I hope you are well as you read this blog post.
Outside where I live in Massachusetts, leaves are changing color and falling to the ground.
Inside I am sitting on our couch under a layer of blankets and writing in the middle of the night.
I woke up to go to the bathroom and now am unable to fall asleep,
All my brain wants to do is think about potentially catastrophic things which may start unfolding in 2025 as a result of our recent national election.
Before I continue this blog post, I am going to pause and acknowledge any readers who may be excited and happy about recent election results.
I do not want to rain on your parade, and I hope that you are savoring your victories.
Deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
However, if you are a reader who is feeling less excited and hopeful about the future as a result of last week’s election, my heart goes out to you.
Although I have decided not to read about politics and interact with the media for the time being, my brain — especially when I am lying awake in the middle of the night — keeps remembering things that are likely to be impacted in the next four years:
NATO — and the safety of all the countries bordering Russia…
The health of women I love — and the health of women I will never meet — due to new restrictions about what decisions they and their healthcare providers are allowed to make about their own bodies…
Social security — which I have paid into since I was three years old and which I was planning to start collecting in three years time…
Medicare/Medicaid and other health insurance options — for millions of Americans and for me.
The cost of anything we don’t make or grow in the USA — due to potential new tariffs.
The cost of anything we DO make or grow in the USA — due to the potential prosecution/expulsion of many people who currently harvest our produce, work in our slaughterhouses and meat-packing plants, labor in our restaurants, work on our construction sites, landscape our properties, mow our lawns, blow our leaves, etc. etc. etc.
My two nephews — one approaching draft-age and the other one still eligible to be drafted if we find ourselves in a situation where we need to expand our (already vast) military capabilities.
Long term — and potentially irreversible — environmental consequences due to potential deregulation of rules which currently protect the entire web of life here on planet earth.
Our access and ability to vote, our access to education, our access to public healthcare in the event of another epidemic…
The list goes on and on.
I don’t understand how love and respect factor into any of the above.
I don’t understand how love and respect can withstand — much less overcome — the forces which spread disinformation, which lie, which aim to divide us, which value power and money over honesty and decency.
I hesitate to call those forces evil, but I have been reminded more and more in recent months about a book I read a long time ago by M. Scott Peck called THE PEOPLE OF THE LIE.
As the group mind at Wikipedia summarizes:
“According to Peck, an evil person:
- is consistently self-deceiving, with the intent of avoiding guilt and maintaining a self-image of perfection
- deceives others as a consequence of their own self-deception
- projects his or her evils and sins onto very specific targets (scapegoats) while being apparently normal with everyone else
- commonly hates with the pretense of love, for the purposes of self-deception as much as deception of others
- abuses political (emotional) power (“the imposition of one’s will upon others by overt or covert coercion” (Peck, 1978/1992, p298[7]))
- maintains a high level of respectability, and lies incessantly to do so
- is consistent in his or her sins.
- is unable to think from the viewpoint of their victim
- has a covert intolerance to criticism and other forms of narcissistic injury
Most evil people realize the evil deep within themselves, but are unable to tolerate the pain of introspection, or admit to themselves that they are evil. Thus, they constantly run away from their evil by putting themselves in a position of moral superiority and putting the focus of evil on others. Evil is an extreme form of what Peck, in THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED, calls a character and personality disorder.”
The group mind of Wikipedia also describes Peck’s understanding of love in his previous book, THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED:
“Love is not a feeling, it is an activity and an investment — ‘The will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth’ (Peck, 1978/1992, p85). Peck expands on the work of Thomas Aquinas over 700 years ago, that love is primarily actions towards nurturing the spiritual growth of another.”
I welcome any insights into the power of love and how it does — or doesn’t — impact our current political situation here in the USA (as well as how love and respect may impact other patterns unfolding here on planet earth).
Please leave a comment if you are so inspired.
I end with a link to this heartful song at the beginning of this blog post in case you might like to listen to it on a streaming platform, add it to a playlist, or share it with a friend.
It was written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, a delicious songwriting team who helped to create the musicals RAGTIME, SEUSSICAL, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND and A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE (which is where “Love Who You Love” comes from) among many other projects.
I initially featured this song in a blog post I wrote in August 2015 which you can read by clicking here if you are curious.
Thank you to Ahrens and Flaherty for writing “Love Who You Love.”
Thank you to Doug Hammer and Mike Callahan for playing so beautifully on this recording of it.
