Actually It Is Quite Simple

And so here we are. 2021. Perhaps never more glad to put the old year behind us. But how do we move most gracefully into the new? It is certainly a question worthy of our attention, so I’ll give it a shot.

Einstein once said “If you cannot explain your ideas so that a six-year old can understand them, you are doing it wrong.”  It is in pursuit of that simplicity that I have whittled my admittedly often unwieldy thoughts about life in general down to those four tenets of Distilled Harmony that I keep harping on: Foster Harmony, Enable Beauty, Distill Complexity and Oppose Harm. Given that perspective it is unsurprising that I believe that we should approach 2021 with a kind of gentle courage.

FDR in his 1933 inaugural said words to this effect “we have nothing to fear but fear itself.” 2020, and the pandemic to which it gave birth, was undoubtedly a frightening year. Yet, the new year brings real cause for such gentle courage. Vaccine efforts by scientists around the globe stir hope that by those using those vaccines and following the simple steps of social distancing, masks and personal hygiene, we will gain the upper hand in confronting COVID. Political changes here at home signal America’s return to addressing the issues surrounding climate change, and long-overdue steps to bring the promises of our precious democracy to all our citizens are increasing from baby steps to strides.

So why do I call for “gentle” courage, and not just “good old fashioned courage?” It may have something to do with my having read Stephen Crane’s “The Red Badge of Courage,” in high school. It is a complex work and can be read to a variety of conclusions, but the one that has remained with me is that “courage,” as Crane’s work defines it, is synonymous with a willingness to dominate. A “my way or the highway, even if I’m wrong!” view of the world. We have tried that. It doesn’t work.

The problems confronting humanity here at the dawn of 2021 are global problems. Largely because of near-sighted self-interest on the part of the world’s “great powers,” we have allowed issues to evolve that threaten our very existence as a species. As I stated just above, we - and by we I mean a wide range of global “bad actors” - have tried to “fix” things, either by denying they exist, or by forcing individual, nationalistic solutions. Those strategies often grow out of the “old courage.” I am advocating the kind of courage necessary to reach the policies and compromises that assure that, not only will we be around for the foreseeable future, but it will be a future crafted for the health, happiness and prosperity of all of us “earthlings.” 

Not surprisingly, I believe that that kind of gentle courage grows out of a world view that encourages us all to Foster Harmony, Enable Beauty, Distill Complexity and Oppose Harm.

Happy New Year.