We are over the Edge of the Wild

What now?

“There are no safe paths in this part of the world.
Remember you are over the Edge of the Wild now.”

― Gandalf in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit

Perhaps nothing causes more anguish than unrelenting uncertainty. That’s especially true when uncertainty is unpredictably punctuated by clear and present dangers—presidential immunity rulings, game-changing debates, assassination attempts—constantly popping up to pierce the fog of uncertainty with no warning.

It is no surprise, then, that we spend much of our time trying to figure out, even predict, what will happen next. But the more our figuring and predicting gets turned on its head, as so often happens these days, the looser our moorings become.

So how can we find our moorings in the midst of unrelenting uncertainty?

Today’s post focuses on three things we can do to anchor ourselves and preserve our sanity: (1) join the citizen movement gathering strength across our nation; (2) follow the light, no matter how dim; and (3) change the odds when they look bleak.

Join the citizen movement afoot

In an especially moving Substack post, former Congressman Adam Kinzinger reminded us:

We are not alone. In this country, there are a million people (more, of course, but you get the point) just as concerned as you, just as motivated as you, and in some cases just as frustrated as you. From 50,000 feet, it’s a big army! An army of Americans willing to put their energy into defending this great experiment together. And God forbid Trump wins in November, they aren’t going anywhere.

That army—that growing movement—is fending off threats to our body politic. Over the past eight years, that movement has grown stronger, reaching deep into communities across the country from shore to shore, generation to generation, across race and place in the form of people and organizations working together to ensure our experiment endures.

“There’s a quiet revolution brewing,” say the folks at Weavers.org. “People are showing up for each other and their communities.”

Hundreds of thousands of people in fact, all of them part of a citizen-led movement that is bringing people together across divides to solve common problems, so we can build a better future for all, not just some.

Combined, these groups make up the immune system that is defending us from threats to our body politic. The more you and I tether our hopes and efforts to that system, the stronger it will grow and the better we will feel.

Below is a very small sample of the range and kinds of organizations that make up this locally rooted and nationally connected immune system. Check them out:

• Starts With Us: Learn how to overcome toxic polarization and extreme division through daily exercises and other activities

• Country First: Join those mobilizing the “reasonable majority” to defend our democracy

• Not In Our Town: Help build communities across the nation that are stronger than hate

• Urban Rural Action: Join those turning geographic, racial, political, and generational differences into strengths

• Solutions Journalism Network: Shift journalism by supporting those who report on how communities are solving problems and learning from each other

• Third Act: Find out how Americans over sixty are safeguarding our climate and our democracy

• Braver Angels: Learn how to bridge partisan divides and overcome toxic politics

• One Small Step: Get to know someone from a different background over a half-hour conversation arranged by OneSmallStep

Other groups are pulling organizations like these together into powerful coalitions:

• Citizens Connect: Find an organization to join or support

• Listen First: Discover the 500 organizations combatting divisiveness together

• Weave: The Social Fabric Project: Help reweave our social fabric by rebuilding social trust

• New Pluralists: Find funders, practitioners, storytellers, researchers, and innovators coming together to strengthen a culture of pluralism in America.

Follow the light, no matter how dim

There’s no getting around it. These are dark times.

As a nation and a people, we have suffered a series of traumatic events and trends that have caused horrific existential losses (trust, faith) and material losses (lives, property): a pandemic, the televised murder of Black people at the hands of police, a deadly attempt to end the peaceful transfer of power, catastrophic fires and floods fueled by climate change—all of it against a backdrop of rising polarization, and all of it captured in gory detail by a mass media that leads with what bleeds.

These traumas have left many of us vulnerable to authoritarian leaders claiming to have the power to stop the pain. Their ascendancy is fueled by a dark hope—the hope that we can return to a mythical past when men were men and women were glad of it; when things moved so slowly we had all the time in the world to make a decision or a change; when Whites were the largest demographic group and their wildly disproportionate share of the nation’s political and economic power allowed them to call the shots without any repercussions.

That hope is born of fear—the fear that our best days are behind us and our worst ahead; that those who think, act, and look differently from us pose a lethal threat to all we hold sacred; and that only someone supremely powerful can protect us from losing whatever little we have (money, power, respect, safety).

Our fight is not with those reaching for that dark hope. It is with those who prey on those hopes and fears to manipulate people into thinking and doing things that are not in their interest.

