As usual, I am feeling extraordinarily lucky on new year’s day to have health, home, family, love, and freedom to pursue my passions when so many around the world do not. Last year was hard. This year is shaping up to be harder. The fear of what is to come is like a cloud hanging over friends, family, and all of our extended networks. I don’t think I need to list the things to worry about here. Instead, I am trying to find a way to think about the current state of the world in a way that allows me to have hope and find meaning in everyday living. Not a “silver lining” exactly, but a mental map based on fact, science, history that all is not lost.
The systems we have created to support our civilization are crumbling. Just as alarming, most people have lost faith in the systems that still work. Democracy, justice, education, science, journalism, you name it. And the language we use to describe this decline usually has biological overtones: rot, corruption, decay, disease. Empires and great trees both grow, expand, support an ecosystem, and then they start to rot from the inside, eventually crumbling. Everything that lives, dies. And in the ruin are the ingredients that will nurture whatever comes next. When the worms and beetles and bacteria and fungus have reduced the massive structure to a rich loam, lots of new things grow.
That’s why I think now is the time to start planting the seeds of what we want to see next. There’s an argument that we need massive, extensive, costly actions of great scope, and maybe that’s true, but even the great oaks start from an acorn. I am a high school teacher, so I think about what education could look like. Instead of one-size-fits-all elementary school leading to elite schools for the privileged, is there another way? What can I start at my school, in my community, with the kids in front of me? Instead of allowing the ignorant to attack experts that have devoted their lives to scientific study, how can I help people around me see that science is all around us, waiting to be discovered, waiting to help us solve problems? Instead of waiting for national political parties to agree on anything at all to accomplish anything beyond their own personal profit, who can I support for the most local offices, the local school council, the police superintendent, the city council member, even the state representatives? What can I do to help them? Instead of paying more taxes for tactical gear and armor-piercing rounds, how can I help the policemen and women who live on my block connect with the communities that they serve that too often see them as a threat? Instead of watching 24/7 breaking news designed to capture my eyes for its advertisers, how can I help the local newspaper, the local radio station, the local TV station, the local photographer continue to tell the truth and still feed their families? Little seeds. One person at a time, one relationship at a time.
Of course I will only see the sprouts of any efforts now, but I have children and hope to have grandchildren that will “play in their shade.” But that’s real and I can believe in it. Of course I worry about the world they will inherit, but maybe I can start something that will provide some stability and security while they tackle whatever challenges their generation faces. A better school, better information, and authorities that they know personally and can trust.
And what about the grandchildren on the other side of the world? Where is their tree, their shade? Luckily, I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. Everywhere I look there are people helping in even the most horrific tragedies. Can I support a doctor in the middle east? A farmer in Africa? A teacher in Asia? A journalist in South America? What seeds are they planting? I can donate, but I can also promote, bring awareness to their work. And I can thank them and hope that they see hope and meaning, too.