"The great man knew not that he was great.
It took a century or two
for the fact to appear.
What he did, he did because he must:
he used no election :
it was the most natural thing in the world,
and grew out of the circumstances of the moment."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Dear America,
happy thursday.
it is the Day After Opening Day at the races, marking my two year anniversary and, in total, celebrating 382 thoughtful blog posts on the state of the nation... as according to a day in the life of this American girl.
My morning ritual, usually begins with just making coffee; outside of the lazy hazy days of summer, the day demands a more stringent attention to time...making breakfast for my girl and whisking her off to school. Aside from the natural conformity to domestic bliss, the next hour is usually catching up on emails, reading the news, spanning the headlines, and reaching into my library for inspiration; and oh, lest we forget, reading the horoscope for kicks and giggles gets squeezed in somewhere between news and headlines...
It is merely a regiment, a routine, a method of submission to what is yet to come; it allows me to take simple steps forward in hopes of BEGINNING SOMETHING that is yet to appear, even within my own mind.
It takes time to build up the momentum of my thoughts on the day; while sometimes, even after I diligently followed up on the details of the morning, I can still find myself going hmmmm, wondering just where should we go today?
But the thing is, for this day, feeling rather high on the notion that I am still showing up, two years hence and with the creation of 382 somethings out of nothings -- my heart is overfloweth. The obedience to the work makes me smile; it gives me a sense of accomplishment; it wraps the arms of the universe around me and tells me, good job girl. [besides, it's my blog and I can toot my own horn if I want to]
But it is in the spirit of this obedience that demands my humble attention in this brand new day.
I suspect that all of us awake each morning doing whatever it is we do -- whether it is with great thought or very little thought at all; whether we are fully conscious, or completely dazed and confused, or somewhere in between, we respond to the world and the world responds right back to us. It is perfect in and of itself, because it simply is.
"Every man sees that he is that middle point whereof every thing may be affirmed and denied with equal reason. He is old, he is young, he is very wise, he is altogether ignorant....There is no permanent wise man except in the figment of stoics." Emerson
We constantly evolve; while life, itself, is never static. And with the ever abundant material of life in which we are surrounded, we make choices -- with the truth and consequences immediately to follow, assuredly as the moon follows the sun (or vice versa).
The consciousness of chaos within the Debt Ceiling/Deficit/Balanced Budget debate, happening right now in Washington, gives us an idea as to how far we have fallen from mastering our obedience. From one day to the next, every time we veer from keeping up with our daily tasks -- through the reprehensible actions of those in charge of America's fundamental regiment -- we chip away at the things that bind us together. Whatever we thought was whole and sufficiently supplied day after day, simply is not.
"A man's genius, the quality that differences him from every other, the susceptibility to one class of influences, the selection of what is fit for him, the rejection of what is unfit, determines for him the character of the universe. As a man thinketh so is he, and as a man chooseth so is he and so is nature. A man is a method, a progressive arrangement; a selecting principle, gathering his like to him wherever he goes. He takes only his own out of the multiplicity that sweeps and circles round him...
...Human character does evermore publish itself. It will not be concealed. It hates darkness -- it rushes into light. The most fugitive deed and word, the mere air of doing a thing, the intimated purpose, expresses character. If you act you show character; if you sit still you show it; if you sleep you show it. You think because you have spoken nothing when others spoke, and have given no opinion on the times, on the church, on slavery, on the college, on parties and persons, that your verdict is still expected with curiosity as a reserved wisdom. Far otherwise; your silence answers very loud."
just a whole lot more of Emerson (isn't he simply the coolest!)
Silence speaks volumes, just as, in equal portion, those who choose the courage to speak. The daily method of congress -- as according to the daily method of each man or woman in congress, as according to the daily method of nature -- both human nature and mother nature combined -- "out of the multiplicity that sweeps and circles round" -- prevails, one way or another.
The obedience, and humble attention, to this nation's debt has been long gone -- lost over decades, in various effects. Following the "susceptibility of one class of influences" after another, we find ourselves exhibiting the character of a nation.
It does not fit, does it?
We are at odds within ourselves, and against each other, over the natural tendencies and fundamentals this nation was made. The routine has gone awry. We have no idea which way is right or wrong, up or down -- we only see the chaos in between persons, while the order underneath it all is trampled upon, discredited, ridiculed, and left for dead.
My life, and your life, is left in the hands of people who continue to test character on whims of servitude, wings of desperation, flights of fancy, and feats of political posturing -- when in fact, all they really have to do, is the right thing. And keep doing it -- one foot after the other -- as if the very universe relied.
The left makes fun of the right all the live long day, most commonly against the simplicity of our original pact (made altogether, by the way) resting upon the ideals built upon one's Common Sense; carrying with it, in equal portion, our duty and responsibility and allegiance to it, resting upon the ideals built upon one's Self-Reliance and Independence.
Seems to me, on this day, the trouble with free choice -- free will -- is that sometimes people do not choose to do the right thing; be it in the macro or the micro; be it in the individual or the collective.
We have a choice right now, as a nation, to do the right thing -- and for some odd reason, a great many in Washington either do not recognize it, or they would rather fall back to sleep. It would seem, by the evidence left for us upon the light of day, they would rather face the truth another time; for the character required is simply not in them.
This lack of obedience is nothing new to Washington, it is just that We, the People, have only just now caught up to it.
"Our eyes are holden
that we cannot see things
that stare us in the face,
until the hour arrives when the mind is ripened,
-- then we behold them,
and the time when we saw them not is like a dream."
and, once again... thank you, Emerson
America's success relies upon each of us to do our due diligence, to be obedient to the day and to the tasks at hand, in ways large and small, whether we wish to go there freely, easily, without dragging our feet out of bed, or not.
until right now, "when the hour arrives when the mind is ripened," this blog was nowhere to be seen or heard.
...of course, it only came after obedient, deliberate action....after the coffee, after the news, after the headlines, after the inspiration hit me upside the face and back down again...and, lest we forget, after the horoscope -- which, I kid you not -- began with this:
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