Hawthorn Hill Journal by Richard deRosa

Winter Musings: Where Are We Headed?

Making sense of things these days has become very difficult. Up here on the hill, we go about our daily winter routines because we must and because not attending to things makes little sense. In fact, tending to chores helps keep the world out there at bay, if only for just a little while.

I used to think that the older I got the easier it would be to figure things out. That has not been the case. I understand that evil exists in the world. I understand that greed and avarice cause even some basically good people to do horrible things. Nothing has ever surprised me, be it a physical altercation between two people or fraudulent behavior by someone trusted to act otherwise. I am not naive. But for most of my time on the planet, individuals and governments have been able to keep our darkest angels at bay. For most of the time, despite explosions of various kinds here and there, we have been able to live in the light, to know that we are safe. That does not seem to be the case anymore.

Make sense of this, if you will. How can one individual of clearly dubious character freeze so many into total submission? I know it is not the first time. And it will not be the last. No tyrant ever goes it alone. But what does it say about human nature? What enables so many to thwart their own humanity so willingly? Down there in D.C., the extent to which sycophancy reigns is downright disgusting. But then again, if one is a willing sycophant, it most likely comes all too easily and is but another indication of a very flawed character. No one person is deserving of such worship, such shedding of any vestige of self-esteem. And yet, here we are. I should come clean. I find such worshipful adulation of any being or idea unacceptable. It demeans the soul. Worshiping a deity is one thing. Deifying a mere human serves no constructive purpose at all. It merely fuels the deified’s false, delusional sense of significance. And we know where that leads—to where we are now.

Curious that over 20 nations met around a table in Europe a few days ago to agree to a way of securing Ukraine’s defense and long-term security. Why should that even be necessary? It makes practical sense, since Russia is blasting the hell out of the place every day. It makes sense given the abrupt turn-around of U.S. policy. What boggles the mind is that there was no defensible need for the war in the first place. In fact, with some exceptions, there is never a need for any war at all. Sadly, there have always been wars and I suspect there always will be. Chalk it up to human nature, I guess. A sad commentary.

With respect to the climate, it does not matter whether one sees the planet’s warming as a self-inflicted act of nature or a response to human behavior. The climate is changing and we need to do something about it. In our new administration’s infinite wisdom it has chosen, among other agencies, to eviscerate the EPA and other offices responsible for keeping our environment, e.g. our planet, healthy. Not to mention keeping we mere humanoids healthy while alive. One could go on and on regarding this strangely configured animal known as DOGE, one instigated and pretty much led by an individual of dubious character. High IQ. Big deal. No right-minded person disagrees with the obvious fact that waste and fraud exist in government, as well as in the highly touted private sphere. A hatchet job is not only reckless, it is both stupid and very harmful to individuals and the nation. A scalpel is a more effective tool. In reality, neither side of the aisle has ever wielded a hatchet or a scalpel. So I guess this is what one gets. A favorite refrain: When will they ever learn?

There is a lot more going on that makes no rational sense. Perhaps a longing for thoughtfulness and rationality is misplaced. The extent to which incivility has characterized our relations with one another augurs badly for us all. I watch birds a lot, and among the varied species that I observe at our feeders the infrequency of incivility is startling. Yes, a blue jay might alight on the suet and scare away a woodpecker. But rather than shoot or launch a drone against the blue jay, the woodpecker goes elsewhere and returns when the coast is clear.

I envy the avian world. Theirs is a stable, ages-old world. They need not worry about being harassed on social media or agonize over the potential evil and ill effects of this monstrosity known as AI. Actually, I feel more comfortable thinking of AI as artificial insemination… Who knows where we are headed. Perhaps not trying to make sense of it all makes the most sense. I think Jane Kenyon’s poem, “The Clothes Pin,” offers some sound advice when the world is too much for one:

“How much better it is/ to carry wood to the fire/ than to moan about your life.
How much better/ to throw the garbage/ onto the compost,
or to pin the clean/ sheet on the line/ With a gray-brown wooden clothes pin”!

Dick deRosa’s Hawthorn Hill essays have appeared in “The Freeman’s Journal” since 1998. A collection, “Hawthorn Hill Journal: Selected Essays,” was published in 2012. He is a retired English teacher.