Humanity 101

What does (did, since he was killed) George Floyd of Minneapolis have to do with an Ontario long term care resident left with pressure sores, and/or in an environment of feces and cockroaches, crying out for hours?

What do both of the above have to do with, for that matter, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG)?

They are viewed and treated as less than human. It is widely recognized that seeing someone or a group of someones as less than human is the first step toward abuse. It could also be a spouse, a child, a homeless person.

“Human” perhaps applies to political party donors, well-connected cronies, or simply people who are “like me” (whatever that might mean). 

It ought to be especially disturbing that those who view some as less than human consider themselves people of faith. Apparently only certain people are made in the image of God.

Confound the Puny-Minded

So no classroom learning in Ontario until at least September. I have to preface whatever I say here with the acknowledgment that I am long past the stage of being part of any homeschooling situation. But I hope something. Even with having the vivid memory of how exasperating, heel of the hand to one’s (own) forehead the experience could be just to ‘encourage’ one’s children through regular homework assignments, I can only try to imagine the ups and downs and more downs of what’s going on in homes these days.

But, like I said already, I can hope something–that there is actually fun happening. And part of that fun would be to experience learning, together, that isn’t just part of the curriculum, as necessary and important as that is. The something I hope has to do with what I’ve heard any good teacher say, that teaching/learning is about learning to learn, loving to learn, everything, insatiably. 

Strangely enough, this hope arose for me in hearing about what is shaping up to be a distinctly unhealthy sort of global competition over the race for, and subsequent distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine. I wonder about the scientists involved in this, more than the people pulling the power strings, whose interest is, well, power. Control. Ownership. The world of nature teaches that collaboration benefits all who collaborate. Competition may make for better figure skaters and iPads, but it’s a lousy approach to genuinely helping one another in a global crisis. 

My guess, since I don’t personally know any scientific geniuses, is that the people that really matter, at the heart of the race for a vaccine (1) have stunningly impressive minds that can focus on one specific task, and (2) have amazingly curious minds with an Olympic-level curiosity about all things, out of which their specialization has emerged. 

But when your interest is power and control, we have seen over and over in the world’s autocrats, you not only do not want to know about some things, you don’t want to know about anything except what helps with your power and control and ownership, and you actively and ruthlessly suppress anyone who dares to ask bigger questions, or offer wider and important knowledge. Scientific facts seem especially to be scorned. 

I very much doubt that anyone who grows up with a wonder-filled curiosity about all things ever gets to that sorry state. 

So, once more, I hope something; that we would trust in the wisdom of the young, and reinforce their curiosity. Just watch. Without losing any of the wonder about all things, they will latch on also to specific paths leading to great discoveries to come. This will emerge in a generation that is unleashed, we would pray, from the control of those who are both powerful and puny-minded.

The Bundle Deal

It is reported that around 1.7 million Canadians work in the gig economy. And it’s growing, especially in the current reality. It is said to be part of a trend, where more and more of us are in temporary, casual, or otherwise unstable jobs (Toronto Star, May 19, 2020).

How can a person be encouraged if drawn into this growing new world? Depression is said to be an increasing problem in the months ahead, as we all struggle with getting to, well, whatever is yet coming–a second coronavirus wave, even more economic and social instability, even chaos?

I find resonating in me the often repeated observation in facebook posts: I will believe what you do more than what you say. But our identity is not any one thing we do, or job that we did not exactly aspire to (or choose, in spite of some tie-dyed 70s style psycho-babble-speak claiming that whatever situation you’re in is what you chose–especially unhelpful for those dealing with abuse). I am tempted to say there is honour in any work, and while I believe that, a person might not emotionally be in a space to hear it.

Instead, I am inclined to foist on this situation an observation or two about what makes you you and me me. First off: it’s not any one thing. Certainly not a job (those who love their jobs need to know this, too, if they are not going to be one-dimensional). Is not each of us a whole bundle of amazing stuff, with a unique personality, certain aptitudes, a heart for some concern or concerns no one else may even know about, and a special set of experiences. The idea here isn’t to make you feel worse about where you’re at (“What am I doing in this?”). It is to see that you and I have so much more going for us that any one thing we do. It all needs to be explored and brought out in some way. It is extremely rare to have a job in which all of this can be explored. In other words, at the risk of being corny, find some way to celebrate the wholeness of your life, the gift that  you are.

And maybe the self-realization will propel you to new things.

Has God Betrayed You?

