The Harvest Moon

I've been silent for a while. I stopped social media, and stepped away from arguing with people. It kinda got to the point where discussions were going nowhere, and the people who needed to listen the most were vehemently opposed to civil discourse or compromise. I felt overwhelmed by the scope of it all, and how bad it has been. But it has not been an easy time away, even from a distance.

I watched in horror as the news cycle ebbed and flowed into ever new terrifying directions. Breaking heart and hurting my soul. Disappointment and despair becoming the norm of my day.

So I turned away from it all, and did my best to avoid every screens for a while. I dove into the books and speeches of wiser people then I in the hopes of having a better perspective of what has been battering our society.

I read the Letters from Birmingham Jail by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and was pleasantly surprised to learn he was far from the soft passive thinker that you usually find presented in modern media. Arguing against the negative peace of the status quo, and championing positive peace in the pursuit of justice. Even in spite of those who would try to caution you to wait for a more opportune time, or to blunt your rhetoric to be more appetizing to those you march against. Justice delayed is Justice denied.

I read the thoughts of George Orwell, and his take on the fight against Fascism. He was so against the passivity of his contemporary pacifist, as he postulated that pacifism is pro-fascist. How can you let the crimes of Fascism persist, when you are aware of its danger to others? Passivity for the status quo, becomes acceptance to the iron fist.

This did give me a sense that all this protesting and activism has not been in vain. That its purpose was in a sense Just, but I can't help with grapple with what happens after all this. How do you sway a great mass that has been seduced by a dark ideology and disregarded their humanity?

I am baffled by what we could possibly do to convince enough people to let go of long, passionately held beliefs? Can we grapple with our failings in reaching out and listen to their needs? Or is this a new schism in our society that we must contend with from now on?

I've looked around the globe, and America is not the only one challenged by this madness. It seems like this may be the great challenge of this moment for our world, diffusing the volatility and reconciling the grudges we all seem to bare now.

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I'm not usually the mystic sort, but the heaviness of our time has sent me to try unexplored corners. Tonight on October 1st, as I write this, we will see a full moon. A Harvest Moon, first full moon of fall. It marks this night as significant. As with this moon we will be getting another full moon on Halloween, a Hunter's Moon. An auspicious sign, perhaps?

I don't know what this all can enlighten us too, but with the supernatural feeling that October can inspire, it feels like the air is charged. It gives me a sense that maybe I can go again and return to this battle.

I feel an old vigor return to me in this moment. After months, I feel I can finally let go of the fear I have been holding in the pit of my heart. Then the news hit and I saw an exhausted people light up like a New Year's Eve sky.

An auspicious sign indeed. Seems like this October is going to be one to remember