It’s the weekend. Might be a little shorter.
This was a week that marinated in horror, hopelessness, and asking yourself how the hell this is all happening. [Unless you are the kind of person who loudly voted for Trump and promptly made sure you ignored any news of the consequences of that decision.]
There are what seem like multiple, coordinated assaults on any kind of belief our nation can survive this.
Openly evil people are breaking our laws, our norms, and our fundamental structures of government to institute their evil ends.
Almost every power structure has capitulated or acceded, from Congress to courts to corporations to the zombified dusty remains of the fourth estate.
Anytime the law catches up to these people, it’s after a journey through the courts after immeasurable irreparable damage has been done.
70% of Americans hate all this, but are made to feel insane because the only options available in the media to process it are (A) the stuff you hate is good or (B) the stuff you hate is just the other side of a 50/50 issue, shame on you for thinking that stuff is bad it’s just someone else’s opinion and we need to all learn to get along and agree to disagree.
30% of Americans, and their avatars, realize the Sword of Biannual Election Consequences is hanging over their heads and wants to smash as much as possible before the bell rings.
A huge chunk of that 70% is convinced, with good reason, that instead of consequences, what will happen is the Democrats will take power and then try to forgive and forget “for the sake of unity” and not fix anything, both because that’s easier and it’s in America’s DNA to undo Reconstruction, whether it happened in the 1860s or the 1960s.
Now that anyone can use an “ai” program to photoshop together their nightmares out of other people’s work, even the older relatives you agree with are going to flood your social media with “satirical” images that make you regret the pixel ever being invented. “Yes, Aunt Monica, I did see your post of… a California Raisin with Gavin Newsom hair smashing a pumpkin with a guitar. It was… interesting!”
So, you know, pretty grim. It can get to you. And it should.2 And that feeling should be motivating you to go do things. I’m not making a list of what those things are here, I already used up my bulleted list for today and I’m not going into list-debt.
But… what to do to help with the grim? Let’s turn to something I called “my friends” in high school: BOOKS!
C.S. Lewis wrote some of the most incredible science-fiction-as-commentary of all time. No, not the Narnia books where a rat runs a pirate ship and British children talk to fauns — I mean The Space Trilogy. Three totally different, but riveting stories that should have been committed to film by now.1
But Lewis also did a lot of nonfiction, because any artist knows you have to diversify if you want to eat. One skill and a healthy career? Save that kind of job security for people with real skills like “plumber” or “jaws of life operator.”
And one of those books was The Four Loves. In it, Lewis talks about the 4 Christian ideas of love. But I don’t really need to dive into the book here, I just needed the title.
“Hm. What?” you might be asking. “Had to go through all that just to get to the title of a book? Your Friday nights are THAT open?” Not always, but tonight yes! It’s just me, a laptop, and whatever mid-day Australian tennis match the T2 channel decides to air!
So I think all of us have Four Loves. Not types of love, not anything religious, but four things that we truly love. All the aspects of, the nuances, the details, the hard parts — these are things that make us feel alive.
Mine are, in no order: Food. Comedy. Sports. Travel.
If the darkness of the moment is creeping into the edges of my vision, and I need to get back to something that’s going to bring me joy without using a dopamine algorithm, I go to one of those Four Loves. I make a cool meal I haven’t before, or try to perfect one I’ve made a dozen times. I go tell jokes. I get deep into a new sport (Hello T2 channel!). I travel, even if it’s to somewhere new in my city.
I know this is somehow grossly self help when at best it should be “Generation Younger Anthony Bourdain ripoff” tone, but hey, it might help you. Certainly better than throwing down a pint of ice cream in the bath tub (unless subzero dairy and good porcelain work are two of your loves, I don’t know you).
Find some loves. Live a little. Get into making bulleted lists. Ferment something in your fridge on purpose. Call up that faun from Narnia you ghosted sophomore year.
Back on Monday.
-Greg
1 Why yes, I would love to sit down with your studio and talk about my vision for them! Fancy meeting like this, in a footnote of all places!
2 If it’s not getting to you, you have successfully insulated yourself from the human suffering of your neighbor in a way that is not good