Thank you to Gretje Ferguson for taking this photo many years ago.
Thank you to Stephen Fischer for creating this graphic design using Gretje’s photo.
Thank you to the wonderful and generous photographers at Pixabay.
Thank you to all of the folks who helped to create the internet and WordPress so that I can share my thoughts and music with you.
And thank YOU for reading and listening to another one of my blog posts.
I welcome any comments below.
amusicalifeonplanetearth 
Thank you for your commitment to caring, compassion, and music Will. I felt gutted by the election results and am wondering where we go from here. I believe we need to rise up beyond our feelings and the challenges, and yet, I feel discouraged, and have become skeptical that my voice matters. I believe we have a corrupt system controlled by the elite and corporations.
Deep breath in and out…..
And I agree with M. Scott Peck about love being a feeling integrated with action. A fellow blogger posted about this topic and I reblogged her wise musings.
May we find the strength to rise up in loving action.
I love you, Brad, although I have never met you in person (and probably never will…) I read your re-post about love as a feeling + love as an action IMMEDIATELY after I had pushed the publish button for this blog post. It felt extremely synchronistic! And my next blog post is likely to be about how “we have a corrupt system controlled by the elite and corporations.” Amidst the tsunami of sad political news in recent days, however, I have gotten a few emails from progressive folks who did in fact win their county or state-level races — so that, for example, in North Carolina there will no longer be a supermajority of Republicans in their House of Representatives (I think…) But we may all be quite shocked to discover that our new president is indeed going to implement the fascistic, plutocratic, dictatorial things that he promised on the campaign trail. I wonder how many of us bloggers will start self-editing what we write and share with each other due to fears of reprisal and punishment… A very deep breath in. And very deep breath out.
Thank you for the kind words and love Will. It’s fun that we were in synch for this and obviously we’re both compassionate libertards! 😋 Until we get the big money out of politics it won’t really matter what party or label we identify with.
Agreed. And I may end up quoting you in my next blog post (probably as a fellow blogger — not by a specific name…)
Oh Will. My heart goes out to you and all my American friends. I travelled to the United States this week for some meetings and there is a definite atmosphere of foreboding. I share all of your fears. As the USA’s closest neighbour, Canada will be directedly impacted by the policies put in place by the new administration, as will many other countries around the world. It is terrifying.
Yup. The first person I called last Wednesday morning was a dear friend in Toronto (who has playfully but not-so-playfully offered to divorce her beloved husband and marry me if I need to escape the USA…) Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
Sigh. More than a few American friends have asked if I can “adopt them” recently.
❤
Hi Will,
I’m not going to comment on WordPress because I don’t want to attract arguments, but I wanted to reply to you. I too have felt heartsick this week. This election is an enormous event to process emotionally. I think that every single thing you listed as likely to be impacted is accurate.
I was impressed that you could kindly acknowledge Trump supporters’ happiness. I cannot find that in my heart. In my mind I tend to lump them into three general categories. One, the religious right who missed the Social Studies class about separation of church and state, and who think it’s their job and their right to control other peoples’ lives. Two, the very wealthy who benefit from lack of taxation and can usually find ways around being affected by a great many things. Three, stupid people. By stupid people I mean ranging from the mentally lazy to the willfully ignorant to the obnoxiously combative and self-righteous, and everything in between. Of those, I cannot fathom their priorities over the things you have listed. They don’t see that it affects them and therefore simply don’t care. What I really feel, in a Twilight Zone kind of way, is that critical thinking is melting and we are witnessing the disintegration of human intelligence. Seriously.
In 2013 I had a strange experience visiting my mother in Wisconsin. I hadn’t been exposed to Trump much at that point and didn’t really know anything about him. My mother loved to watch “The Apprentice” and so I watched an episode with her. At the end, he fired someone because they’d not taken advantage of an opportunity to get ahead by lying. He lambasted them for dealing honestly with another person. I complained about it to my mother, who was so enchanted by the show that she was oblivious to what he’d said. On my flight home the next day (which by the way was the day of the Boston Marathon bombing), I felt an intense visceral reaction, like a volcano inside me, just thinking about Trump. I felt despair and dread. I couldn’t explain why it hit me so hard. Looking back, it strikes me as a kind of premonition.
So. I continue to process this, as I’m sure you will, too. This situation the next four years will never feel right or good. We already know that. We need to stay close to our heart and listen to what it has to say and try our best to take loving care of ourselves. And whoever else we can.
