From your mouth to God’s ear ! We have to overcome this current evil - we simply must ! Too many lives and good intentions have conspired to produce this incredible nation. This nest of vipers must be eliminated and their hideous ideology totally debunked. Your parents are boomers but I am older. I remember putting a bumper sticker on my car in 1964 which said “Republicans for Johnson” in Orange County. California. It wasn’t defaced. I remember my younger brother serving in Vietnam while I hated the war - the very same Johnson now lying about the Gulf of Tokin. The magnificent crusade of Martin Luther King Jr. and all the events which have caused our current dilemma - the Watergate plumbers, the Iran hostage crisis, the welfare queen, September 11th, Citizens United until now. I hope I will see the beginning of a new national rebirth with hope and promise and optimism but if not, I still know it will happen.
The mystifying thing for me is how far the red line has moved and continues to move for acceptable behavior. Can’t wrap my head around this. Hidden agendas and beliefs and fears covered up, held silent for so long.
Thank you, Elliot, for your words; words that come from a heart filled with a love for life.
I am only here for a little while, and so, it is my opportunity every day to find the dignity I have been endowed with and express it in a meaningful way. These times challenge me to support change without sacrificing the values that make me who I am and want to continue to be until the end. Will that be enough to help us make this a better world for ourselves and our children? I feel it will. We come from love and will return to love.
Great post, Elliot. Actually, you know a good deal more about geology, a fascinating subject than most people. I was only able to fit in an introductory course in geology. Had I not had children and a grumpy husband I would have been tempted to add a third major to my baccalaureate. Indeed there do appear to be layers of time.
Thank you for that. You are right about how the generations view this present moment. I'm in the grandparent stage & yes, I'm grieving yet at the same time still hopeful that some good comes of all this chaos. And loved the description of rocky trails above San Francisco.
I always like your bigger picture thinking. When I was 11 years old, I looked down at a stone step in Paris, France, and noticed it was worn 1" down in the middle. Stone! Worn down! How? Just by the regular footsteps of countless humans wearing ordinary shoes, or even bare feet! My eleven year old mind realised that the stone was laid down in the 1600s, and that time was an amazing thing.
Stone can be a teacher.
Myself, I have always lived my life in a 400 year time bubble, roughly from 1865, the Origin of the Species, and the American Civil War, to 200 years in the future, when at the age of 24, (in 1984), I predicted human civilisation as we know it would have collapsed in a "setback". "Mad Max Without The Gasoline" was my best guess. People thought I was a nut, then. Now the consensus of global scientists is I added 100 years too much.
That is just the way my mind works, but my main teachers and encouragers in this way of experiencing life have not so much been stones, as trees and forests, who have become the main love of my life, alongside my spouse and children. Here in British Columbia, (sort of "California North", lol, :), forests live in a 400 year time bubble. They experience time in days, as the sun stimulates them to eat their food, (C02, ironically), but more in seasons, ten year drought cycles, and 400 year succession/dominance cycles generate by wildfires.
Some trees drop a million seeds, of which only one will ever become a tree. The one that germinates because the parent's death created an opening for it to grow in.
It took me 45 years to learn to see trees as a forest, and another 20 to see a forest as "the land". I love my tree mentors. I love my forest community. I love my relationship with the land.
I live in a forest. It makes a lovely sense to me. All this to say it seems that you and I are kindred spirits. We look down at the stones under our feet, and the branches waving above our heads, and we are nourished and comforted and full of wonder.
I might suggest, as an antidote to the snakebite of the news, you take a walk (or ride a bicycle) down the La Honda Road from San Fran to Santa Cruz. Beautiful road, lined with trees. Might be soothing to your soul. Stop and smell the cedars, listen to the birds, watch the trees grow. (The chocolate shop in Santa Cruz is its own reward, lol!) Thanks and cheers...
In this turbulent time, you have threaded us through the tapestry of times and eras and generations. This is a thoughtful reflection. I thank you for this! This regime will fall! This neoNazi era of America will fall and regeneration will happen! Like the layers of the rock you observe on your walks. 🙏
We also measure the changes over the spiritual dimension-- taking the Judeo-Christian Bible as an example, we see how man's spiritual understanding and growth developed along with the progression of prophets..... and it continues, with occasional setbacks. Yet in the larger picture, it's a forward progression toward greater understanding.
I love your awe and wonder of our world, and your humility at realizing just how little we know, It alway makes me smile, I too am concerned for the generation of kids who have grown up not so much under the pandemic, but to the way our government under trump responded to it, and his current fascist regimes dismantling of our government, The cruelty is unfathomable.
I believe that the love and influence of your family for your children will see them through, but many kinds don’t have parents and family like you, and I am afraid that they might think that the lying cheating greedy branch of humanity that is having a moment, is all there is, At the same time I am buoyed but the branch of humanity that values compassion, empathy, decency, honesty, and care and concern for each other and our planet that daily grows louder and more active. I believe the spirit of Americans will win out and this tyrant will be overcome, Maybe their generation will be the ones who really know just how fragile democracy is and will make sure that there is a Constitution and laws in place to ensure an equitable democracy.
