Gathering Together to Face Difficult Times

 I'm happily back from a wonderful trip to Ireland, though it has taken me more than two weeks to recover from this potent Irish virus. And now that I'm well enough to feel like writing again, it is surprising to me that my main interest is not sharing about what I learned and saw in Ireland, but rather about what is happening in the world at large. Maybe getting clear away from home, traveling through the skies across the huge ocean and back has given me a perspective I didn't have before. So it is that I am sitting at my desk here in Iowa, yet my awareness is turned outward to the plight of the world.

We learn early that life is not always what we'd like. We experience both joys and sorrows. We learn to persevere through the tough times, and enjoy the happier ones. We grow accustomed to the challenges that come to us. So it is that we weather the crazier political times that sometimes come, as now. And we follow the violent and sorrowful happenings across the globe as technology brings the countries of the world closer. It becomes part of our normal lives to function relatively normally in our everyday lives despite these more disturbing events that take place beyond our daily sphere. If you're like me, you try to find a path that lives up to your values, that embraces the things you believe in. That way you can find a kind of peace, even if the world is being rocked by one upheaval or another.

Having left my own sphere for awhile, my awareness was opened up to such an extent that at this moment I am mostly aware of the current plight of our planet. For those of us who actually pay attention to what climate scientists are discovering, we know that we have already passed the point where we can avert the eventual catastrophic effects of climate change. Our future on the earth is indeed threatened with huge future changes. It is hard to escape the prediction that within a relatively short time, another extinction will be upon us. We can still do our ecological best, live sustainably, cut our spending and our impact on the biosphere, and yet is that enough? What is our role as a concerned citizen of the earth? How do we individually and as a group deal with this impending disaster?

These are scary times. Sometimes it might be tempting to just ignore the climate scientists' predictions. Or pretend that they aren't true, that someone just made them up. Then you can get back to your normal life and not worry. But there are those of us who aren't willing to do that, who are really concerned about what's happening to our home planet and wish we knew how to deal with it. What is our role? And if we're not powerful people, just ordinary citizens, how do we frame our lives knowing what is happening to the ecology of the earth? I wish I knew the answers to these questions.

What seems clearest to me is that it's important for concerned people to find each other and talk about these things. Together rather than alone is the best strategy. Together we can figure out what steps may be most helpful in caring for the earth, in easing the effects of climate change, or even in bringing peace to our institutions and countries. Together we can be candid about our discouragement, be reassured by others' understanding, be motivated to engage in positive ways, to not give up. I know it is easy to feel like there is nothing we can do, that things have gone too far astray, that we might as well enjoy ourselves with the time we have left. But that is to acknowledge that we are powerless in this situation, and I don't believe that. Not for a minute. If humans caused this change in the climate, they can also be creative and engaged in helping to prevent its worst extremes. Let's gather together to face difficult times creatively, sensitively, powerfully. I'm trying to figure out how I can do that here in my home city. Bringing folks together to be supportive as well as inspiring, together finding paths to take that at the least make us know that we are doing what we can to help in a tough situation, at the most to actually have an effect far beyond our little group. There are lots of groups that in their various ways already do this.  More power to them and to us.