentioned at the debate as a foreign ruler who respects him.

 

“’It’s a sick and angry world for a lot of reasons…’ Trump said. ‘And we’re going to make it better, you know, Viktor Orban made a statement, he said, ‘bring Trump back and we won’t have any problems.’ He was very strong about that.’” Never a comment about gun safety, or a sliver of compassion for the victims and their families….

 

*To read the whole article, please go to The Good Men Project.

Don’t Miss the Meditation Bell of Crickets: When the Nerves of Life are Fully Sensitized, and the Song of Life is Played so Beautifully

Every year, the sound of crickets acts as a reminder. They’re almost like a meditation bell for me. They bring me here, to this moment. When I was teaching, and it was a late August evening, I’d go out on the deck of my rural home and just listen. I’d feel the summer ending⎼ the time of warm weather and flowers, the time of my youth when summer meant vacation; the time of my adult and teaching years when it meant relaxation and renewal⎼ this time was getting short. It was passing so quickly.

 

It can feel like we didn’t make the most of it, so we need to make the most of it now.  Maybe every day, every moment, we can have this sense. This moment is our only time, maybe our last time, to just relax⎼ to hear the song of crickets⎼ to hear the song of life played so clearly and beautifully. We don’t want to let distractions steal too much of the day from us.

 

So, maybe we can sit quietly with ourselves or our children, and listen not only to the crickets, but birds, and other voices. We can hear the earth breathing in the wind, the rain, and in the expanding and contracting of our lungs, or in the hum of cicadas or traffic.

 

Henry David Thoreau famously said: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.…. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life…”

 

This was quoted by the main character, a teacher, in the movie The Dead Poets Society, which my high school English and drama students embraced one year. Questioned. Sucked out the marrow of meaning. Chanted Carpe Diem.

 

This is distinctly different, even opposite to FOMO, the Fear of Missing Out, which can cause us such anxiety. It involves, yes, a type of seeing, understanding, and experiencing, basically on social media platforms. But it arises from constantly comparing our self with others; comparing what I am, know, have and have experienced, with what I imagine others feel, value, think of me. And then our sense of self-worth becomes dependent on that comparison, so we always come up short, lacking. There’s a sort of commodification of one’s life here, an adding up of one’s experiences as one would add up money in a bank.

 

With Thoreau, who lived from 1817-1862, there was no such comparison involved, and a notable reduction in anxiety. He lived about 140 years before social media was introduced. And if he was alive today, I can’t imagine him spending much time on a cell phone. He favored ponds, lakes, and forests as his soul places. Each moment of life was to be lived for itself, for quality and depth, with no separating of oneself from the reality of ourselves, of others, or from the woods to make comparisons with others.

 

The crickets also remind us of all that might pass if we don’t notice it and act⎼ and not just of summer. Each noticed ending is the now of a beginning.

 

This fall is particularly poignant, frightening, and intense. Our minds, our nerves are fully sensitized and awake….

 

*To read the whole article, please go to The Good Men Project.