I think even the hardest cynic would have to smile today. Except maybe Rush Limbaugh.
I know my inner cynic took one look at the millions of people in the crowds today, turned a tentative ear towards the perfectly executed and direct speech Barack Obama delivered and decided that today would be a great day to go take a hike in the cold.
I'm hoping it stays gone. There is a really beautiful thing about these sort of suspended moments, where "reality" has absolutely no authority.
There are lots of ways people define reality-to anyone out there whose reality consists of naysaying and countering the swell of energy and hope pulsing through the veining of streets and boulevards across America today with criticisms and fear-let them have it. I will take no part.
I have to admit that I was definitely teary eyed this morning watching the whole thing unfold--it's not just about history being written from this day forward. It's not about the electric power created when potential energy turns into kinetic energy on a scale larger than I can imagine-it's about the synergy of all those things.
I read the other day a particular point of philosophical theory that talked about the debilitation of fear and judgement. I have to admit, there has been a lot of that woven throughout my recent past and through the pasts of people's lives whom I know and deeply care about. But there is always tomorrow.
That's the thread I want to follow. That's what I'm taking from this, just before we all exhale.
There is always tomorrow.
Let's see what we can do.
3 comments:
Like you...I have actively sidestepped the grumblers and naysayers. Today was a reason to be joyous for the majority of us. We all have our own reasons.
Tomorrow...what will we do tomorrow and how do we keep the cynicism from creeping back in. That's our challenge.
It's going to be a challenge but it's a good challenge. I think it's going to have a lot to do with what we tell ourselves the first thing in the morning and when the news comes on about all the bad things and money things and killing things that are going on in the world-it's going to take a lot of guts to move forward I think.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
--the Sisters of the Bene Gesserit
History is like a car crash in reverse: the past is full of blood and pain and people screaming, gradually rolling itself back to happy families singing on their way to a picnic.
--Terry Pratchett
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