What to Do With That Nervous Pre-Election Energy
There is great temptation to look for comfort in the news. “Oh, if I just scroll a little longer, I might find what I’m looking for." But that’s a bit like going to the hardware store for milk, isn’t it? The news isn’t designed to give comfort or assurance.
So how are we supposed to live in these uncertain days?
Here are four simple ideas. If none land, perhaps they will stimulate some of your own, better ideas.
Action!
Don’t let that jittery energy go to waste; put that adrenaline to use!
Knock doors or drive people to the polls.
If those aren’t options for you, make a hand-painted sign with the candidates you like. As Maxine Hong Kingston said, “In times of destruction, create something.”
Send an email to folks in your area with where and when to vote. If you want to turn it up a notch, research the local candidates and referendums (two parts of the ballot where folks are often least informed) and include your voting recommendations.
The Original Mother
My dog and I went to the park the other morning, and the maple leaves were getting their autumn work done. The path in the park has so many roots, I can’t walk with my head drooping down in my phone like a daisy with a broken stem. I have to be where my feet are.
And there’s something about being among these three-story-tall trees who have lived through many elections that has a gentle, assuring effect.
Generously, Mother Nature doesn’t limit her benefits to big parks and open spaces that require a long trip and a park pass. I got a nice bit of calm in the city park during lunch.
Love, and Often
Love also has a funny way of turning down the temperature on jitters. A few loves I’ve received that caught me off guard with how touching they were.
In conversation, a friend mentioned something I’d said years ago that reshaped her thinking. I could easily make a point to offer the same generosity to others.
My mother has been gone three years, and from time to time, someone will reach out to tell me they still think of her, miss her. And I, who love words, don’t have the right ones for how much this shared longing means.
The Congressman I worked for took tons of photos and, wonderfully, printed them out. Sometimes, you’d come into work and there on your desk would be a few snaps of you and your colleagues from a work event the other week.
Inspired by him, I’ve got a new habit of printing and framing photos for friends. Between CVS photo printing and a collection of frames I got at an estate sale, it takes little effort.
And Now for a Bit of Poetry
Even after all this time
The Sun never says to the Earth,
You owe me.
Look what happens with a love like that,
It lights the whole sky.
I love these lines from Sufi poet Hafiz. Or this from 17th century Japanese poet Mazuta Masahide:
Barn's burnt down --
now
I can see the moon.
I heard once that poetry and prayer move at the same pace: slow, more human. And often, full of needed wisdom. So on that note, let’s give poet Alberto Ríos the last words:
The bad do not win—not finally,
No matter how loud they are.
We simply would not be here
If that were so.
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