I always love and appreciate your Substack posts, Elliot. Your perspective so often adds new dimensions to mine, and helps me expand my thinking to take in ideas and information I wouldn't have had otherwise. I grew up in NYC, a relatively early Boomer, directly down the block from one of the highest outcroppings of some sort of rock in Central Park (my daughter will know what kind - I don't want to wait to ask her to write this comment). When I was in elementary school and learned it was thrust up by forces stronger than any I could imagine, I was confused: if people could know that, why couldn't I imagine it? Over time, I've made my peace with things I couldn't imagine that were, nonetheless, true. I won't bring this into the political realm now (though it is so applicable), I'll stick to how you ended today's post. For me, it's that we have no idea of what will come from the bedrock our care for democracy and for the Earth itself represents and your community on Substack contributes to. All we can do is know that something will live on after us, and if the Earth survives for another millenia or several, people will find traces of what we've left, of what we've contributed. I hope it's seen and understood as beneficial and important. Thank you, once again, for prompting so many thoughts this early Sunday evening.
Thank you so much for spreading this out for us. I so feel for gens who follow us boomers, who have had so much nastiness, and illness to reference for orientation. The call to perspective in this piece sure resonates for me. Onward!
As a former student of geology I enjoyed your perspective. And perspective is a word that that kept coming to mind. When a dear sister-in-law passed away her then teenager, now a successful engineer, put together a wonderful curation of music that he played at the funeral and was kind enough to make a CD copy for me. He also gave a nice eulogy for his mom. I'll always remember one quote that he borrowed: "The past is history, the future is a mystery, and today is a gift... That's why they call it the present". He got that from Kung Fu Panda.
This is similar to the thoughts circling my brain recently. What will our actions and lives do to the future. We all contribute something to the mosaic of the planet. Thank you, as always for your writing and perspective.
Cynicism is lethal for democracy - it breeds apathy and indifference and the banality of seeing nothing and saying nothing. The antidote to cynicism is hope - the belief that the US can, once again, re-invent itself. The people and materials are all there. Reconstruction is a neverending process.
Your thoughtful essay and the perspective it conveys struck a chord for me about to bear the future in mind as we struggle to preserve democracy and decency now. I fight now to return right now our morals and values and way of life, all the while feeling determined to preserve what is good about our country for my grandchildren. They will be the figurative layers in the sedimentary rock of our civilization.
From your mouth to God’s ear ! We have to overcome this current evil - we simply must ! Too many lives and good intentions have conspired to produce this incredible nation. This nest of vipers must be eliminated and their hideous ideology totally debunked. Your parents are boomers but I am older. I remember putting a bumper sticker on my car in 1964 which said “Republicans for Johnson” in Orange County. California. It wasn’t defaced. I remember my younger brother serving in Vietnam while I hated the war - the very same Johnson now lying about the Gulf of Tokin. The magnificent crusade of Martin Luther King Jr. and all the events which have caused our current dilemma - the Watergate plumbers, the Iran hostage crisis, the welfare queen, September 11th, Citizens United until now. I hope I will see the beginning of a new national rebirth with hope and promise and optimism but if not, I still know it will happen.
I too look for a rebirth of a younger generation stepping up. This as a 1969 high school graduate, now 73 years old
The mystifying thing for me is how far the red line has moved and continues to move for acceptable behavior. Can’t wrap my head around this. Hidden agendas and beliefs and fears covered up, held silent for so long.
Thank you, Elliot, for your words; words that come from a heart filled with a love for life.
I am only here for a little while, and so, it is my opportunity every day to find the dignity I have been endowed with and express it in a meaningful way. These times challenge me to support change without sacrificing the values that make me who I am and want to continue to be until the end. Will that be enough to help us make this a better world for ourselves and our children? I feel it will. We come from love and will return to love.
Great post, Elliot. Actually, you know a good deal more about geology, a fascinating subject than most people. I was only able to fit in an introductory course in geology. Had I not had children and a grumpy husband I would have been tempted to add a third major to my baccalaureate. Indeed there do appear to be layers of time.
Thank you for that. You are right about how the generations view this present moment. I'm in the grandparent stage & yes, I'm grieving yet at the same time still hopeful that some good comes of all this chaos. And loved the description of rocky trails above San Francisco.
We will persevere through this and come out stronger, make our country better. It’s what we do.
I always like your bigger picture thinking. When I was 11 years old, I looked down at a stone step in Paris, France, and noticed it was worn 1" down in the middle. Stone! Worn down! How? Just by the regular footsteps of countless humans wearing ordinary shoes, or even bare feet! My eleven year old mind realised that the stone was laid down in the 1600s, and that time was an amazing thing.
Stone can be a teacher.
Myself, I have always lived my life in a 400 year time bubble, roughly from 1865, the Origin of the Species, and the American Civil War, to 200 years in the future, when at the age of 24, (in 1984), I predicted human civilisation as we know it would have collapsed in a "setback". "Mad Max Without The Gasoline" was my best guess. People thought I was a nut, then. Now the consensus of global scientists is I added 100 years too much.
