Starting As We Mean To Go On
I am a little late with this blog today but for what I (and I suspect my readers, editors, and agents) will feel is the Very Best of reasons, which is that the past few days have been all about focusing on getting back into the writing routine with WALL #4 (WT: The Chaos Gate.)
A statement that should make the title of this post self explanatory. 🙂
I’d also like to start by wishing everyone reading this a Happy New Year.
Normally I wouldn’t feel at all ambivalent about doing this, because I feel that the new year is a great opportunity to pause and reflect, both on the highs and lows of the previous year and also on what we hope for, but also intend to strive for in the year ahead. All of which is still true of the new year we’ve just begun.
Nonetheless, it’s hard to go full throttle with the new year optimism — although the pause for reflection may be timely — when seeing Australia burn in bushfires that can only be described as apocalyptic. Besides the deaths and devastation reported nightly in the news, at least one person I know personally has had to leave her home in Canberra and take refuge in another city because of the smoke. Also, just in case we in NZ were tempted to stay “concerned but remote”, the yellow skies and smoke haze experienced here, over two thousand miles from the fires, underline just how extensive and devastating they are.
So I imagine that those fighting fires in Australia, or who have lost loved ones, their homes or communities, or simply witnessing the unprecedented levels of habitat, wildlife, and domestic stock losses, find it hard to visualise a “happy” 2020, let alone cheerily wishing each other “Happy New Year.”
Similarly, ushering in 2020 with international events that lead “World War Three” to trend in social media also offers little cause for optimism, particularly against an international backdrop that is already somewhere on the spectrum from “fraught” to “parlous” in many regions. When one looks at the level of suffering and deprivation in so many areas, chirping out a “happy-happy” does not feel particularly appropriate.
Such reflections, particularly in the context of a “new year”, often lead me back to a quote from Augustine of Hippo that I believe is singularly apposite:
“Bad times, hard times, this is what people keep saying; but … we are the times: Such as we are, such are the times.”
The reason I consider it apposite is because although we, individually, may not be able to do anything directly about the big events, we can all start as we mean to go on—and carry on as best we can through the year—with those things that we can directly influence. As I suggested on the Supernatural Underground on January 1, this can include “…focusing on what we can do and then doing it as well, and with as much generosity, kindness, and love, as we can.”
Examples could include choosing a project we can do to live in a more environmentally conscious way, contributing to a charity that “speaks” to us, either financially or through volunteering, and looking out for ways to keep helping our family, friends, neighbours, and communities. It could also include letting those who represent us know what we think is important and the values we want to see given effect in our society and reflected to the world.
Most of all, I think it’s important to set aside “blame” (which is not the same thing as setting aside critique and its reasoned and constructive expression) and focus on “change”, in what we do personally and in wider society.
And that whatever we choose to do, we look for ways to do it that (again from my SU post) sustains our hope, our creativity, and our wellbeing, whatever our current circumstances.
In the immortal words from Hill Street Blues, “let’s be careful out there” in 2020—and again, strive for more kindness, more generosity, and more goodwill toward ourselves and others.
I think you have hit the nail on the head. Kindness and compassion are what is needed, as is resolve to act on these things and do some good. The world we live in needs this. The people around us need it as well
Thank you, Andie, for your thoughtful response.
Thank you Helen, for a heartening read at just the right time! Wishing you all the best for 2020.
Thank you, Rosie: I appreciate the best wishes and am glad the post hit the right spot.