Rigidity

I'm here in lovely Park City, Utah getting away, celebrating in a rather unusual way my 19th wedding anniversary. I say unusual because we've brought along our daughters and two of their friends. They'll keep each other entertained when Chris and I slip away for a tasty meal and an hour or two to be alone as seems expected on such occasions. I know this sounds really unromantic of me, but I happen to think that's a good thing. It seems relevant to mark the anniversary, but why do it mindlessly following some sort of idea of what one should do? What I appreciate about my relationship to Chris is a fluidity and flexibility we've developed over these years through transitions and even a few major upsets. What we have is an emerging acceptance of who we actually are as human beings, colored less and less with our projections and fantasies. That's worth celebrating, even if it's quietly at a small vegan-friendly Persian restaurant with a rather friendly chef and absent-minded waitress.

It's a bit of a sobering weekend, anyway, with the news of Japan's earthquake and tsunami and an acknowledgement of our fragility despite any precautions we might make.  Surrealistically I witness the disaster, we all do here in our corner of the globe, as entertainment. I searched around a bit online for insight and came across some pretty shocking shit out there. First was to read a collection of randomly stupid Facebook comments on the tragedy--people taking pleasure in this revenge for Pearl Harbor or whatever. I don't know why I'm still surprised when I discover more people don't think like me. The next was when a YouTube search on Japan earthquake 2011 brought up a clip made by The Sons of Liberty. I'm not sure who these people are, but they are apparently a militia group of white supremacist "Christians" who foresee an unspecified great disaster affecting the West Coast in April or May that will catalyze a new American Revolution in which white Christians will be fighting an epic battle against Zionist Jewish Satanist elites. I do not breathe easy that Utah falls in the "friendly" states in which beleaguered white Christians should seek refuge. The language used by this group is suspiciously similar to that used by our own were-they-really-elected-by-us state legislature: an insistence of calling the United States a republic, vilifying the word "democracy." I watched the clip, full of provocative name calling, and clean images of people in colonial dress firing cannons along with cries of "Liberty!" "Freedom!" I do not know what these words mean to these people, and I'm left with one question: Can people really be this nutty? Wouldn't you rather face a natural disaster head on, dealing with the difficulties and troubles with rationality, than live in a space ruled by sons and daughters of WTF who happen to have stockpiled a few weapons?

This leads me to thoughts on rigidity and a lack of self reflection. We humans, it seems, get these ideas in our heads of how things OUGHT to be and these ideas ossify. The Sons of Liberty are looking at these colonial dress pictures and canons and glorifying this as some sort of place of security and freedom. I'm certain that if these people achieve the kind of outcome they seek: a place where THEY are in control and everyone at least appears to go along with their ideology, life will still suck for them. It takes so much effort to keep an illusion going, and can you imagine the burden of keeping everyone else in line so that you can't see the cracks in your fantasy? This may be merely my opinion, but it does seem a better option for we folks to breathe a little more, soften up the areas where we tend to clench, and at least TRY to see things as they are. Trade in a need for certainty for a little curiosity.

I don't know. I think it's time to turn off the computer, go outside for a walk in the Park City sunshine, get a kick out of my kids' antics, breathe in the air. This is the ride we're on--absurd as it appears to be at present. Oh, for a little fun and escape, and a look at how nutty we get, go see the movie "Rango." This was a delightful departure from the expected corporate message animated flick. I especially liked the little water dance the townsfolk do at high noon on Wednesdays. I hope you do, too.