Have you ever been so gobsmacked that you lost all your words? Every last one of them, down to “the”? And when they slowly started to return, you couldn’t string them together to make any sense because the gobsmacking was on an endless loop?
Ever since the election, words have failed me. I can’t make sense of anything or anyone, from the people who voted for him to the billionaires who support him to the very devil himself. Every day I scratch my head and wonder who the heck elected Elon Musk—a real-life Dr. Evil—and why is every Republican lawmaker afraid to stand up for what’s right?
Mostly I want to know, what’s happened to the truth?
I know most readers don’t come here to listen to me bitch about politics, but I’m having a hard time thinking about anything else. I’m sincere in my confusion, and in my absolute disbelief of the lies people are willing to spew and believe and the cruelty in which people are willing to engage, and I know a lot of you are, too. I. Don’t. Get. It.
I suppose it’s possible to “fake it ‘til I make it,” but make it to where? Oblivion? As appealing as that sounds, I can’t bury my head in the sand. So I’ve decided to restart my loving-kindness meditation practice, an easy thing to let slip when times are good. The instruction is to start with yourself, then someone with whom you’re close, then an acquaintance, then someone difficult. The basic mantra I use is, “May ____ be happy; may ____ be free from suffering; may ___ be peaceful.” Difficult people is, of course, the hardest step in this meditation, but it has softened my heart many times over the years. Lately? Not so much. Just thinking of some of the difficult people in our government and the supporters of their brand of hatred and ignorance, even if I group them together, I can’t wish them well, wish them no suffering, wish them peace. That’s when I have to offer myself compassion and repeat the line from an old hymn, “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.”
I can’t change what’s happening in Washington D.C. or change the hearts of people who want to rid our country of the LGBTQ+ community and immigrants (illegal or not), reduce women to baby makers, make school children whose parents can’t afford school lunch work for it during recess, and force a White-washed, Christian history into public schools. But I can get off the gobsmack loop and assemble my words again in the name of peace and say something.
I’ll end by sharing my favorite chapter from the Bible. (Don’t be so shocked! I don’t identify as a Christian anymore, but I still find wisdom and comfort in the ancient text.) 1 Corinthians 13 brings me to my knees and, lately, reduces me to tears every time I read it. It should be mandatory reading for lawmakers.
1 Corinthians 13 (from the New International Version)
13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Lynn Haraldson, Author and Writing Mentor 
We live in difficult times. I appreciate your words.
You hit the high points–it’s been one of the most difficult times in my long life. I’m not alone. You’re not alone. So many of us offer support to keep ourselves going and out of despair and fear as much as possible. Thanks for you’re doing!
Thank you, Virginia. I’m glad to have “met” you today. Something told me I needed to be on that Zoom meeting 🙂