That is just the way my mind works, but my main teachers and encouragers in this way of experiencing life have not so much been stones, as trees and forests, who have become the main love of my life, alongside my spouse and children. Here in British Columbia, (sort of "California North", lol, :), forests live in a 400 year time bubble. They experience time in days, as the sun stimulates them to eat their food, (C02, ironically), but more in seasons, ten year drought cycles, and 400 year succession/dominance cycles generate by wildfires.
Some trees drop a million seeds, of which only one will ever become a tree. The one that germinates because the parent's death created an opening for it to grow in.
It took me 45 years to learn to see trees as a forest, and another 20 to see a forest as "the land". I love my tree mentors. I love my forest community. I love my relationship with the land.
I live in a forest. It makes a lovely sense to me. All this to say it seems that you and I are kindred spirits. We look down at the stones under our feet, and the branches waving above our heads, and we are nourished and comforted and full of wonder.
I might suggest, as an antidote to the snakebite of the news, you take a walk (or ride a bicycle) down the La Honda Road from San Fran to Santa Cruz. Beautiful road, lined with trees. Might be soothing to your soul. Stop and smell the cedars, listen to the birds, watch the trees grow. (The chocolate shop in Santa Cruz is its own reward, lol!) Thanks and cheers...
In this turbulent time, you have threaded us through the tapestry of times and eras and generations. This is a thoughtful reflection. I thank you for this! This regime will fall! This neoNazi era of America will fall and regeneration will happen! Like the layers of the rock you observe on your walks. 🙏
Very helpful and thought provoking perspective!
We also measure the changes over the spiritual dimension-- taking the Judeo-Christian Bible as an example, we see how man's spiritual understanding and growth developed along with the progression of prophets..... and it continues, with occasional setbacks. Yet in the larger picture, it's a forward progression toward greater understanding.
I love your awe and wonder of our world, and your humility at realizing just how little we know, It alway makes me smile, I too am concerned for the generation of kids who have grown up not so much under the pandemic, but to the way our government under trump responded to it, and his current fascist regimes dismantling of our government, The cruelty is unfathomable.
I believe that the love and influence of your family for your children will see them through, but many kinds don’t have parents and family like you, and I am afraid that they might think that the lying cheating greedy branch of humanity that is having a moment, is all there is, At the same time I am buoyed but the branch of humanity that values compassion, empathy, decency, honesty, and care and concern for each other and our planet that daily grows louder and more active. I believe the spirit of Americans will win out and this tyrant will be overcome, Maybe their generation will be the ones who really know just how fragile democracy is and will make sure that there is a Constitution and laws in place to ensure an equitable democracy.
I always love and appreciate your Substack posts, Elliot. Your perspective so often adds new dimensions to mine, and helps me expand my thinking to take in ideas and information I wouldn't have had otherwise. I grew up in NYC, a relatively early Boomer, directly down the block from one of the highest outcroppings of some sort of rock in Central Park (my daughter will know what kind - I don't want to wait to ask her to write this comment). When I was in elementary school and learned it was thrust up by forces stronger than any I could imagine, I was confused: if people could know that, why couldn't I imagine it? Over time, I've made my peace with things I couldn't imagine that were, nonetheless, true. I won't bring this into the political realm now (though it is so applicable), I'll stick to how you ended today's post. For me, it's that we have no idea of what will come from the bedrock our care for democracy and for the Earth itself represents and your community on Substack contributes to. All we can do is know that something will live on after us, and if the Earth survives for another millenia or several, people will find traces of what we've left, of what we've contributed. I hope it's seen and understood as beneficial and important. Thank you, once again, for prompting so many thoughts this early Sunday evening.
Thank you so much for spreading this out for us. I so feel for gens who follow us boomers, who have had so much nastiness, and illness to reference for orientation. The call to perspective in this piece sure resonates for me. Onward!
As a former student of geology I enjoyed your perspective. And perspective is a word that that kept coming to mind. When a dear sister-in-law passed away her then teenager, now a successful engineer, put together a wonderful curation of music that he played at the funeral and was kind enough to make a CD copy for me. He also gave a nice eulogy for his mom. I'll always remember one quote that he borrowed: "The past is history, the future is a mystery, and today is a gift... That's why they call it the present". He got that from Kung Fu Panda.
This is similar to the thoughts circling my brain recently. What will our actions and lives do to the future. We all contribute something to the mosaic of the planet. Thank you, as always for your writing and perspective.
Cynicism is lethal for democracy - it breeds apathy and indifference and the banality of seeing nothing and saying nothing. The antidote to cynicism is hope - the belief that the US can, once again, re-invent itself. The people and materials are all there. Reconstruction is a neverending process.
Your thoughtful essay and the perspective it conveys struck a chord for me about to bear the future in mind as we struggle to preserve democracy and decency now. I fight now to return right now our morals and values and way of life, all the while feeling determined to preserve what is good about our country for my grandchildren. They will be the figurative layers in the sedimentary rock of our civilization.