Cycles of Change and Stability – Finding Purpose in the Normal – Great Song

One thing I love about a new semester is that a predictable cycle starts again.

One thing I DON’T love about a new semester is that a predictable cycle starts again.

There is comfort in the sameness and there can be stagnation in it as well.

I’m reminded of the Catholic prayers I recited over and over and over growing up in stogy churches and slow droning ways and how I searched for freshness in the words every time. I often found nuance. I did not always. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

I guess it’s about MINDSET too, and so many things are. I just need to remember to see the positive and move towards the finish lines I want.

This Cycle, Clouds on the Horizon

I begin a cycle again in a strange time, a time of darkness and apathy, of fear and racism and the hints of danger past the ramparts, pennants through trees past the fields. Some seek blood to shape our world into one without the others.

And amidst this, most of us have to drive, cut grass, sauté vegetables, feed the dog, pay the phone bill, and wake up too early for work.

How are we to find meaning and purpose in a world shouting at us, shouting through us, a world so full of distractification devices that people have left the ramparts?

Being intentional matters – setting plans that will either show us meaning or show us the way closer to it. And also not falling prey to the siren call of that which lulls us into our slumbers and atrophy.

I’ve got a few goals for the year myself. Do you?

One Man with a Purpose

In this time of heat before the fall, of the bustle before the semester begins, I found a surprise in the chaos.

Enter Oliver Anthony’s song, “Rich Men North of Richmond,” rich guitar folk twangs and an angry, despondent voice, at the launch of a clown show of a political debate. It was at least a hint of pure life and real human worry at the head of a river of posturing and misrepresentations.

His song may not be for everyone and some are reading their lenses into the words. One thing that many can agree on is that this is a person who sees struggle and wants it to be different. He’s using his song to point to some hardship that many face.

Anthony’s message is worth discussing. It must resonate with people: at the time of this writing, it has garnered 41 million views in two weeks.

Here is an artful song with a shade of a dream that has been shared before and needs to be shared again.

I enjoy that Oliver Anthony responded in a video after the debate and said he wrote the song about those leaders. I can understand that. So many leaders today sound the same: ivy-colored, full of meaningless phrases, and lack of detail about clear action on the hard choices we need to be making. We need humans who listen, who know the feeling of having double digits in the bank account, who remember what it was to say no to something important like food or medicine because those were the only choices.

Let’s let servants and listeners into the white rooms. Let’s ask those who will serve others balance some budgets and make some hard choices.

Join this conversation. Go watch some of the Response Videos (which is apparently a thing? Can you tell I neither Tik nor Tok?). See what others say. What do you think?

We can all do so much better, and we WILL. Let’s do it together.

Read. Think. Come up with simple ideas. And VOTE.