With relaxation of COVID controls in  some areas, a few other things are coming back into the headlines. That includes protests, specifically, I have noticed, in Lebanon. Not getting into the weeds of this (as if I’m qualified anyway), but I have noticed a common theme through these protests: betrayal.

It would be unfair to portray protesters in general as It’s-somebody’s-job-to-look-after-me folks (although there will be some of that). There is a sense of betrayal in much of it. They are angry with governments that have not kept their word; they have broken contract with their people.

Anger. What’s behind it? There are three or four trillion experts on this. I am not one of them. But it is fairly clear to  even a non-psychologist like me that betrayal, eventually at least, leads to anger. I say “eventually at least” because I am supposing there could be at first, or mixed all together with it, confusion, numbness, denial–all that stuff. Personal betrayal is horribly painful, especially if you realize that it may not just be that you find you didn’t really know the person who betrayed you, but it may be that you long projected on the other what you wanted them to be, and it turned out they were not that person. So add guilt, however unwarranted, to the mix.

Now consider the preceding paragraph and consider that it is God (or the universe, or however you might be inclined to think) who is the betrayer. It is basic to pretty much all thinking about a universal superior being that he/she/it is simultaneously all-powerful and loving. So why COVID? Why am I exiled in my own home? Why don’t have a home in the best of times? Just in how we are conditioned to think about God we are also set up to experience God as The Great Betrayer. Broke his contract with me, that one: “God, did I ever really know you?”

We are invited to get into the weeds on this. Some follow one who said, flat out, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Jesus said this, it should be noted, on the way to showing that he had some credibility about who is to be trusted in this life and existence thing, and how it will all turn out.

I get two main take-aways from this: One, do not, ever, let fear overcome you. Two (not necessarily in this order), love, no matter what.

Go ahead, be angry with God. Talking anger with God is like talking weather with a fellow human: It at least starts the conversation.

Maybe Unleash the Hornets

Over the weekend in the Toronto area police converged on a parking lot where upwards of 200 vehicles were doing donuts and other stunts. As police appeared they took off to speed along the relatively empty roadways. Thankfully, there at least hasn’t been news of them adding to the burden of overstressed hospital staff.

In another display of brilliance, police clocked a young man in his parents’ Mercedes doing 308 km/h–three times the speed limit. A police spokesman said he had no words.

There are those who say that in the first nanosecond of space-time, everything that could ever exist or occur was present in possibility. Out of all of that, these guys chose these things to bring to reality.

How’s this for a reality to bring to fruition: If they like speed so much, put them on a track in go-carts with the scent of honey bees, and let loose a swarm of those giant “murder” hornets.

Save the Games for Games

Working from home. Home schooling. I hope families together at home these days are playing games together too, with no one getting too serious. (I am long past being in that setting, but I like to think I’m a good sport at games, except Scrabble. I hate losing at Scrabble.) That would miss the point, if there is one, and it would make it too much like work, and the games in that setting. Home, of course, should be free of that kind of game. Manipulation. Control. Looking better than the other who is supposed to be part of your team. 

Here’s a theory: People who play those destructive kinds of games at work don’t have enough fun playing real games. They are too much at home in a setting where there are substantial egos, quite prepared to wield whatever weight they have. They attack a straw person version of you. They preface questions with “Please don’t take this personally, but …”, counting on others to assume any concern you have is because you are taking it personally, or being defensive, or taking it the wrong way, or not in “the spirit in which it is intended.” Right. 

It would be great if folks can be free of that. It is great if, at home at least, you can have the seemingly simple thing an astounding number of people eagerly long for: a real conversation,  not infused with some agenda. That would be great for all relationships: life partners, parents and kids, whoever (It’s probably not gonna happen with your cat, however).

It would be wonderful if the home can be what I once heard church referred to as: a therapeutic world (one reason among many why any kind of abuse is horrible in either setting). 

In Honour of One

There are staggering numbers in circulation these days. They all represent very human COVID-19 realities: At the time of posting this, just under 3.5 million cases worldwide, and almost ¼ million deaths.

How about this. A second generation of locusts is consuming east Africa. A first generation struck a few months ago. A third is expected in June. Each generation produces 20 times the previous one. Efforts to deal with this are stifled by restrictions on activity and travel. It is said the swarms could spread to west Africa and even south Asia. In east Africa alone, 30 million people could face starvation. People. Not just numbers. 

