Pick Up the Pieces
...and get out before the shooting starts.
“We’re going to lose?” Casson said.
“Yes.”
“What will happen?”
“No one knows.”
-Alan Furst
There is, of course, nowhere to go really, it’s just a figure of speech.
There’s a horrible feeling of loss when you realize that you won’t win, that moment when your hopes and dreams crash on the rocks and break into a million irretrievable pieces.
I imagine that we’re like anyone in any war, anywhere, grasping at small victories to somehow convince ourselves that we’re winning.
It’s like a marriage that’s ending, you know long before it happens, but it takes some time for the reality to settle in.
Most people who read this page won’t ask, “What should we do?”
They know better.
They also know I’m not suggesting that you stop fighting against injustice, and hatred, and ugliness, just that you stop pretending it will help.
The long twilight of rational thought, sanity, and compassion has ended, and we are plunged into darkness. A long dark night is ahead.
If love is the answer, then what is the question.
There are so many articles coming out that posit, what I consider, ridiculous questions, things like what is happening, why is it happening, what can we do, what should we do.
It’s simple to answer those questions:
What is happening is that we fucked up, and now we have to pay the bill.
Why is it happening, we fucked up, and now we have to pay the bill.
What we can do, absolutely nothing because it’s FUBAR.
What we should do is look at flowers, enjoy our friends and family, maybe drink too much, maybe eat tasty but bad for you food, perhaps learn some phrases in a foreign language, master some skill that you’ve been putting off, or just stare out the window.
…and put on some warm clothes because it’s going to be cold out there. (Metaphorically speaking.)
An addition to yesterday’s training idea:
You don’t have to pick exercises, just pick some movement and follow the same pattern of accumulating 50 reps over the course of the day.
Examples: 50 marching steps, 50 arm circles, 50 hops of some sort, 50 squats of some sort (this is an exercise, but you should squat every day), crawl for 50 feet.
I understand that there are an ever-growing number of people for whom this will not be possible, but for the rest of us…
…the focus should be on moving every day, not on coming up with reasons why you can’t.
Does every seed have a flower for a mother? Can we then bloom where we are planted? If the game is rigged, the only way to win is not to play that game, but instead, help each other flourish. Thank you, Michael, for helping me appreciate this life every time you write.
Thanks for the dark musical treats, Michael!