Broken

“Broken hands on broken ploughs, broken treaties, broken vows,

Broken pipes, broken tools, people bending broken rules”

     (from Everything is Broken by Bob Dylan)

I write this late at night, unable to sleep.  Today was cold, damp and dreary.  The nightly news was glum.  The world is broken.  “The time is out of joint,” and my mood is foul.

The impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump began a few days ago with the swearing in of 100 senators, each taking an oath to administer ‘impartial justice’.  Really?  I just wanted one senator to step forward with courage enough to refuse to take the oath, admitting to their intended partisan verdict.  This is no trial.  The outcome is preordained, give or take a vote.  Worst of all, 100 elected leaders, our representatives, mock the oath.  A sworn oath now means nothing.  Leadership is broken.

I don’t know whether, or not, I believe that President Trump should be removed from office.  I distrust the motives and the spin of both parties.  I listened to the testimony of witnesses in the House of Representatives’ hearings.  The testimony I found most credible came directly from those who have made public service their career, those who have served through multiple presidencies, serving both parties, without personal political ambition.  And what I heard from those witnesses is that there is something very wrong occurring at the highest levels of governance.  Something is rotten and corrupt.  Government is broken.

In our country the level of incivility has risen to a degree where I question whether differences can any longer be settled respectfully through negotiation or peacefully through elections.  I worry that even the election process itself has been corrupted beyond repair.  We drift closer and closer to autocracy, while leaders in the House and Senate appear impotent or unwilling to confront the inflating power of this current president.  Democracy Is broken.

That which is broken must somehow be repaired, but how and by whom?  My religion teaches that it is my obligation to do whatever is within my power to repair a broken world, tikkun olam.  Yet sometimes it is overwhelming just to keep my own house in repair.

When it feels as-if my world is spinning out of control, when it is broken, I remind myself of a story told about a different leader from a different time.  It’s a tale of King Solomon.  It is said that Solomon gathered his wise men, asking them for a special ring, a ring upon which they would inscribe the secret of wisdom. In good times, he could look upon the ring with humility and gratitude. In hard times he could look at the ring and remain hopeful.  After much deliberation he was finally presented with his ring.  On it was inscribed the words, “This Too Shall Pass.”

I hope so.

Fair-Weather Fan

Am I a fair-weather fan?  I grew up in Denver where the religion was football, and Mile High Stadium its cathedral.  In the Bronco’s early years fans were plentiful, loud and loyal. The team was lousy. Whenever Hank Stram and the hated Kansas City Chiefs came to town you could count on a loss with a lopsided score.  The only solace was, weather permitting, throwing snowballs at the Chiefs from the old South Stands.

The Broncos went through many lean years and dozens of now forgotten quarterbacks. Things turned around when Craig Morton became Denver’s first bona fide big-league quarterback.  He led the Broncos to their first Super Bowl.  They lost.  Then came John Elway and the glory years of the Broncos.  Elway led the Broncos to five Super Bowls.  Absent a supporting cast, the first three were losses.  Finally surrounded by championship talent, Elway ended his career with 2 Super Bowl victories.  Following the 2013 season, quarterbacked by Peyton Manning, Denver lost in what was probably the ugliest Super Bowl ever played.  Two years later, Manning and the Bronco’s redeemed themselves in the championship game.

Twenty-five years I lived away from Denver, first in Manhattan KS and then in St. Louis.  During all that time I remained a Bronco fan.  When in St. Louis, I enjoyed the Rams.  Called “the greatest show on turf” and led by quarterback Kurt Warner, they went to two Super Bowls, winning one and losing the other. However, St. Louis was a baseball town, not a football town, and the Rams were destined to leave the city.  For me, it was still “go Broncos.”

Seven years ago, I moved to Kansas City, a great football town, on par with Denver.  During these years, I’ve seen the decline of the Broncos and the rise of the Chiefs.  My roots are in Denver.  My home is in Kansas City.  Pulled in two directions, a few years ago I found myself beginning to cheer for the once-hated Chiefs.  With the acquisition of the amazing Patrick Mahomes, surrounded by good coaching and a championship worthy team, I’ve jumped ship and now cheer unabashedly for the Chiefs.  Perhaps I am a fair-weather fan.

