Embrace Our Current Political Climate
Remember those Mayhem commercials? A very funny take on the idea that there is an entity intent on making our lives difficult. An entity whose sole purpose is to disrupt and damage. After this past year of pandemic confusion and uncertainty, protests racism in our American streets, and an election nightmare that has continued to escalate division among our citizens…it feels like our entire country has been shaken and stirred by Mr. Mayhem.
In unsettling times, it is the human default to allow fear to control the rest of our emotions and actions. Fear is a powerful biological impulse, given to us to ensure our species’ survival. On the good side, it pushes us to find safety. We seek comfort, routine, sameness, and solidarity with likeminded people. On the bad side, it invites a whole party of other emotions, all of which should be unwelcome. Anger, judgment, blame, self-righteousness, pride, and rage are easy companions of fear.
Using our past year of global unrest with a special consideration for the political mess in our own country, we can easily see that our society is smack in the middle of an abundance of fear. Fear of dying, fear of losing a loved one, fear of political change, fear of violence, fear of offending, fear of losing freedoms, fear of being wrong.
