October 21, 2021

01

The forces that keep from happening
any of the things that need to happen
are firmly in place
and nothing can happen
that ought to happen.

The Good always needs champions,
but none are currently available,
and all that might have taken the role
are complacent and compliant
servants of The Way Things Must Be Done,
which is a laughter
in times such as these,
with no guardrails,
and no oversight,
and no enforcement,
and nothing but reasons
for not doing anything
everywhere.

We need a hero
and we get people 
who go out of their way
to play by the rules
that were written
for a different time,
when good faith could be assumed,
and cooperation could be counted on.

Which leaves the rest of us
at a loss as to what to do
about the mess we are in.

You have to answer for yourself,
but I am going to wait it out.

It may take a while,
but I can't think of anything better to do.

Things are well out of my hands,
which is what Jesus said,
when the Romans hauled him off,
and that was 2,000 years ago and counting,
and with climate change
about to take over,
with all that implies,
it may be a while
for the shipping backlog
to be sorted out,
the mail to be delivered,
the trains to run on schedule,
and the Good to come out of exile.

–0–

02

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor,
it was clear what needed to happen.
By the time we dropped atomic bombs
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
it was not at all clear that needed to happen.
and still is not.

Clarity is the essence of right action.

There is much too little of it in evidence
these days.

"Waiting for the mud to settle
and the water to clear,"
is the primary recommendation
of Taoism,
and its spinoff, Zen
(Zen is what happened when Buddhism met Taoism).

A similar recommendation goes,
"Wait for the door to open
before stepping through."

Waiting for anything 
is anathema for most of us
most of the time.

Impatience is what we do best.

Even when we don't know what to do
it's "Let get this over with,
and worry about it later!"

Let's not, is a better choice.

Waiting for clarity.
being clear about what needs to happen,
is the proper foundation
for everything that follows.

Then doing what needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done,
because it needs to be done,
can lead us into the next situation
without the need to undo/redo
what happened in the last situation.

And that is an open door 
for every developing situation.