If You’re Nervous About the Election
Sometime ago, I read an interview with the great short story writer George Saunders, a frequent flier on the bestseller list. The interviewer asked him if he got nervous any more when a book was coming out.
Of course, Mr. Saunders replied. But I’ve realized that nervousness means I care.
When your throat squeezes or stomach clenches just thinking about the election.
When your mind goes to the worst possible outcome.
When you scan headlines and polls for something, anything to burn off the fog of uncertainty.
It all means you care.
And when we care, we have a choice:
We can live from worry, jaw tight and knuckles white against the uncertainty of the future.
Or we can live from that care, from our love for the promise and possibility of this democracy of ours. And it is still ours.
The mightiest body in American democracy is not Congress, which can only pull off 2% of bills passed or the wealthy with their wells that never run dry of cash.
The mightiest body in American democracy has and will always be we, the people. The ones who hire Congress. The ones the wealthy spend all their cash to influence.
We know what a world overrun by worry and fear looks like: we’ve been living in it for some time. And it doesn’t suit us. As Hafiz wrote, "Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions."
But a world overrun by care and love? That’s still waiting for us to make it so.
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