40 Days, 40 Posts: Year Two
Or, I Have More Important Things To Talk About
Lent begins today and with it, my second year of Facebook detox — when I write for my fan(s) and get right with myself so I can enjoy the abundance of spring, the smell of flowers, the bright green grass and the fancy rope pattern my hammock swing leaves on my pudgy thighs when I read in the breeze for hours on end. Before that: reflection, writing, respite from the world.
Those first two goals are admirable, I think, but I can't write this tonight as if the world doesn't exist. I stumbled on a video on Twitter (which I still allow myself) of students huddled on the floor in terror as gunshots echoed through their school. Their screams will haunt me for days and weeks to come. "Another school shooting,' a friend texted me, as if it were a rainy day or an accident at the tunnel. 17 people dead. My soul cries out in the darkness and grieves for our country. How can we keep going on? How do we live like this?
I had the privilege of hearing Vice President Joe Biden speak earlier this week — in person! — and he quoted something often attributed to Immanuel Kant (but might actually be from some rando internet person) that the key to happiness is having something to do, something to love and something to hope for. He talked at length about our reasons for hope. About love and family and courage and how together we can change the world.
I love Joe and I left his talk feeling renewed and hopeful for the first time in a year. Today as I slip back into hopelessness, I remember his reasons to be hopeful. And I also remember two of his major parting messages. "Get off your butt and do something." And "Don't keep the faith. Spread it."
Change is hard. Finding reasons to hope is hard. In the next 40 days, I want to find reasons to hope and hold on to them. I want to find ways I can help change the world each day for the better. Tonight I'm struggling. But at the other end of the Lenten journey is spring. And that's something. Isn't it?
Lent begins today and with it, my second year of Facebook detox — when I write for my fan(s) and get right with myself so I can enjoy the abundance of spring, the smell of flowers, the bright green grass and the fancy rope pattern my hammock swing leaves on my pudgy thighs when I read in the breeze for hours on end. Before that: reflection, writing, respite from the world.
Those first two goals are admirable, I think, but I can't write this tonight as if the world doesn't exist. I stumbled on a video on Twitter (which I still allow myself) of students huddled on the floor in terror as gunshots echoed through their school. Their screams will haunt me for days and weeks to come. "Another school shooting,' a friend texted me, as if it were a rainy day or an accident at the tunnel. 17 people dead. My soul cries out in the darkness and grieves for our country. How can we keep going on? How do we live like this?
I had the privilege of hearing Vice President Joe Biden speak earlier this week — in person! — and he quoted something often attributed to Immanuel Kant (but might actually be from some rando internet person) that the key to happiness is having something to do, something to love and something to hope for. He talked at length about our reasons for hope. About love and family and courage and how together we can change the world.
I love Joe and I left his talk feeling renewed and hopeful for the first time in a year. Today as I slip back into hopelessness, I remember his reasons to be hopeful. And I also remember two of his major parting messages. "Get off your butt and do something." And "Don't keep the faith. Spread it."
Change is hard. Finding reasons to hope is hard. In the next 40 days, I want to find reasons to hope and hold on to them. I want to find ways I can help change the world each day for the better. Tonight I'm struggling. But at the other end of the Lenten journey is spring. And that's something. Isn't it?
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