August 24, 2023 – A

We are in the grip of forces 
quite beyond us--the economy,
the weather, earthquakes, war...
and have to negotiate our way
through the possibilities and choices
available to us
on a daily basis
in the service of balance and harmony,
peace and sanity--
and can do that as long as we live
in a normal range of options and alternatives.

Tip the scales beyond reasonable and customary
and push us into the area 
beyond accommodation and adjustment,
and we sit staring at the wall
for lack of anything better to do.

We all have our limits,
and we owe it to ourselves 
to recognize that and treat ourselves
and one another with kindness and grace
as we deal with conditions getting out of hand
worldwide.

The systemic breakdown of structures
holding things together--electricity,
gas and water, for example--quickly
crumbles into chaos and anarchy
that no one is prepared to handle.

(It is a routine occurrence for me
to drive through Charlotte, North Carolina
without seeing a police vehicle due to
a shortage of police officers--how long
before garbage pickup falters, etc.?) 

Making the best of it then becomes
indistinguishable from saying
the hell with it,
and laughing is as appropriate
as anything else--and far more sensible
and responsible (The terms hold through it all!)
than shooting up neighborhoods because why not?

Mutual commiseration and therapeutic interaction--
where we intentionally become each others therapist--
will ease what can be eased
under the burden of life at the breaking point.

We can take up that practice right now,
so that we become proficient in the work
of balancing/harmonizing what can still be 
balanced/harmonized 
through what remains of life to be lived
as well as it has to be lived,
where laughter makes as much sense as can be made
of what's what,
with worse looming near at hand.