Jack Burns Lives!

On Hopelessness

I recently returned from an out of town trip that I hoped would recharge the batteries, reinvigorate the senses and inspire me to say something worthwhile. Something positive, informative and of interest.

Instead, I returned even more despondent about the world than when I left.

Is it only me? Am I the only one that sees the world over flowing with self-serving, duplicitous leeches, people out to take advantage of every situation and pad their pockets at the expense of all the living things around them? Or, am I entirely too cynical and negative, failing to see enough good in people?

I’m beginning to suspect my values and mores are very different from the rest of the country. I value all life. The little sparrows that were on my patio this morning. The bears in the Smokies. The spiders in my garden. The poor and less fortunate in the inner city. The illegal immigrant trying to cross a ridiculous man made border to find a better life. The red rock of Utah. The aspen of Colorado, the majestic redwood of California, wilderness and all of the environment, which by the way, is all habitat were something is attempting to live. All of it has worth and all of it deserves not only protection, but reverence.

I don’t see myself as all important. I see myself as just one part of a complex system that’s not entitled to more than my share or to use resources at the expense of others. To the degree that it is possible, I try to live within sustainable limits. I think about such things and wonder why more people don’t.

The notions that life is a “struggle against all” in a continual war of mutual aggression and it’s the “survival of the fittest” are both not only idealogically distorted but factually wrong. Life doesn’t have to be that way, and in fact it is universally not that way.

I’d give my last dollar to a friend or even a needly stranger. I’d defend my friends, my family and my home with my life, if necessary, but only against threats that are real, not nefarious threats invented by our government. I basically find joy in life through service to others, in defending the voiceless and the weak and in challenging the status quo. I stand firmly opposed to those that would bring harm to the weak.

“I would never betray a friend to serve a cause. Never reject a friend to help an institution. Great nations may fall in ruin before I would sell a friend to save them.”-Edward Abbey

And to those that run the world, you that see limits to growth as an anathema, I stand opposed to you, too.

But alas, most people won’t sacrifice for others, especially non-humans. Most just blithely go along their merry way, sucking up resources and exploiting whenever possible. Yes, there are a growing few that stand in opposition to the dominant meme, but not enough. And that’s my problem. So few of “us,” and so many of “them.”

Is there any hope?

(here’s where I start to talk myself out of my cynicism and return to sanity)

Thus sayest Edward Abbey:

“But they have everything. They have the organization and the control and the communications and the army and the police and the secret police. They have the big machines. They have the law and drugs and jails and courts and judges and prisons. They are so huge. We are so small.”

“Dinosaurs. Cast-iron dinosaurs. They ain’t got a fucking chance against us.”

“Four of us. Four million of them, counting the Air Force. That’s a contest?”

“Bonnie, you think we’re alone? I’ll bet-listen, I’ll bet right this very minute there’s guy’s out in the dark doing the same kind of work we’re doing. All over the country, little bunches of guys in twos and threes, fighting back.”

“You’re talking about a well-organized national movement.”

“No, I’m not. No organization at all. None of us knowing anything about any other little bunch. That’s why they can’t stop us.”

From “Duologues,” The Monkey Wrench Gang

This isn’t a call to violence. It’s a call to action. Community based action. The Monkey Wrench Gang didn’t launch a national letter writing campaign. They didn’t march in front of the White House. They didn’t make a contribution to the Sahara Club. They got involved locally, in their community.

Get involved in community groups and schools. Start a community garden. Protest. Quit buying unnecessary junk. Park the car. Help a needy neighbor. Talk to people about the importance of preserving the remaining open spaces in the community.

Quit worrying about things you can’t control and focus on the things you can control. It’s the only hope we’ve got, and action is the sole cure to hopelessness.