LIVING THROUGH HISTORY IN THE MAKING (Part 1.)
Anyone else thinking about how the future will view this historical moment? Yep, the one we find ourselves in. Considering the week we’ve just lived through, and how it’ll be written down in history books – a hundred years from now? In the coming months and years, which part will each of us play, as time speeds up and events feel as though they’re spinning out of control, shifting and tilting, moving faster and faster until the pendulum swings back with as much force as it took to swing to this dangerous, delusional, dismal historical moment. Several Days ago a Climate Emergency event rolled through the Southeastern United States, and yes, it was Snowing on The Bayou, which sounds like a recently unearthed Creedence Clearwater Revival rarity. The Climate Emergency will only increase in impact, since it’s ongoing, planetwide, and undeniable. (As much as Climate Science deniers say nah, they don’t believe their eyes, skin, shivering, or sweating body, and surroundings.) Meanwhile, during its first week in office this lawbreaking administration is shutting down, or attempting to end any federal programs having to do with Climate Science, FEMA, DEI initiatives, Office of Gun Violence prevention, Cancer Research funding, or finding a new vaccine for the already underway Bird Flu pandemic. Of course the list is much longer. Beyond what this authoritarian administration is doing, what it did in its first week in office was to begin dismantling parts of the United States government that hinders its aims, as quickly as possible. Such as the recent illegal overnight purge of 18 inspector generals, because removing oversight means less scrutiny regarding legality. As Kurt Vonnegut said, “And so it goes…” Looking ahead, will the rules of law and our democratic elected leaders stand up for what’s vital and essential about our democracy? Will our culture miraculously, or through citizens doing the necessary work, find a balance between art, science, culture, belief systems, social and bodily autonomy? Can worldwide authoritarianism stop interfering with the natural impulses everyone feels for more freedom, rather than less? It was only a few months ago when the Democratic Party spoke about commonsense governing, with a “Mind Your Own Business” viewpoint when it came to citizens personal lives. Misguidedly placing personal freedom under the absurd catch-all of “Woke” isn’t the least bit meaningful – when personal and human rights are stolen, on a day by day basis. If one week was all the proof anyone in the Divided States of America needed, we’ve already seen it and experienced it. Bending the knee to a dictatorial regime isn’t how anyone I know wants to live. It’s not a future we want or accept in any way. Looking further ahead – through the crystal ball of time and space – will a series of massive global climate emergency shifts happen at an accelerated pace, and make drastic decisions for us, as a species? Will humanity as a whole understand we must band together if we as a species want to survive? Can humanity reach an end-point to war-making, ruling by out of control degrading and dangerous control systems, and trying to force others to believe what our warring tribe believes? Will humanity go back into hunter-gatherer mode and follow rivers and mountain trails toward mythical destinations? As we navigate future ice ages or sweltering deserts – seeking faraway lands where peaceful valleys and harmonious villages exist – in a time beyond war. High up in mountain passes or next to free-flowing rivers, how familiar it may feel to wind up where we started from – cave dwellers grouping together where fish and wild berries are plentiful, as they were when we emerged from the previous ice age?
I think about this all the time, and wrote a poem about it in a post not long ago called Once Upon a Time in America that starts out:
In an eon hence, after the Trojan horse of Trumpism eviscerated a City of Light, and oceans rose and civilizations fell,
Will we be the stuff of legends, our tropes and memes edging pages of ancient texts on crumbling shelves?
Will waves gently lap against the skirts of Liberty and docile doves nestle in her hair? . . . .
I paired this poem with another by Jane Hirschfield that begins:
Let them not say: we did not see it.
We saw.
Let them not say: we did not hear it.
We heard. . . . .
I fear with the rise of Trumpism around the world it's already too late for us. We will go the way of Rome and another Ice Age climatic change will wipe out what we have built and compel us to start over again. I know--I sound like a doomsayer but in reality I'm not. We are part of a historical record that repeats itself over the ages. We can each do our part to try to pull back from that brink but I don't believe our individual purpose here for the brief time we are given is to save the world (we can't) or bemoan what we don't like about it (protest, yes; vote, yes; let our voices be heard), but to praise the good we find around us in the present moment and add to it however we may.
Mindful living is so very important in these chaotic times. First, it is vital to maintaining a positive memory myth of oneself. Second, it is the privilege and the duty of every believer in and proponent of our founding thoughts and documents to bear witness and resistance to the noisome attempts of Project 2025 to disable notions of unalienable rights. Not only our watch, thanks to your clear and fair-reaching voice. Thank you, Russell.