Fight the struggle, not the squabble
Apologies for stating the obvious, but October has gotten off to a pretty lousy start. I feel like I should write something, but I also feel like there's nothing for me to write. Donald Trump is being a jerk to another woman and person of color who dared to criticize him. Another shooting rampage has left incomprehensible numbers of people dead and injured. We've done these things before. What new things could there possibly be to write about them?
In the Quality Manager's world, we learn that in order to get a problem really and truly fixed, you've got to dig down until you find the root causes. If all you do is correct the immediate issue, the same problem is just going to happen again. But applying that principle to the world at large is tricky, especially when people are dying.
Yes, we need to get as much aid to Puerto Rico as we can, but unless we dig down and address the white supremacy in our culture, the next time a largely nonwhite segment of our population gets hit by a disaster, we're going to be right back here again.
Yes, we need to care for the injured and mourn for those killed in Las Vegas, but unless we address the culture of violence in our society, we're certain to end up right back here again, just as we've done far too many times already.
And I'm not just talking about passing laws. The problem runs deeper than that. It's rooted in greed and materialism, and the fear that comes when people realize that greed and materialism has sold them out. We have, as Thomas Merton wrote more than fifty years ago, become a society where the most important freedom is the freedom to make money. If the free market leaves you behind, you can suddenly find yourself feeling worthless and powerless - and then what do you do? Lash out in anger? Rally around something like racial or national identity to give yourself a sense of value and meaning again? Because those are the things that are happening.
But digging down is hard, especially when all the noise of the 24-hour news cycle is demanding your attention. Oooh, look what Trump tweeted about the Puerto Ricans! What are people going to say about it? What's Trump going to say about them? Oooh, look at how tone-deaf and insensitive Bill O'Reilly is about the Las Vegas shooting! What are people going to say about that?
You know what? Who cares?
We've got work to do. Some of us have suffering people to care for. Others have deeper issues to think about. We don't have time for all this noise. The sound and fury signifies nothing. We are better off ignoring it.
I wrote this entry in the afternoon because I have books to work on tonight. I'd like to keep the news cycle as far away from me as possible. And so I shall. So should we all.
In the Quality Manager's world, we learn that in order to get a problem really and truly fixed, you've got to dig down until you find the root causes. If all you do is correct the immediate issue, the same problem is just going to happen again. But applying that principle to the world at large is tricky, especially when people are dying.
Yes, we need to get as much aid to Puerto Rico as we can, but unless we dig down and address the white supremacy in our culture, the next time a largely nonwhite segment of our population gets hit by a disaster, we're going to be right back here again.
Yes, we need to care for the injured and mourn for those killed in Las Vegas, but unless we address the culture of violence in our society, we're certain to end up right back here again, just as we've done far too many times already.
And I'm not just talking about passing laws. The problem runs deeper than that. It's rooted in greed and materialism, and the fear that comes when people realize that greed and materialism has sold them out. We have, as Thomas Merton wrote more than fifty years ago, become a society where the most important freedom is the freedom to make money. If the free market leaves you behind, you can suddenly find yourself feeling worthless and powerless - and then what do you do? Lash out in anger? Rally around something like racial or national identity to give yourself a sense of value and meaning again? Because those are the things that are happening.
But digging down is hard, especially when all the noise of the 24-hour news cycle is demanding your attention. Oooh, look what Trump tweeted about the Puerto Ricans! What are people going to say about it? What's Trump going to say about them? Oooh, look at how tone-deaf and insensitive Bill O'Reilly is about the Las Vegas shooting! What are people going to say about that?
You know what? Who cares?
We've got work to do. Some of us have suffering people to care for. Others have deeper issues to think about. We don't have time for all this noise. The sound and fury signifies nothing. We are better off ignoring it.
I wrote this entry in the afternoon because I have books to work on tonight. I'd like to keep the news cycle as far away from me as possible. And so I shall. So should we all.
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