shared values Archives - Owl Medicine: Shamanic Healing

Photo: L. Weikel

New Normal

Check out the amazing fireworks display we reveled in this evening. Surprisingly, this extravaganza was provided not by a local municipality or community organization. No, these spectacular pyrotechnics were courtesy of our son and daughter-in-law’s neighbors. Yep. Neighbors. Welcome to what just might be our new normal.

Perhaps you’re thinking, “What’s your beef?” Certainly a fair question looking at these photos.

Photo: L. Weikel

I’ll readily admit – these were the best fireworks I’ve attended in many years – and possibly, given the totality of the circumstances (proximity, vantage point, beverages and dinner at our fingertips – not to mention the ‘company’ we kept) the best ever.

But there’s something unsettling in the fact that at least three or four sets of neighbors were setting off fireworks of this caliber all around us, while hundreds of families in our area are literally finding it hard to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. Goddess help them if they ‘catch the Covid’ and need hospitalization.

Old Imbalances

Let me be clear: I do not begrudge the neighbors their ability to purchase and set off professional-grade fireworks. I wish them the best of luck with it and hope they both know what they’re doing and do it safely.

Indeed, I am grateful we were able to benefit from their largesse.

But I think that’s the hitch. Call me sentimental, but it just doesn’t feel quite the same when our Independence Day celebrations are not being sponsored for the benefit of the community by our municipalities or large civic groups but by individuals wealthy enough to purchase veritable arsenals of firepower.

Photo: L. Weikel

There used to be a sense of shared appreciation for fireworks that wowed us and sent chills down our spines at the beauty and sense of awe they inspired. Usually they were sponsored by our local municipalities or large civic groups. And that was part of the magic: the sense that we were coming together and sharing our resources (tax dollars) to put on a show we could all enjoy, celebrating our Declaration of Independence.

To me, it’s starting to feel like we’re living more and more in a country of haves and have-nots, with a stark and unequivocal divide between the two. And the number of people comprising these groups is not nearly evenly divided, not even close. I realize I’m almost certainly a bit late to this party – the divide has always existed, of course – and lately it’s been growing exponentially.

Seeing Inequality and Seeking Freedom

More and more, I see and feel our shared sense of community is being lost. (Perhaps that’s the great hope and excitement so many of us feel as we come together in support of Black Lives Matter and similar social justice movements.) There’s a growing appreciation for the vast inequality – and therefore lack of freedom – experienced by so many, and a concomitant commitment to seek that freedom for all.

I fear losing our commonality, our shared sense of being in this ‘thing’ together. Maybe this is our new normal. And maybe this loss is weakening the very foundation of what we’re supposed to be celebrating today.

Given the changes we’ve experienced in the past six months, how different will next 4th of July be? And giving voice to the unthinkable, I have to wonder: will we celebrate it at all?

Photo: L. Weikel

(T-510)

Cabin Run; Photo: L.Weikel

Setting Precedent

I’m worried.

I think the worst thing about what’s unfolding before our eyes is our country’s adoption of an attitude of plain old not giving a shit.

We see it all over the place, and of course, the main sources are those who have the most stature and, sadly, are the most notorious in our culture.

The definition of notorious? – Adj., widely and unfavorably known. (Emphasis added)

It seems to me that we’re losing something huge when those to whom we accord great responsibility and respect act in ways that make it excruciatingly clear they don’t give a shit.

When the Notorious Set Precedent

When, for instance, they do not care whether they’re exposed as taking advantage of their stature to curry favor or monetary gain. Or are exposed as tax cheats. Or are exposed as flagrantly making money on stock trades made moment before passage of legislation they took part in crafting and passing. Or are shown over and over and over again to simply lie for the sake of lying (or seeing what they can get away with.) And I’m only scratching the surface.

We are slapped in the face, day in and day out, with examples of people gaming the system, or simply flipping the table on it, in big ways and small. Cheating is exposed every day. We are drowning in corruption. And the prevailing attitude? Who gives a shit? And ultimately, “Then I might as well get mine.”

Yes, I’ll admit it: I’m old school. I’ve been a follower of rules for most of my life. A ‘good girl,’ if you will. I basically respect law and order, and I place great respect in the founding documents of our country and the laws, rules, and regulations passed by our legislative bodies.

Society Functions Best With One Set of Basic Values and Rules

I’d say my perspective is primarily that society functions best when we share a basic respect for the fundamentals. When we feel that the rules (laws) exist to make life run smoothly and efficiently. That stoplights are at intersections for a reason. That society deems certain actions to be crimes because they harm the rest of us (whether it be one of us, as in an assault, or all of us, as in dumping toxic waste into streams in the dead of night).

My issue with the way our country seems to be headed right now (more so than at any other time since the early 20^thcentury and the reign of the robber barons) is that there seem to be two sets of rules. The rules for most of us, and the rules for the rich and powerful.

And that’s where things really get dicey. Because as more and more people see that nothing really matters, nobody gives a shit, or rules are made for suckers, a precedent is set. As more people witness all the little cuts to our country’s moral and ethical and decent body day after day, the more likely it is they’ll decide they don’t need to be decent, follow the rules, or obey the laws, either. And that’s when anarchy sets in.

No Lack of Enforcers

Oh yeah, we can take solace in the fact that there will always be police (probably more and more) and other ‘enforcers’ to go after those who do not have the money or power to fight for their innocence. Yippie. We’ve seen enough of that skewed justice lately to make us all lose faith in our system. And when more and more people stop giving a shit? There won’t be enough police or enforcers to take care of all that’s going to go down.

Just taking a walk today (picking up two grocery bags’ worth of garbage along the way, thank you everyone for coming out to enjoy High Rocks State Park – we love to pick up your fast food wrappers, cigarette butts, empty soda cans and beer bottles – so nice of you to come out to the country to enjoy Mother Nature and then effectively take a dump out your car window), we witnessed lots and lots of people just doing whatever they want. This vehicle, for instance:

Seriously. This was only one of many vehicles illegally parked directly, flagrantly, underneath signs that state in big bold letters: NO PARKING ANY TIME. (There was yet another identical sign posted right in front of the truck.) The main reason for the prohibition of parking on this single lane dirt road is because people fall at High Rocks. Often. Accidents happen. Emergency vehicles need to be able to get through, to get near enough to rescue people.

Why Should Anyone Follow the Rules?

But hey. Who cares? Who cares if something happens while you’re deep in the woods and no one can get around your truck? Nobody gives a shit. Rules are made for suckers. It’s ok. Steal a movie off the internet. Cop a feel at a bar. Go to a sex club where 13 year old girls are passed around. Everybody does it. (At least, the rich and powerful do it.) It’s OK. You won’t pay a price. In fact, it will get swept under the rug. Nothing matters.

These are the lessons and attitudes flooding our collective consciousness every day. I fear we’re becoming numb to it. To the outrageous and blatant disregard for basic decency, fair play, and respect for others.

We Need to Be the Ones Who Care

Yes. I am worried. The examples being set are impacting all of us – but especially our youth.

And yet, in spite of it all, I refuse to believe that integrity and honor are dead. I refuse to believe that doing the right thing when no one is looking is stupid. Or for suckers. Or a lost, outmoded way of being in the world.

Integrity matters. Honor matters. Caring and respect and right actions matter.

We matter. We need to stand for what we know is right. We need to give a shit.

(T-978)