Now, That Would Be Cool!
“As the fingers are part of the hand, we are part of one another.” — Thich Nhat Hanh
Dear Friends,
I can’t remember exactly when it happened.
My son was about 12 years old. We were close, and he thought I was pretty cool.
Then one day, out of the blue… I wasn’t cool anymore.
Now, I hadn’t changed. I was the same person I’d been the day before — but suddenly, almost everything I did annoyed or frustrated him. I was no longer cool.
AND… I feel like it’s happening again. Only this time, it’s not my son — it’s society.
Somehow, wisdom and compassion just aren’t cool anymore. At least here in the U.S., it feels like this:
In: Harshness
Out: EmpathyIn: Arrogance
Out: HumilityIn: Meanness
Out: LoveIn: Being a Christian
Out: Living as Jesus suggested we liveIn: Authoritarianism
Out: Democracy
Where does all this lead?
Honestly, I don’t know. We shall see. But these are our times and it is one of disruption. We have a challenge should we take it.
I am reminded of the Carlos Castaneda quote:
“The basic difference between an ordinary man or woman and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man or woman takes everything as a blessing or a curse.”
A New System
Possibly something needs to be dismantled so we can birth a new system.
Because right now — no matter who’s in charge — governments are often run by corporate interests. Either the liberal billionaires are in charge, or the conservative billionaires are. Pick your flavor.
President Trump’s administration includes at least 13 billionaires — the wealthiest cabinet in modern U.S. history. And what do billionaires tend to do? They mainly look out for other billionaires.
They’re not exactly attuned to the life of the average person.
Now, what if we built a world where billionaires had a seat at the table — but not every seat?
And we stop believing the media that we, be it liberals or conservatives, are all that different.
Much of media, be it Fox News or MSNBC, has one goal: to keep us watching. If hate keeps us glued to a screen, hate we will get.
But if we began to see our commonalities (that we are fingers in the same hand as Thich Nhat Hanh put it) and create a system to support that …
To me, that would be pretty cool!
The real challenge is not a battle between liberals and conservatives, as much as it is a battle to remember our shared humanity.
We may be in a spiritual crisis / opportunity more than anything else.
Blessings,
SOREN
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Thank you for this post today. I am very taken with your challenge for us to live according to the Thich Nhat Hanh quote, which you express so well and humbly. I hadn’t heard the quote before but find it powerfully resonant. In my most recent post I spoke about an incident I’d had at an airport that seems to align with his lovely conviction. I’m with you in trying to rise to your challenge to see our commonality. In fact, I’d suggest we go even beyond a shared humanity to a shared all of everything.