Our fight is with Donald J. Trump, J.D. Vance, and the broligarchy funding them. Our most potent weapon is a powerful, alternative vision that can recruit the 67% of us who have rejected fear and hate and who yearn for a fair, strong, and vibrant country—one that can bring us into a future that is already here.

If we focus on the darkness brought to us 24/7 through mainstream news, we will be filled with so much fear, despair, and outrage that we will lose the fight and ourselves, even if we win the election. If instead we focus on the light—on all the good things we can make out of this multigroup democracy of ours—we can pull together, meet the moment, and beat back the darkness.

As hundreds of thousands of people have already shown, we are more than capable of working together to shed light on solutions that work for all. Among them are the Tennessee 11, eleven people from diverse backgrounds, including a firearms instructor, a pastor, a teacher, and a former state trooper.

Coming together across Tennessee from Memphis to Elizabethton and Harriman to Nashville, the Tennessee 11 first got to know each other as people, then explored their hopes and concerns and jointly drafted a proposal for the state legislature that addressed gun violence and safety while upholding gun rights. Though not yet adopted, the proposal shows what is possible when people from different groups join together to solve common problems. Upon a foundation this solid, we can build.

Change the odds when they look bleak

I came across this paragraph in a New York Times article on Friday, July 26th:

Harris appears to be a worse fit with the Electoral College than Biden. She is stronger among younger voters and voters of color but weaker with older voters and white working-class voters. Because swing states are disproportionately old, white and working class, Harris is likelier to win the popular vote and lose the election than Biden was.

I was stumped: How do predictions like this serve me? How can I, as a reader and a citizen, possibly use this prophesy? It doesn’t say, “Unless Harris and her supporters do this or that.” No, it carves the future in stone; it asserts as if it is a fact: Harris is more likely to lose the election than Biden. Well, we all know what that means: we are screwed.

When predictions like this turn out to be true, it is often because they have become self-fulfilling prophecies. People think, “Trump is going to win the electoral college, so why do anything?” Or: “Wow, I thought Harris had gained steam, but apparently not, so why spend time and money on her campaign?”

Consider this: When General George Washington reached the edge of the Delaware River on Christmas night in 1776, he had just 5,000 troops, 3,000 of them fit for duty. On the other side of the Delaware were the British with 25,000 troops, 30,000 if needed. Based on those numbers, someone standing next to Washington quite reasonably predicted they would lose and told him it was over.

Think about that for a moment: What if Washington had listened to the guy next to him? What if he had based his actions on a prediction that seemed quite reasonable in light of the numbers? Where would we be now?

Thank goodness Washington was more focused on changing the odds than on following predictions. So that is what he did: he changed the odds by crossing the Delaware and attacking at Trenton (and winning), then attacking at Princeton (and winning). Neither was a momentous battle, but the two victories together generated the momentum needed to raise morale, garner support, and turn the tide of the war.

You can see the same change-the-odds mindset in every leader and every movement that has ever changed the course of history: Lech Walesa and the Solidarity Movement in Poland, Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement in the U.S., Nelson Mandela and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. The list goes on and on—all of them changing the odds when the numbers were stacked against them.

No one understood this better than James Baldwin when he said:

I still believe that we can do with this country
something that has not been done before.
We are misled here because we think of numbers.
You don't need numbers.

You need passion.

And this is proven by the history of the world.

You just don’t know—you just can’t predict—when a rainbow might appear after a storm.

So let’s not get spooked by dire predictions. Let’s stay focused on changing the odds. Let’s give the 67% of us who reject extremism, fear, and hate a reason to vote for a better alternative.

A magical, prophetic moment while on break in late June

Footnotes

1. Body Politic: The people of a nation, state, or society considered collectively as an organized group of citizens.

2. In case you missed the link in the sunset photo, it sends you to the Playing for Change version of “Peace Train” by Yusuf/Cat Stevens, a timeless anthem of hope and unity. This deeply inspiring Song Around The World version features more than 25 musicians from 12 countries. JOIN THE MOVEMENT! Subscribe to their mailing list: http://bit.ly/1x9CAfJ and join them as a Playing For Change Member: http://bit.ly/JoinAndSupportPFC

Dear Readers,

I’m back from a much-needed 7-week break and raring to go. Let’s do this.

Diana