We’re only one hundred days into this second MAGA term and we’ve seen cruelty, disinformation, and corporate feasting. I acknowledge how frightening and painful this has been to witness. To experience, for those of us impacted directly by economic hurt, by disenfranchisement, by displacement or deportation or worse.
For those reading who are privileged or protected enough to be able to turn their attention away from the immediate spectacle of destruction, I would like to ask a question. It has to do with our plans for what comes next, for the “tomorrows” after horrible “todays” like we’ve been having of late.
Men with plunder in their eyes and hate in their hearts have come to our green places to slash and burn. I ask: What will take root in the clearings they create?
In ecology, a disturbed landscape doesn’t stay bare for long. Lichens appear on rock, grasses push up through mud, silt and ash. Pioneer species stake their claim in the name of what comes next.
Yes, it’s messy and it’s uncertain. Call it the pagan idea of cyclical renewal; call it the Buddhist recognition of eternal change. however you conceptualize it, it is inescapably true — today’s crisis won’t be the same tomorrow. We can watch things worsen or plant seeds of positive change.
After each new harmful act, after we grieve and find ourselves again, we have the chance to start the repairs. The chance to call one again for tomorrow’s reconciliation. After each bad day we have another chance to bring about good things in the days that follow.
Here is today’s question asked again in other ways:
If today is a clearing, what kind of small seed might we scatter?
What comes after the burn, barrenness or new growth?
What role am I willing to play in the succession?
Did you know? A cherry tomato planted today on black soil can germinate, push up stems, unfurl leaves, bloom and bear fruit within 100 days. Plant that seed today and it’ll start feeding others before the midpoint of summer. From simple beginnings are new and wondrous things made.
There’s something in this image about the worth of starting, today, with some small act of self-care, mutual aid, generosity, and forward action. Something about the returns we can count on if only we recognize each act of destruction as a renewal of our duty to protect, to plant and to nurture.
Yesterday was “Day 100.”
Today is Day 1 of…
Well, fill in the answer that suits you. The answer that fits your capacity. Maybe plant a tomato seed.