Years ago I read somewhere that doing your most personal work during a time of societal turmoil was an affirmation of your belief in a society’s ability to find stability. That’s probably a paraphrase but you get the point. If you believe the world is about to fall into a cauldron of death and destruction posting that personal essay you’ve been working on about the joys of cloud watching may not seem worthwhile.
And so I dedicate these words to your most intimate non-political expressions. Your thoughts that have nothing to do with Trump or Biden, the Proud Boys or Black Lives Matter, Netflix or HBO Max. I urge you to believe so much that America won’t plummet into a race war and that the rich in suburban pods and the homeless in our streets don’t find each battling over precious resources. I want you to have so much faith that you focus on that introspective, commercially marginal project you love that isn’t timely or snatched from the headlines or designed to immediately gratify some aggrieved demographic.
At this moment in American history that may be hard to do. Some of our fellow citizens may even find it impossible. But, I believe, this too small pass. That work which is most enduring, most life affirming and inspirational, is often created out of what is most specific and personal to its maker. That which makes you unique is usually what makes you most human. Believe. Create.