This past Sunday the Chiefs won an astounding playoff game, coming back from a 24-point deficit. Next Sunday they play for the AFC championship and, if all goes well, they will be in the Super Bowl for the first time in 50 years.

January is a dark, cold and dingy month, a month of melancholy.  Yet, with a winning team to cheer on, how much brighter the month seems.  My new philosophy: life is too short to cheer for a losing team. Call me a fair-weather fan.


Speaking of good cheer, I just heard three good jokes on the radio.

Q:  What did the band leader name his daughters?
A:  Anna-One, Anna-Two

Q:  What do you call an illegally parked frog?
A:  Toad (Towed, get it?)

Q:  What’s happened to the man who fell into the upholstery machine?
A:  He’s completely recovered.

Contradiction

We are challenged by contradictions; contradictory opinions, contradictory beliefs, contradictory perspectives, even contradictory ‘truths’.

The most common response when faced with contradiction is to declare your position right and the other's position wrong, of course. You know your are right. Experience tells you so. Accompanying this response, there is usually little self-reflection, little curiosity, only argumentation.  Being understood might seem important, but understanding the other does not. Often an escalation occurs and contradiction morphs into conflict. Sanctimony and outrage replace dialogue. End of discussion.

When faced with contradiction, the challenge is to enter into constructive dialogue, and for that time to suspend criticism while listening open-mindedly to the perspective of the other.  Dialogue does not include accusation and condemnation. Dialogue does not include threats and ultimatums

Dialogue is less about talking and more about listening, really listening. In the course of dialogue you need not agree, but you can acknowledge the viewpoint of the other.  Contradiction may not resolve, but contradiction need not lead to conflict.

In philosophy, there is a concept called ‘pluralism’.  Pluralism emphasizes that we exist in an extraordinarily complex world, too complex to be grasped through a simple and single lens. Often, contradiction is nothing more than a different perspective, the world viewed through a different lens. In this complex pluralistic world, contradictions should be approached with tolerance and humility, not in the spirit of argumentation, but in the effort to learn and share from the perspective, the lens, of the other.

In philosophy, there is a concept called ‘the dialectical principle’.  Sometimes, if one is willing to examine seemingly contradictory perspectives there emerges, in lieu of contradiction, a new and more nuanced understanding, a meeting of the minds, a synthesis of ideas.

Relationships are filled with contradiction. The world is filled with contradiction.  And that’s okay.

How To Be

There is one basic question that is at the heart of all religion and philosophy.  How should life be lived? 

Buddhists believe that life is to be lived in renunciation of needs and desires.
Hindus believe that life is to be lived over and over according to one’s karma.
Jews believe that life is to be lived making this world holy, according to Torah.
Moslems believe that life is to be lived in surrender to Allah, according to Koran.
And Christians believe that life is to be lived with faith and in hope for eternal salvation.


Socrates taught that life should be self-examined and lived in pursuit of Truth.
Aristotle counseled that life should be lived in moderation, finding the Golden Mean.
Kierkegaard thought that life should be lived not in reason, but in a leap of faith.
Nietzsche taught that God is dead and life should be lived becoming the best you can be, becoming the ‘ubermensch’.
And William James wrote that the human experience is far too complex to be defined by any one way of being.


From Amos, one should seek good and not evil.
From first Isaiah, one should relieve the oppressed, defend the fatherless, and plead for the widow.
From second Isaiah, one should be a light unto others.
And from Micah, one should seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly.


For 60’s psychologist Timothy Leary, life should be lived turning on, tuning in and dropping out.
For psychiatrist Sigmund Freud, life should be lived loving and working.
For existential psychologist Abraham Maslow, life should be lived self-actualizing.
And for concentration camp survivor and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, life should be lived meaningfully.


There are many paths from which to choose.   There is no one right way of being.  There is no one Truth.  There may be false paths, paths that lead astray.  But there are also many true and meaningful paths, many good ways to be.

How to be or how not to be, that is really the question.