I lived through the Nixon years, the unrest regarding the Vietnam war, the tune in, turn on, and drop out mantra prevailing among hippies whose psychedelic music, art, and clothes brightened the world. But this time in history is different, more chaotic, evil, and corrupt. A president who tried to turn this country into a dictatorship, his sycophants who worship him still because he is the personification and the megaphone of the hatred they carry in their hearts. He changed this country for the worse. Yes, there has always been that element of hate of the “other” but now it is commonplace, now people feel unchained from any manners in polite society. People behave with no filters because a con man told them it was their right to do so.
We will witness the plan to unravel our democracy on TV this week, we have witnessed the massacre of humans including innocent children in these last few weeks, an expression of this hatred for the “other” and the ease of getting weapons of war sold at your local gun store. How do we cope with all this horror in the world around us? How do we cope with becoming aware of the twisted minds of elected officials who submit to the rhetoric spewed by a former president who wanted to be Hitler?
Leave this world behind. Go into the woods and settle your mind. Surround yourself with nature and the sounds of nature. Watch the birds in the early morning light scurrying to make nests, to find food to feed their young. Watch their busy work flying from tree to tree. Chirping their songs into the morning mist. Watch and listen…and relax. Begin to relax. For what nature brings is the simple truth of just living on this earth, enjoying its gifts. It is the intrusion of mankind that spoils this, so shut it out from your worldview. Watch the squirrels. Watch the spiders weave their webs. Hear the rustle of leaves in the wind. Observe the delicate flower petals, their aromas sailing in the breeze, their colors. And settle your mind as it meshes with what is really living as a species on this generous planet. Surround yourself with what is good.