Thinking of you, Paula
Paula Ogier http://www.paulaogierart.com
>
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes and yes. You have very well-calibrated antennae for folks who do not treat others with respect. And I agree that “in a Twilight Zone kind of way…critical thinking is melting and we are witnessing the disintegration of human intelligence.” I often wonder if some larger Mother-Nature-Related force is at work in order to encourage human beings to wipe ourselves out (or at least significantly lower our numbers) here on planet earth. It is such an Alice-In-Wonderland-Through-The-Looking-Glass experience to watch significant numbers of people vote against their own future well-being AND the well being of their family and friends. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. THANK YOU for leaving such a thoughtful response!!!
I was surprised when I received an email about my comment, because I didn’t realize I was commenting on the blog. I thought I was replying only to you, privately as a friend, as when someone sends out a newsletter and you can reply just to them. I guess this works differently. I realize some people may not appreciate my cynicism about them but here we are. I’m pretty fed up and I think you and I are in the minority as far as this country goes, and that it will probably never go back. For months we’ve been saying we’re “not going back,” but I think what we’re really not going back to is common sense, civility, decency, honesty, compassion, respect, and awareness of how our actions affect every one and every thing else. It disturbs me that people now refer to critical thinking as elitism. I see that labeling as a mentally lazy person’s game.
Paula, I’m one of Will’s fellow bloggers—and I always appreciate his richly humane and heartfelt-and musically delightful—posts. I don’t believe you and he—and I— are truly in the minority in this country. The results were not a landslide, and 1/3 of eligible voters didn’t vote for various reasons.
Although I acknowledge and feel the need to grieve, I am determined to fight against this takeover. And I echo the wonderful woman who would have made a great president: “When we fight, we win.”
Yes, it’s a worrying time for everyone. Sadly, most of these things we cannot influence. I would say focus instead on what you can control and change and take comfort in those victories.
I agree, Sheree. I feel as though many important decisions are way above my pay grade these days. But we CAN interact patiently and respectfully and sometimes even playfully with cashiers at the store, waiters at a restaurant, the folks who deliver our mail, our neighbors, people we encounter at a bus stop, etc. etc. etc. Onward…
Exactly my point, thank you for spelling it out so eloquently
Onward… with a genuine smile if and when we can muster one!
Beautifully said, Will! Best to you.
Thank you, Jennie. Your blog posts remind us again and again about the value and power of love, respect, tenderness, patience, fun, music, creativity and much much more. I had a love-filled Music Together class this morning, and the weather is (as you know) unseasonably gorgeous today. So I am remaining VERY grateful for these blessings… Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
That’s so nice of you to say, Will. Thank you! What a perfect day for a fun Music Together class. I’m sure it makes you feel as happy as it makes the children feel. Music does that!! There are so many blessings, and I choose to focus on those. 🥰
Yes, indeed! You are my role model in many ways! And now that I have a three-month-old grandniece, I am going to review some of your previous blog posts for great book gift ideas…
That’s very kind of you to say, Will. I’m so happy. Three months old, reading Goodnight Moon over and over again is my #1 recommendation. Pick my brain anytime!
It’s a very worrying result for all of us, not just those in the US. I was very saddened by the outcome and I can only hope that the impact won’t be as great as we fear.
We shall see… I am reminding myself to appreciate the next couple of months as a calm before the storm. Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
Oh, Will! Thank you for the beautiful song. Ahrens and Flaherty have such a distinctive style, and now this song really sounds like a plea.
I agree with Paula. I know disinformation was a huge spreading cancer, and many were totally ignorant, but still they cheered him on when he lied and made threats, racist, and misogynistic comments.
I fear for family members, friends, myself, and my country. People might have been fooled in 2016 (though come on, pussy grabbing and making fun of a disabled person?), but now no one can pretend to not know who he is. We voted in a king with a fascist entourage.
I don’t know what will happen come January, but I’m trying to use my blog as Toni Morrison said, “This is precisely the time when artists go to work.”
Yes!!!! Keep those poems coming…
Will, this is so hard, but I’m glad to join you on this strange journey. The love and light must prevail. Though there are many unknowns, we must not feel powerless. That is precisely what autocrats hope for. We must not give it to them. Deep breaths—in and out. The music is so important!
