The pandemic has set us all in a place where we feel our own mortality a bit better than we used to. It might also be a good time to ponder some of those things coming up in the news.
The level of negativity in our world is intense. I’m sure you’ll agree to that. The amount of positivity is just overwhelmed by it.
At the same time, the number of writers talking about the potential for this to be a turnaround time for humanity are making an inspiring case. This is a road the 60’s generation was looking for as college students, but we got derailed along the way. I think it was just too soon. We hadn’t sorted out the values thing yet. When we got to the crossroad we couldn’t find a route that could bring us together.
Doesn’t it remind you of Alice in Wonderland asking the Cheshire Cat for directions at the crossroad, when he says “Where do you want to go?” and she doesn’t know? The culture’s been feeling itself caught in an Alice in Wonderland world for a long time now, trapped in deja vu at the crossroads. Our only guide for hope has been some Cheshire Cat-like intelligence that can only give Cheshire Cat-like utterances that might be profound but don’t seem to give us the information we need to get to any positive destination.
The pandemic has sure changed that. Suddenly the people want answers. Our attention in more focused than it’s been for a long time. The old authoritarian values aren’t used to this kind of challenge and its innate response is to clamp down. But the push-back this time is enormous.
Now finally are we ready to envision the future we actually want? Where do we start? We’re still at the crossroad, so which path do we take? Our guide for collective narrative has been the media, and media has become a mad hatter. It’s not what we can trust to formulate a new and better story. Internet media is just as crazy, though when we’re wise there’s some level of agency in using it.
It’s a fragile moment of choice. The potential is vast but the vulnerability is vividly real. Any road we pick to move forward is fraught with potential pitfalls, but we have to choose. How do we make a wise choice under these circumstances? All roads away from Trump don’t lead to nirvana. after all. We need a roadmap and a light at the end of the tunnel.
The Roadmap
I’d like to suggest that the roadmap is clarity on the sense of values that guide us. Since values are mostly invisible they get short shrift, but they’re the bedrock the road is built on. If the bedrock is solid the road is sure.
I call those values that can lead to justice and peace “progressive”, meaning that welfare and rights for people, planet and community are centered. Whatever does not uphold that principle is outside my agenda. Other people might call those by a different name, but the sense of purpose they engender is the same. I’ve talked to enough “progressive” folks that I believe those basic principles are foundational to our collective narrative.
If someone uses words that sound similar but in some way hurt people, limit rights, don’t respect people or planet, or ignore and dismiss the powerful place vital, inclusive community has in helping us be fully human, they’re not talking from a truly progressive place and I need to take care in how I accept their words.
Then what’s the guiding light?
Here’s where we need the vision. I’m admitting to you and myself that I don’t have the energy or wisdom to create a collective vision for humanity. A lot of people are working on it. Some of what they write is more appealing and inclusive than others. Green New Deal. Black Lives Matter. LEAP. groups are forming around big concepts of peopleplanetcommunity. Now is a time to inform ourselves and find our place within this big picture. A different vision for humanity is taking form different than capitalism or the old democracy that welcomed slavery, misogyny, poverty and oppression as the price of prosperity. People of this new world can’t stay mired in that rut.
For many of us, we’re in the self-education phase. We need some good tools to keep our vehicle on the road. One of my favorites is Yes! Magazine, that did that great virtual panel last week. They’re a solutions-focused source for great writers and thinkers on a positive future. Not wishful thinking… pragmatic solutions. Check them out.
What are some of your favorites? One strong way to grow the new narrative is to share those very important sources of inspiration. Let’s talk about that instead of rogue presidents.
Please leave comments here with your thoughts about real solutions, or post to Omni’s Open Forum facebook group. That would be fun!
As a final gift to the future, here is an amazing interview from Trevor Noah last week. He interviewed Michael Tubbs, who’s the 29-year-old mayor of Stockton, CA. Tubbs was elected in 2013 I think, when Stockton became the city with the highest number of police shootings of Black people. The turnaround he engendered is the subject of an upcoming feature film about him called “Stockton on My Mind”. He’s a solutions guy. Watch the interview and be inspired.