“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” ~ Viktor Frankel
There is a new mantra cycling through my circle of friends. Once, highly frustrated with people refusing to participate as a community in the relatively benign measures necessary to end the pandemic, they’ve now forged their frustration into a different shape: there’s no point in trying to change “them.”
The circle is closed. Or, perhaps, it has been closed all along. Us. Them.
We spent the weekend in a special cabin with The Up North Gang. Walks in the woods. Pontoon boat rides seeking a sunny spot to anchor. Friends that heal what hurts. Laughter and wine. Occasionally, our conversation wandered into politics and pandemics, usually spurred by a local man posting cryptic and apocalyptic messages from deep within his conspiracy well. He is one of “them.”
“How can he believe this stuff?”
“Imagine everything he has to ignore to believe this stuff!”
“He’s always been a bit kookie.”
“There’s no point in reasoning with him.”
“There’s no point in writing a response, he’d just deny the facts, the court cases, the data, the science, the…”
There’s no point. That’s the mantra. There’s no point.
Us and Them. Together in the same boat. One half trying to rock the boat. The other half trying to keep it from flipping.
Exhaustion? Surrender?
“It’s like they’re drowning in bad information,” she said,
He replied, “And, there’s no sense throwing them a rope, they’d refuse to take it.”
“We have thrown them a rope,” she added. “It’s called the vaccine.”
We laugh a sad laugh, shaking our heads. What’s the point?
read Kerri’s blog post about Safe Together
Filed under: Identity, Merely A Thought Monday, Perspective | Tagged: belief, community, covid, data, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, division, fact, information, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, masks, pandemic, reason, sense making, story, studio melange, us and them, vaccine, what's the point? |
The Direction of Intention 
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