If not us, then who? If not now, then when?
Oh, how normal it feels! Super Bowl Sunday was surely fun. The weekend was restful. The grandkids offer such a relief from the madness around us. Looking forward – or not! – to the snow. Heading down to see family next weekend. All good.
Yet the madness of the moment is still very much with me. Hard as I try to avoid it, the anxiety of what is yet to come can be overwhelming.
The doubts of the validity of our concerns emerge ever more poignant: Are we exaggerating things? Are we in our own bubble too much? Are we getting our information from ultra biased sources? Might it be that what is happening is nothing more than a fast paced change that will yield some corrective measures more so than radicalism, autocracy or oligarchy? Are we exaggerating things?
The initial rage has turned into sustained anger. How to turn that anger into action consumes my thinking. The inevitable thought of what others should be doing keeps entering my head, knowing full well that I can not control what others do – I can only control myself, what I do.
But, what can I do?
I’ve tried talking with family members who voted for Trump, only to be scolded for not having understood their pain during the 8 years of Obama and 4 years of Biden. It is they who tell me “elections have consequences; you voted for them!” And they are blunt when they tell me “everything Trump and Musk are doing is exactly why we voted for them. Take a chill pill. This is only the beginning!” No response would break through their impenetrable shield to their fountain of information, to their self imposed censorship.
And this, my friends, is why a new ABC* poll yesterday had Trump at his highest approval rating, 53%. (*It is not lost on me that it is a strategic advantage for ABC to come out with such a poll. After all, they are the latest media organization that has buckled under Trump’s pressure by offering to settle his lawsuit and contribute millions to his future library).
The road ahead is not for the faint at heart. I totally understand anyone who decides to retreat from this conversation or decides to take only token action, contribute a few dollars here, write a letter to congress there. After all, we all have a life to live. After all, the vast majority of the world’s population live totally disengaged from their government. Of course they are all impacted monumentally by the actions of totalitarian, inefficient or ineffective governments. But, most folks are consumed with the day to day drudgery of making due (‘resolver’); not unlike us who are consumed by the day to day drudgery of consumerism, entertainment, health maintenance, and such.
Sometimes I wonder what our generation was thinking when we rejoiced on the progress made over the last few decades, expecting that direction to continue unfeather. Yet we see today across the globe, and across the cultural and faith spectrum, a fierce backlash to what we considered progress. For example, it seems to be in vogue in our Church to question Vatican II; the advancement of women is being reversed in many countries throughout the world; and, misguided nostalgia for traditionalism rules the day.
And the experiment with democracy? It is dead too. Idealism is dead.
There is not a single country in the world where democracy is seen as a viable option for governance. Indeed, democracy is losing at the ballot box only to give those that get elected the opportunity to use democratic principles against democracy itself and entrench themselves in power and destroy the very thing that got them elected.
How silly and naïve of us to think that we would be the generation to conclusively turn around centuries of society being controlled by the toxic marriage of self-serving political power with those that control the world’s capital? Isn’t that how it has been since the dawn of humankind? How insolent of us to think that we would live in the enlightened era – that moment in history – where common folks would work collaboratively for the common good to create the “beloved community”.
The realization that that was not meant to be, that our lifetime is but a blip in history. that there is a lot of work to be done by others in future generations – if future generations come to be, that is – that realization is sinking in.
Next year the USA celebrates 250 years of what happened in 1776, the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Surely it will be a dystopian celebration, one where those in power will claim that they are reclaiming the real intent of that ideal and aspirations. They will – in essence – steal our dream. (For those of us that are Cuban, this sounds all too familiar. Jose Marti was conveniently ‘repurposed’ to serve the purpose of the 1959 Revolution).
Yet, with all this ‘doom-and-gloom’, with all this coming at us, I can not fall into desolation. My faith won’t let me do that. I still believe in the constructive will of people, the power of relationships, and the spirit of goodness.
I refuse to give the power to those in power to have power over me.
Yes, I will pray. And yes, I will do contemplation. And yes, I will participate in our rituals and sacraments. And. And – not but – I will take independent and collective action. I don’t know what those actions will be. I do pray that, as St. Ignatius may or may not have said:
“I will do everything as if it all depended on me, knowing full well that it all depends on God.”
(Or, as Mother Teresa of Calcutta supposedly said: “Live ‘as if’ – as if you believe”).
And this, my friends, is why I must not fall into desolation, get discouraged, exhausted, or give up.
If not us, then who? If not now, then when?