Davison's Doodle

Anxious

I mused yesterday about being non-anxious.  I noted the anxiety in my denomination as well as our culture.  This morning I ran across three articles in the New York Times, I catch up on Saturday mornings, that point to the anxiety of the patriarchy in our Nation.  Really interesting reading when you read them back to back.

Money, Sex, and Gravitas
Paul Krugman | The New York Times | Aug 1, 2013

Yet there are not one but two sexist campaigns under way against Ms. Yellen. One is a whisper campaign whose sexism is implicit, while the other involves raw misogyny. And both campaigns manage to combine sexism with very bad economic analysis.  Click here to read more.

The Girls of Summer
Gail Collins | The New York Times | Aug 2, 2013

In normal times, back when Congress got things done and disco was extremely popular, the transportation bill was easy to pass. Everybody likes roads and bridges. This year, THUD was a labor of love in the Senate Appropriations Committee, where Barbara Mikulski is chairwoman, Patty Murray is the leader of the transportation subcommittee and Susan Collins is the top-ranking Republican. I am not going to point out that they are all women. Just that they worked well together and were considerate of everyone’s feelings.

Enter the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell. “For reasons I don’t fully understand, Senator McConnell decided he needed to draw a line in the sand,” said Collins.  “I’ve never seen him work harder to kill a bill,” said Collins. “And this is my 17th year here.”  Click here to read more.

The Neocon Revival
David Brooks | The New York Times | August 1, 2013

The kind of conservatism that Irving Kristol embodied was cheerful and at peace with modern America. The political heroes for this kind of conservatism, Kristol wrote, “tend to be T.R., F.D.R. and Ronald Reagan. Such Republican and conservative worthies as Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower and Barry Goldwater are politely overlooked.”

These conservatives, Kristol continued, reject the idea that the United States is on the road to serfdom. They “do not feel that kind of alarm or anxiety about the growth of the state in the past century, seeing it as natural, indeed inevitable. … People have always preferred strong government to weak government, though they certainly have no liking for anything that smacks of intrusive government.”  Click here to read more.

Non-Anxious

Being non-anxious might be the hardest thing in our culture.  Our culture and economic system is driven by anxiety.  I’ve attended seminars and workshops that teach persons how to be a “non-anxious presence” in conflicted situations where you are the ambassador, ombudsman, or peacemaker.  It is also an important attitude to embody, rather than skill, when one is immersed in changing a system, involved in argument, or feel threatened.  (As an aside, have a gun at the fingertips does not make one non-anxious.)  I am not very good at being non-anxious when I perceive that my companion or immediate family is being bullied, threatened, or taken advantage of by a system.  I’m not very good at being non-anxious when those I advocate for are being taken advantage of by a system.  I’m learning to be non-anxious about serving in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in ministry, this vocation I’ve given my life.  The table in our expression of Christian witness is open to everyone, fundamentalist to humanists, as is the call to love God and love your neighbor as yourself.  There are days that I don’t feel welcome even though I know the table is open to me.  I imagine that is how some of my colleagues and some of our congregations feel about our denomination’s continued evolution that is theological, practical, and social.  I know that is how I feel when, from my perspective, our denomination “devolves.”

I imagine anxiety about change, status, and the power to decide is driving much of conflict and division in our denomination as well as our Nation.  White patriarchy, as the dominant system in our country, is battling to retain power as the melting pot is turning over.  The idea that our country is more like a “stew” than a melting pot divides rather than unites.  The patriarchy in our nation is, right now, making it harder to vote for people of color, for 18-30 year olds, and for the elderly in many places in our country and much of the 4th Estate is owned by corporations that need the patriarchy to maintain power so the evening news no longer critically reports on such things.  It’s bad business.  Better to cover the words of a woman that cooks southern food than shine the light on the system.  When a Republican official in Pennsylvania can openly talk about changing voter laws to ensure that the Republican candidate for President will win elections, and yet SCOTUS removes important provisions of the voting rights act, it makes me skeptical about the intentions of these seats of power.  I know they are working to balance the scales.  That might be the best lens through which to view the work of SCOTUS right now.

Anxious times for many, but not those that hold elected office in DC nor Oklahoma right now.  Many that call themselves Republican can quote scripture, but cannot love their neighbor as themselves enough to craft humane immigration law, fair tax law, nor grasp the concept that healthcare in the 21st century, and the last, is an important part of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  That matters no matter the faith you proclaim or not.  That is the uniqueness of America’s character that our elected officials govern together and don’t “reign.”  Reign, is the only word that seems to fit when I see the work of Republican legislatures from Texas to Virginia.  Fighting, sometimes hiding in the night to do their work, to “reign” and alter our system to slow the turning over of the melting pot.  That is what it appears the patriarchy is doing.  I don’t know what minority allies are promised, but my guess is it will not alter life for their communities as much as enrich their own holdings.  Why isn’t anyone in the mainstream 4th Estate asking what is the intent behind the new voter laws in so many states?  Why isn’t anyone in the mainstream 4th Estate asking what is the intent driving state legislatures to close health clinics that serve women?  Because we are acting like a stew rather than a melting pot.

Enter this guy, Seth, a marketing professional who sends pithy emails, that I subscribe to receive, each day.  This morning it was titled, The Opposite of Anxiety.   A paragraph and a link to read more.

With disappointment, I note that our culture doesn’t have an easily found word for the opposite. For experiencing success in advance. For visualizing the best possible outcomes before they happen.

Writing yourself fan mail in advance and picturing the change you’ve announced you’re trying to make is an effective way to push yourself to build something that actually generates that action.  Click here to read more.