I’m pretty bummed about the world right now. The recent ICE abduction of the father and his two kids Oct. 27 feels like we’re in a police state. The climate is crashing with so many extreme weather events, and no one is paying attention. There’s so much corruption and greed and hostility everywhere. We’re currently on day 30-something of a complete government shutdown, people are losing food benefits and insurance premiums are skyrocketing. Children are suffering in so many places, some don’t have enough to eat, or a home ... it feels like there’s no structure anymore, nothing to keep things safe and livable and happy. A narrowing, and more constriction in all areas of life.
You get the picture. I feel so overtaken by the suffering of so many, I’m trying to find another way to stop what’s going on. Do these protests, emails to our political representatives, people trying to support the immigrants, the Indivisible Coalition, many of us sending metta, do any good? Nothing seems to help so far, things are just getting worse.
Everyone seems to think the 2026 elections will save us. I think we can’t even depend on that. If any good, sensible people win, there will just be “election fraud,” or some way to cancel them. Armed guards at election polls? More police-state situations? More riots?
This is really happening. For someone who has lived as long as I have, I see the unique devastation that hasn’t occurred in my lifetime. Born in 1946, I didn’t see the Nazis taking people from their homes, and the gas chambers of the 1940s. But is it all so different from the ICE abductions, the detention centers, the violence and suffering?
Tyranny is defined as cruel and oppressive government. One individual exercising power without any legal restraint.
How can we celebrate holidays when all these things are in our face, right here, right now? What if we didn’t buy anything this month and instead, sent what we would have spent to World Central Kitchen, the ACLU, UNICEF, food banks, warm clothing for others in need? Perhaps we all should decide not to pay our income taxes in 2026, a revolt of sorts?
The elections of Nov. 4 have given me a bit a hope. A possible way out, a little glimmer in this sea of darkness. And today, the Senate voted to open the government, without any assurances of tax credits on Obamacare. Up and down my emotions go.
How do we pass from despair to hope? Rebecca Solnit in her essay, “Difficult is Not the Same as Impossible,” says, “Hope is the courage to persevere when winning looks hard.” And, “Hope is taking risks, being vulnerable to the effects of loss, and making the commitment to try to participate in shaping the future.” And “Having the certainty that something is worth doing.”
Terry Tempest Williams: “There is deep beauty in not averting our gaze. No matter how hard it is, no matter how heartbreaking it can be, it is about presence, it is about bearing witness.”
These are the teachers for our times.
It’s about being mindful of the thoughts and feelings we’re putting out there in the collective consciousness. How to vision a beautiful world and life while dealing with things that are so immediate, so painful.
What if within every challenge lies the potential to unlock a deep, unshakable spiritual resilience and grounding, a return to basic core values, awakening our voice? – Florence Gaia
What we’re going through now can bring us terrible loss or magnificent transformation. The outcomes are not decided, we’re deciding them now. To carry hope is difficult these days, but it can bring us more compassion, wisdom, interconnectedness and certainly greater humility.
“This is the way it is,” a wise woman said to me regarding being with exactly what is going on. The reality, the rawness. This helps me accept things in a gentler way.
I’m lighting a candle, watching the sun go down each afternoon, and planting the seeds for what we vision and hope for next. Hope for a different and more peaceful future. Hope in nature, that our walks in beauty will lead to appreciation and care for our world. Hope in social movements that will heal the earth. Hope for resilience and strength for success at all odds.
And hope that this holiday will bring some peace to all of our hearts.
Martha McClellan has lived in Durango since 1993 and has been an educator, consultant and writer. Reach her at mmm@bresnan.net.