Dark days, for sure. I believe that many who voted for him will become disillusioned and feel sorry sooner rather than later. Of course, then it will be too late. None of us like that prices have gone up, but much of that is due to a pandemic that he allowed to happen. I think this is especially difficult for those of us who are older; I’m conflicted between wanting the next 4 years to be over and not wanting to wish the rest of my life away.
Yes. I understand why so many folks seem to have forgotten the pandemic that his inaction made much, much worse (most humans try to forget horrible things as a coping mechanism…) and clearly the facts/message about how many companies took advantage of the pandemic to price-gauge all of us did not make it to all voters. As someone who is planning to switch over to Medicare and start Social Security in three years, I am very empathetic to your thoughts and feelings, Becky! Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
Thanks, Will
What a well stated blog post!
Sigh…
I too am taking time off the news.
Love all the music that weaves through your life. I enjoy all instruments, and my latest is the Celtic Harp, which I started learning two years ago during lock-down via YouTube. 😉 I’m looking forward to harp therapy in nursing homes, etc. when I get a bit more fluid with this lovely instrument.
How grateful I am to live in progressive and beautiful Massachusetts!
Cheers,
Julie
Yes, we are VERY fortunate to live in MA. So many reasons to be grateful to live here. Hurrah for your love of all instruments! I am going to look up Celtic harp online to see what one looks and sounds like. Bringing music to retirement communities, assisted living communities and nursing homes is something that I, too, love to do. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. And THANK YOU for reading/listening to my blog post as well as making time to leave a comment.
So you were in Pippin? My college roomate had the original cast LP, and we played it over and over.
Rivers belong where they can ramble….
Julie
Hi, Julia: I, too, listened over and over to the original cast LP. And I was a standby in PIPPIN for the very small role of Theo (and got to hear the show every night live for almost a year — so I was very happily immersed in the music!) The standbys for the role of Theo and of Bertha (Pippin’s grandmother) had to be backstage for every performance. I was part of the original cast; so I got to watch the last part of the rehearsals before previews began in DC at the recently built Kennedy Center, followed by a very long run at the Imperial Theater in NYC. It was a very formative time in my life (although I never got to perform the role due to Shane Nickerson, who played Theo, being extremely reliable).When there was a reunion performance at a nightclub in NYC a couple of years ago, however, I was asked to join in with most of the remaining cast members and that was a complete thrill. Thank you for nosing around on my blog!!!!
We live in a time when public and social media and talking heads bombard everything we do. I cut the cord a few years ago and put up an antenna that picks up local news channels and pbs as well as over the air cable channels. The vitriol of the political campaign has tuned us all ADHD! We must remember that everything we hear on the cable news is hyped up for the dramatic effect. Space away for all that may help bring things into a more saine perspective. This too shall pass. Remember the prayer of St. Francis.
I am sorry for your disappointment over the election results. I hope you can find a less anxious mindset as time goes on. Love and hope is all we have to survive!
Your thoughtful words touch us all. I know I did what I could. And I’m learning I don’t understand America. I listen to all explanations. Some make a little sense, but none cover it all. (I have loved that song from the first time it moved me at a Vokes production of “A Man of No Importance.” Wow.)
With all the chaos in the world today, good music, good friends, and thoughtful communication will keep us holding onto hope and remain optimistic. Wishing you the best over the holiday season. Take care ~
I like your plan! Thank you for readiing, listening and commenting, Dalo 2013!
Love is a great power but the power of resilience is even greater. I honestly don’t know what love is, it’s a mystery to me still, one thing I know is that it is the opposite of hate, it works miracles and it always hopes…
I love your description of love — a mystery, the opposite of hate, it can work miracles, and it always hopes. Thank you!!!
Always a pleasure
“My two nephews — one approaching draft-age and the other one still eligible to be drafted if we find ourselves in a situation where we need to expand our (already vast) military capabilities.”
My dad would say not to worry, a lot would need to happen before the draft is reinstated. And, he is right. Events would have to spiral out of control, a lot of boneheaded decisions and choices made, but mostly, the wasting of lives. Sure it can happen, but hopefully, won’t.
Nice selection in your musical sampler. My sis is an emerging artist, and she’s done a couple of numbers that appear in your sampler in her show. People still appreciate good music.
Have a Merry Christmas.
