Gathering Hope
It's been too long since I wrote a post for this blog. Part of that is because my schedule was totally full of meetings when I got back from Asheville a week ago. And part of it is that I've had a hard time not feeling angry and depressed by what is happening in our country, at least politically. I read Heather Cox Richardson's posts every day, but I'm almost deciding to take a break for awhile since the news is so very terrible. I know there are still good things in the world, and I'm starting to actively look for them and let them inspire me. Last evening, walking back from a meeting in the common house to my front porch (a 20 second walk), I looked up and saw the moon, and it filled me with something big: gratitude, perspective, awe. When I got home, I wrote this cinquaine:
Full moon.
High in the sky.
What a reminder that
Some things in our world are still here,
Touch point.
Just looking up to something way out of my worried everyday life was such a gift. Some things stay the same, thank goodness. Then this morning we had a special birthday party for Michele, my neighbor. All four of us who live in Prairie Hill's four townhouses were born in the same year (1945). And Michele is the first one of us to turn to the bold old age of 80! Our ukelele group played and sang a special birthday song to her, and then we ate Danish pastry in celebration. When I went up to the mailroom to check mail, I found a note on the bulletin board that again reached under my pessimism and gave me hope:
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
And when I looked on our community website, another quote, this time from Tolkien, rang true:
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandolf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
I've always been an avid Tolkien fan, and Frodo and Galdolf feel like part of my family. It's so good to remember that others have gone through hard times too, even in fiction. When I checked out of my zoom poetry group later in the morning, I watched the 2023 film called Life on our Planet, and this episode was about insects! There are something like a billion insects on the earth for every single human being. That gives us some perspective! And yet again I am reminded that our human presence on the earth is like the blink of an eye. Compared to earth's history, we have been here such a very, very short time, and unless we can clean up our act, we'll just be another blip in the history of the planet. That fact can be sad, but it also gives us a shot of reality. We are an intrepid species in many ways, but we won't last unless we stop destroying the environment that holds us and sustains us.
I've also been reading a couple books that help to widen my perspective. One is An Immense World (How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us) by Ed Yong. Not only is it enthralling to learn about the myriad abilities of our living neighbors, but it helps me to appreciate my own senses better. And then I've started listening to an audio recording of A Natural History of the Future (What the Laws of Biology Tell Us about the Destiny of the Human Species) by Rob Dunn. I'm not far enough in this book to tell you much about it, but I am glad that folks are writing about these things.
I guess the main message from this post is that even in the cold of winter (it's been in the single digits here lately), with so much of life in hibernation, we are still part of a living world that has come through billions of years of evolution. And even if the big picture of human activities can be discouraging, our little groups of friends and neighbors have more power than we think. And we as a species have lived through these kinds of hard times before and survived. Remember to look up at the moon and the clouds and be inspired. We are not alone.
I too am comforted by the steadiness of the moon.
ReplyDeleteThank you for all of this, Nan.
ReplyDeleteHi Nan, as you give Heather Cox Richardson's posts a rest, you might give Joyce Vance of Civil Discourse a read. Today's post 'The Democracy Index & The Contrarian' - a new reality based media...... Boots hitting the ground running. We're in this together!
ReplyDelete