In light of recent world events, I feel like I’ve been grimacing rather than smiling this week. But part of the purpose of this exercise is to remind myself that there are still lots of good things in the world, even when they don’t make the front page. And in the main, this is not difficult for me: I’m fundamentally optimistic.

But there’s a danger for me in optimism, which is an inclination to close my eyes and ears to the stuff in the world that makes me sad or furious or both. It’s all very well to focus on the positive, but I don’t want to be the proverbial oblivious ostrich.

So I opt for filtering. Ever since the election — you know the one I mean — I can’t bear to read more about the national news than the headlines and the occasional article. Fortunately, Craig is an avid news junkie, so he gives me his take on important events and we talk about them. And I listen to podcasts. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s what I can stand — and it’s something. 

Little things add up

Like you, I imagine, I get (too) frequent emails from organizations I support, like MoveOn and the Nature Conservancy. They regularly prod me to take some sort of action — make a phone call, send an email, sign a petition, make a donation — and I do this whenever I can. These things can seem insignificant, but I try to remember this wise comment from Buddhist meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg. She said:

With regards to making a difference, we can also have a terrible problem with perfectionism — we don’t do the seemingly small thing we can do toward the greater good because we think we need to do big things. But change often comes from many, many small acts. If we don’t do those small acts, change for the greater good is actually less likely to come.

A friend of mine, drawing on her experience of sailing around the world, made a similar point about the power of seemingly insignificant actions. I was so struck by her comment that I made it into a postcard.

Also:

Little drops of water, little grains of sand,
make the mighty ocean and the beauteous land.

It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness

Here are a few glimmers I noticed this week:

The Gentle Author’s post about the drag artist contingent at the anti-Trump protests in London was a great reminder that resistance is not futile. Don’t miss Sarah Ainslie’s wonderful photographs!

I’m always appalled after each election to learn how few Americans voted and to realize that so many apparently take this privilege for granted or assume it doesn’t matter. So I was heartened when my friend Sandy told me about a new project she is involved in called BeTheWave. It’s “an app to help young and new political activists get their friends registered to vote and then vote.” Sandy continues:

BeTheWave has great promise — all evidence that I’ve seen suggests that increasing voting turnout is heavily dependent upon nudging — and who better to nudge than a good friend? It will be a great tool to translate political interest and concern into real votes, especially among first-time voters. And I’ve taught more than a few first-timers—the nudging is essential!

Speaking of young people, I loved Craig’s nephew-in-law Beckett’s picture of his beautiful baby boy, posted on Facebook this week with this comment: “On days like today, it’s important to remember that the next generation is gonna have (+ need) some really awesome Americans.”

Finally, when it all gets to be too much, I reread Wendell Berry’s tender poem, “The Peace of Wild Things,” which reminds me of the serenity and solace of wildness.

Here’s to the little drops of water
that together become an ocean or a river —
and to the value of doing something to help or respond or resist,
even when it feels insufficient or insignificant.

Connections

• MoveOn.org
• Robert Reich’s website is included here because I think he’s a true American hero and an inspiration.
• The Nature Conservancy
• The Sharon Salzberg quote is from a Washington Post interview: Recapturing the awesome meaning and power of ‘love’
• The “Little drops of water” quote is from a poem — later a children’s hymn — called “Little Things” by Julia Abigail Fletcher Carney. I know of it because it was the song my dad sang in his school eisteddfod (a Welsh tradition: a competitive festival of music and poetry) when he was six years old. He grew up in a largely Welsh community in southern Ohio.
• Quote Investigator: Better to Light a Candle Than to Curse the Darkness
• Spitalfields Life: Drag Artists Against Trump
• Photographer Sarah Ainslie
• I made a donation to BeTheWave and you can, too: Donate to BeTheWave. Also, check out When We All Vote.
• OnBeing: Read “The Peace of Wild Things” and listen to the author reading it
• Wendell Berry: The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry
  

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