"So it is."
[said Christopher Robin]
"And
freezing."
"Is it?"
"Yes," said
Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we haven't
had an earthquake lately." --The
House at Pooh Corner, A.A. Milne
Is being grim now the new norm?
Grim: as in hard and gritty, scary and threatening, despairing
and downhearted. Grim: defined as “forbidding and uninviting, lacking humor, and
depressing”. It is a mighty, mighty grim world these days. Right? At least that’s what I’m being told. Being sold
on too.
How about you? Feeling grim lately?
I mean aren’t we supposed to feel thus? Did you hear about
the latest terrible development? Or about our perpetually gridlocked
government? Have you seen the scowling countenance of our grim reaper in chief,
forever staring back at us, like some ominous day-glow orange visage of doom? I
have to ask. Does that guy ever smile? When he is golfing? Maybe he’s just eating
too much roughage. (That’s a corny joke—don’t be so grim!)
Wow. Things must be very, very bad. Badder. Baddest.
The proof? Well I did see all this bad stuff on Fox News and
MSNBC. I scrolled through my Facebook feed and fed on so much fear. I traveled
through Twitter and tripped over terror galore.
If the state of our world as portrayed by the media were a weather
pattern, it would be cold, rainy and cloudy, 24/7. (OK: that’s just the month of March in New England.) If
the state of our nation were as bad as the dour and defeated Democrats would
have us believe, as the righteous and rabid Republicans repeat ad nauseum, why even get out of bed? And
if you do arise, you’ll either be overrun by illegal immigrants spilling over
the border en masse or locked up by a new Supreme Court Justice who makes
Snidely Whiplash look like Oprah.
When did America
and Americans become so darn grim? Humorless?
Puritan?
No, I’m not denying that we have some major challenges
facing us at home and abroad, in the neighborhood and the nation. Climate
change. Health care. The Wall.
Big, big stuff. But when haven’t we faced difficulties? Does anyone else
remember World War I, World War II, the Depression, the 1960’s, the slowdown
seventies, the gas crisis, disco and bell bottom jeans? We’ve been through and
weathered grim and hard times before and our parents and grandparents survived.
I’m still standing. You too.
But still, to be grim is so red hot right now: the more dour
your outlook, the more popular you become. I’m trying to figure just what’s led
to this outbreak of angst, this flood of phobia, this culture of perpetual
lamentation. I suppose if one is always
grim, you imagine people take you much, much more seriously. LOOK AT ME. I’M FROWNING NOW AND THAT MEANS I AM NOT
JOKING. Is this the super secret strategy of the sad sack politicians whom we
actually voted into office? Have you read any of the apocalyptic press releases
from the Massachusetts
Congressional delegation lately?
I get the grimness of the reported news. Good news does not
sell papers or drive internet surfers to visit your website. Never has, never
will. It’s no wonder so many folks turn to the obituaries when they first open
up the newspaper. (Better him than me!) I also suspect that one simple way of
having power over people is to just regularly scare the bejesus out of folks. First:
paint everything as absolutely grim and hopeless. Then remind the cowering
masses: “They are all bad. But we are all good. You need us
to protect you from them.”
How many Americans does it take to screw in a light bulb? Hey!
THAT’S NOT FUNNY!
So America.
Here’s my hope for us in these oh so grim times of 2017. Can we lighten up just a little bit, pull back
from our grim precipice. Please? No matter what the news is today, we can still
bring more light into the world. Smile.
Tell a harmless joke. Do something kind for someone else without being asked.
Have a civil conversation with a person you disagree with. Say your prayers. Give thanks. Be a decent human being. Laugh at yourself when you get all
self-important. Turn off the computer and phone and TV and enjoy the spring,
which is really here, in spite of all the grim evidence to the contrary.
I’m done with grimness.
And that’s no joke.
No comments:
Post a Comment