Yes, the numbers are staggering. But, in the face of all these numbers, there is one number we need to be honoured for caring about: one. We are being as Christ when we are moved by the needs of one among many. It is not just natural to be worried for your loved one in long term care, it is honourable. And we each honour ourselves, and others, with our self-care in this time, and always. 

All Times Are Interim

Yes, some people are getting very frustrated with all this, the house arrest, or whatever, in frustration, it gets called. As hokey as it may sound, I try to tell myself there is something, always, to be learned here. As, for instance in this.

About 6 or 7 weeks ago, I had a lens fall out of my glasses (thankfully, not the side with my “good” eye). Worse, the tiny little screw was gone, so I couldn’t even attempt to fix it myself, even if I had the requisite precision screwdriver, which I don’t. And it was just when everything had shut down, so an optical place was out. But the lens was for my right eye, out of which I do not see much useful anyway (because: glaucoma). So I figured I would just make do.

Just a few days ago, after six weeks, I remembered I have a perfectly good pair of backup glasses sitting in a drawer in my TV bench. Worse, I just moved here a couple of months ago, so I quite recently put them there! I am losing it. My mind is going. Such is what one thinks.

So blame it on the time. It’s this thing we’re going through. Only I suspect a lot of us–even though in our minds we know it’s happening to everyone–we find a way to take it personally. The universe has given you a demotion. You are experiencing exile in your own home. It’s biblical exile, punishment. God is getting us for something. 

But, as I understand it, even if it is some kind of exile, it is supposed to be constructive, instructive, bettering. So what am I learning that I will take with me? Not forever, maybe, but for the next stage of things, whatever shape that takes. There is no permanent state.

All times are interim. The next interim time will have its own experiences, insights to gain, and, yes, frustrations.

So maybe frustration over our when questions can be mitigated, just a bit, by attending to what we are learning. For me: Appreciation for optical places, and people who work in all kinds of helpful areas, and maybe I will learn to be a little more alert.

Overwhelmed?

A recurring word these days: overwhelmed. Medical workers, first responders, long term care personnel together with residents and their loved ones, parents working at home and home schooling, people with no work, or no home–well, pretty much everyone is overwhelmed.

Along with the expression of being overwhelmed, we sometimes hear, “God won’t give you more than you can bear.”

Sure, you might say.

The saying seems to be a paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 10:13, which actually has to do with not being overcome by temptation. The “way out” referred to has to do with the power of community support.

The connection to our setting may be that the support for the Corinthians rests in a community of believers even across time. So why not also across space? Finding help in this depends on a power to connect beyond what we consider normal. 

Whatever, or whoever, you attribute it to, you and others are finding ever new means and resources for being together while physically apart.

I have just used that word: normal. There has been lots of talk about a new normal. We should not sell ourselves short on our capacity to alter our inclinations, in order to find a new normal a positive reality, however natural we would consider our present inclinations. Inside the human skull is a universe of possibility. We just have to tap into it.

Add together (1) a power to connect us–some of us would consider this spirit to be divine in origin, character and being, together with (2) a conscious suspension of clinging to what we consider normal, and we are well on the way not to be overwhelmed. We are, beyond that, setting ourselves up to flourish.

Nothing will replace the warmth of physical nearness  for comfort and encouragement. But we have mind and spirit that make possible infinitely more possibilities. 

It Was a Decision

There was chaos enough. I mean in Nova Scotia, like everywhere in these strange times. But it has descended there into something few of us can truly apprehend. 

Even at the best of times, I suspect you are not unusual if you have, not all that far beneath the surface, and even when things seem to be bumping along ok, a sense that it wouldn’t take much for everything to just fall apart. I suspect, further, that that beneath-the-surface thing is one reason routine is important for us. 

A very common pairing of words in the Bible would seem significant in how we can help one another with these under-the-surface things. I just used it: one another. Love one another, for instance. Our decisions, for good or for ill, even when they seem to concern only ourselves, have an impact on others. There are incalculable factors that lead up to the decisions we make, but there comes that moment when it is our decision to make, to say or do this or that.

We may never know what led to the Nova Scotian shooter’s decision to do what he did–though that is a necessary investigation– but it was, in the end, a decision (let’s not ask what drove him). It erupted in devastating chaos and darkness for many. 

I, for one, am reminded, especially given the fears and insecurities that may already be just beneath the surface of those I may affect, to take care regarding the decisions I make. Not, actually, a bad thing to pray at the start of each day.