These days, I keep thinking about all the anger that seems to exist around us – where it goes and how people find their peace? I have circled around a lot of ideas, though mostly about the pain that people currently endure.
I once read that individualism is the great protestant heresy. It is a harsh line, but I have always believed it to be true. This individualism, spurred by the religious convictions that have shaped the American ethos, has created the chasm that is now the Divided States of America. The rich have indeed gotten much richer, and the poor have gotten much poorer. As the images of the rioters in the Capitol continue to roll through my mind, it is the poor that I see.
How can a person heal their anger if they are in a crisis?
What we are seeing unfold before us is not simply an expression of emotion, but an expression of economics. Thus the solution, perhaps, is first an economic path that gives people the peace of mind that they will be okay. Once the personal crisis has been alleviated, then it seems we can begin to appeal to their better angels.
In my work, I have watched what happens when people are down to their last cents with no relief on the horizon. There is a level of desperation that looks a lot like the chaos on our TV’s at the Capitol. This is the consequence of the individualistic economic policies of the last few decades. This is the consequence of the greed that has been lifted up by our President. Both in action and word, he has told people they should be rich; and so the fact that they are not, leaves them angry.
I understand.
Connected to our economic woes are those associated with education, which has only been made worse in the Covid-required, virtual school. Many students have been lost and left behind without the in-person support of the school environment, which offers food, security, socialization and education. Long after a vaccine, Covid’s affects will remain, for we will have lost a population of the next generation.
So how do we move forward? Perhaps, it is time to rebalance our educational systems and accept that not all need a college education or an office to be successful? Thought we would never want to limit the potential of a child to perform in any environment, not all need to in order to be successful.
Allow me to work backwards: For decades, we have taught that a college education would lead to one’s own personal success. This mentality was driven by an inherent American belief in the triumph of the individual capacity for greatness, and entitlement for those who “do good.” We have celebrated the “white-collar” and left everyone else to fend for themselves, not realizing that we were also making it harder for them to do so. Decades later, we have left people behind with little ability to claw their way out of their desperation. Like the movies we watch, they turned to a hero who they believed to be their savior. He was not, and now these people who clung so desperately to their personification of hope are now left wondering who will help them?
History is filled with so many examples of this narrative, which means history also offers them an answer: we learn to come together for the sake of each other. We admit that we need help. We prepare ourselves for change. We accept that the help will not always look like what we want, and then we begin to heal.