Today I woke to the news that some family members have lost their jobs and healthcare. It is the beginning of a new phase of life. One that no one could have foreseen, even a month ago.
Some years back I remember my parents telling me about the Great Depression. It seemed surreal things could get that desperate. One night in front of a warm fire, my dad told me that his uncle didn’t have one penny for a stamp to apply for a job. His dad, my Grandpa Sophus, gave him his last penny and luckily, his brother was hired at the sawmill. My mom added that her dad hid in the bushes one rainy night, determined to rob the next person he saw so he could bring food home to his family. As the stranger grew near, Grandpa John got up on his haunches, ready to wrestle him to the ground and grab his wallet, but something made him stop. He sat on the wet ground and cried, eventually returning home empty-handed.
Now more than ever we owe it to each other to remain true to to ourselves during this stressful time. Our word should be clear, honest, and offer support to those in need.
I know I quote Naomi Shihab Nye often, but she was someone born to lead at a time like this. I do not have the poem in front of me but the gist is this…
“Teach me how little I need to live
How little, how little,
And the world jokes and says, how much.
I must make myself a quiet place in the swirl.”
I find solace in books right now. Wisdom from the past that keeps me going. This morning I grabbed Reflection on the Art of Living: A Joseph Campbell Companion. One essay talks about the Depression and how Campbell decided to forget about money and the stress of the times by renting a very small apartment in Woodstock, New York.
For five years he cut all unnecessary spending and dug in. During those years he read every book he could get his hands on. He wrote to a New York firm called Stechert-Hafner and they would send him books, but at the time he had no way of paying. That is the way people behaved during those times, although he did reimburse them in full when things improved.
Campbell said he had never felt such freedom as in those days with no money. He called them grand days…flopping around, sniffing out what he would like to do. To Joseph Campbell, nothing was more important than wandering in search of your destiny.
He wrote during this time,
When you wander, think of what you want to do that day, not what you told yourself you should do. And there are two things you must not worry about when you have no responsibilities: one is being hungry, and the other is what people will think of you. Wandering time is positive. Don’t think of new things, don’t think of achievements, don’t think of anything of the kind. Just think “Where do I feel good? What is giving me joy? Get those pressure ideas out of your system, and then you can find, like a ball on a roulette wheel, where you are going to land. The roulette ball doesn’t say, “Well, people will think better of me over there than over there.” What counts is being where you feel you’re in your place. What people think of you during this time is not important and must be put aside for bliss.”
Schopenhauer says, when you look back on your life, it looks as though it were a plot, but when you are into it, it’s a mess: just one surprise after another. Then later, you see it was perfect. What you needed came along just when you needed it.
So we must trust. Now is our time. It’s out there…I guess we better wander.
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