Both/And

There is a meme going around which has a title that says something along the lines of, "Live in the moment." Below is an image of a person sitting in a chair who replies, "The moment stinks." (Or something like that. It's not verbatim, but you get the gist.) And I agree, this moment in history stinks. I could use quite a few other descriptive words to describe it which aren't G-rated, but I'm sure you can as well. And if we have a ghost of a chance of saving our democracy, we absolutely cannot put our heads in the sand and hope it all blows over, because if we do that, what comes at the end will be far worse than what we want to hide from now. We can't avoid this moment or avoid being present in it, I'm afraid. 

We also all know that the meme was talking about a slightly different present than the person's response indicated. The disconnect is what makes it amusing. (And all references to humor at this point in time can pretty much be assumed to be a variety of gallows humor.) But I think it's worth our collective mental health to be able to appreciate the moment in the way the meme meant it: to pause and look around ourselves in that present moment and appreciate the good and the calm that surrounds us. It could be glancing up at a blue sky and feeling the sun on your face... Listening to your children (or grandchildren) laugh... snuggling with your dog... creating something with your hands... just focusing on the fact that you are alive and breathing... the list is pretty infinite. 

I was listening to a woman who does a spinning YouTube channel (Jillian Eve, if you're interested) and she said something in the video that struck me. She said, "Being joyful is an act of resistance." I've been chewing on this ever since. It really is, isn't it? Because we do have a choice of what we focus on and it is not an either/or thing, but a both/and thing. We can take fighting evil extremely seriously, and we can also find joy in the small miracles of life. We can be concerned about the people being most harmed by the current administration and work to help them, and we can still appreciate moments of peace. We can be frightened, and we can laugh when something funny happens. There is hard and good in life. There is bitter and sweet all at the same time. Living with the tension between the hard and easy is a huge part of being human. 

So go be radical and fight like crazy for justice and love, but also don't let those who hate, kill your joy. They want to, you know. They don't have any idea what joy is and find it offensive in others. Now is not the time to be quietly nice. Now is not the time to despair and hide. Now is not the time to worry about what others (whoever those others are for you) think. Now is not the time to think someone else will fix it. Now is not the time. 

Instead...

Be radically joyful. Be radically loving. Be radically resistant. Be radically truthful. These are contagious and powerful ways of being. And because these ways of being can banish fear, they have the power to change the world. 

Comments

Anonymous said…
Well said!!! Thank you.
2/07/2025 12:21 AM
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