Where does your sister make music? Being an independent artist these days is both empowering (one can distribute one’s music worldwide via streaming services!) and discouraging (streaming services contimnue to find more and more ways to pay musicians less and less…) Thank you for listening, reading AND leaving a comment! I apologize for the long delay in my reply. I’ve been dealing with a new round of health stuff related to a somewhat obscure and mysterious diagnosis I received five years ago…
Elizabeth has a two songs on the Tidal Network, which serves Scandinavia and Northern Europe which have been met with modest success. Both are remixes of old Paul Anka songs, “Times of Your Life” (used in Kodak commercials long ago) and “My Romance.” They still like his work. A third song was a big band remix of “Royals” by Lorde, which didn’t go too far. Lorde thought it was very catchy, she liked it. But for streaming to really work, you need a good following and a few thousand plays everyday, and a presence across social media, leaving it all for your recording label to promote. Since Elizabeth records on an indie label, they’re limited in terms of promotion.
I hope your health stuff is better.
Excellent post. A lot of times nice people don’t really understand the “evil” people who only care about power, greed, themselves and whatever they can grab from anyone. But we, the people, should have stopped them a long time ago. We have all be brainwashed and conditioned to remain silent, like good workers for the rich and powerful. I’ve been an activist most of my life. You can see how far we’ve gotten. Money, bits of paper and metal, are everything. Health, happiness, safety mean nothing, to our so called leaders. Our food supply is in imminent danger, because of climate control. Look what the orange one has planned. Deportation, the control of women, their bodies, their lives, women are already dying. I actually got my Becky Bell bracelet out, polished it and will wear it again. Becky Bell was a teenage girl who died from an illegal abortion. Women were fighting for safe, legal, and for the right of teen girls to not need parental signatures for any procedure. She died. One of many. We wore the bracelets with their names on them. Like POW’s, like all those who are killed by their governments. It doesn’t do any good. Love is a joke when fighting against a sociopath. Action doesn’t seem to matter any longer and grass roots organizations don’t have enough money to do very much at all. The saddest part is that our military and police will turn against us, the very people they are supposed to protect, because they follow orders. They will protect the evil people and we have already seen what they did to people last time he was in power. We will fight back, but the things we used to do that bought us time, are now meaningless. We have allowed a few greedy, hateful men to destroy our lives and our planet. There are over 8 billion people on the planet and we let a few ugly men kill our future, at least our foreseeable future. Maybe this is necessary, a purging of sorts, so that in the years to come, things will be more equal, kinder, but I won’t be here to see it. Men have been sliding us into a slow suicide for so many, many years and now, it looks like three minutes to midnight on the clock. And still, we aren’t stopping them from killing us and the future of our children. No one stops violence against women, because men not ony don’t care, they want to beat and kill women. It’s very sad, but people actually voted for the orange one. That’s too horrifying to even think about. A convicted felon, rapist, liar, hateful, evil person and some think he’s working for their god. How insane are we as a species? Why do we constantly kill everything that’s beautiful. Why do so many still EAT living beings who are slaughtered after being terrified and tortured so someone can see them bleed on a china plate? There’s something really wrong with us, so maybe when we run out of food and water, which we are well on our way to doing, some people will wake up before they crawl to a voting station and vot for another moron. And let’s not forget about the predicted violence when people kill each other for food and water. Should be fun. It didn’t have to be this way but with all male power and no other voices, this is what we have. I’m sure this isn’t the first place we’ve destroyed. We are Death. We shouldn’t be afraid of it, since we kill everything. We actually allow our children to die in unjust, illegal wars for profit for the rich who remain safe and sound, reaping the bounty. If that’s not crazy, I don’t know what is.
Thank you for leaving such a heartful, comprehensive comment! Sometimes the only way I can make sense out of what happened during our most recent election cycle is that mother nature is working to speed up the collapse of our increasingly hubristic and unsustainable human domination of life here on planet earth. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. I did not know about Becky Bell bracelets. I need to go to learn more about her and the activism her death inspired…
Thank you for your post. I couldn’t agree more… I see the 20th of January looming ahead, and I’m not sure whether I want to stop reading the news or to watch as our -imperfect but not so bad- world will start crumbling down…
Meanwhile, this is my most used emoji:🤞🏻
Take care
Brian
I am definitely pulling back from direct contact with the news — so much of which is presented in a simplistic and/or sensational manner with little or no historical context. I will keep reading and listening to folks who are willing to dig deeper (such as interviews on WHYY’s “Fresh Air”) when explaining what’s unfolding here on planet earth. And I plan to keep taking many deep breaths in. And deep breaths out.
👍🏻
I believe you will discover that many of your fears are unfounded. But please also remember that baby girls are important too.