Not away, but aside

Hello!

Living in a connected age means the pain and suffering of others, the cruelty so readily meted out, the obvious injustices perpetrated with little consequence, are regularly put before us. It feels, depending how you use the internet, inescapable.

And it hurts. Consider this, from Krista Tippett (“My heart is sore. Your heart is sore.”):

We are profoundly distressed, intimately and globally, at a nervous-system level — and this distress crosses every identity and dividing line. Opinion polls have their uses, I suppose. But they don’t unearth that, beneath whatever simplistic answer I give to a simplistic question, my heart is sore. Your heart is sore. We do not want to live in a world of rage and cruelty, one human being to another. We do not want to live in a world in which we scroll through videos of real people humiliated and dying at the hands of other real people, with these videos at our children’s fingertips too.

We can disagree on questions of rights and laws, and those questions have their place. But I’ll say it plain: whether a human being is a citizen or an immigrant, a neighbor or a stranger, does not have any bearing whatsoever on the moral and spiritual question of whether they are being treated with cruelty or humanity.

How, then, to deal with this hurt, this hurt so inextricably tied up in the news of the day? The solution may lay, in part, in stepping not away from it all, but to the side: reading and thinking not about the deluge of the day, but about past days that might offer lessons. Alan Jacobs (“reorientation”):

Instead, I’m making yet another argument for breaking bread with the dead. In times of social and political crisis, especially when new and often contradictory bulletins are arriving on our ICDs (Internet-Connected Devices) at a second-by-second rate, you and I need to step back. We need the relief. But at the same time, it is impossible, for me anyway, not to think about what’s happening. Just saying “I’m not going to read any more about this” is an inadequate response; it has a tendency to leave me fretful and at loose ends.

What helps is to read works from the past that deal with questions and challenges that are structurally similar to the ones we’re facing but that emerged in a wholly different context.

And, to return to Krista Tippett’s piece, another helpful reminder:

I am hearing a thousand stories that are not making the “news” as I’m trying to follow it, but they too are the story of our time, and they are stories of what makes us human and humane.

Here’s to the human and humane.

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Some links:

• Some people have a way of writing that fundamentally shifts your understanding. Deb Chachra is one such writer for me. Her exposition of “the matter problem” as a counterpart to “the energy problem” was eye-opening—as we move toward cheap, abundant, clean energy, will we use it to rectify all the trash and other material waste we produce? (via Mita Williams)
• An excellent (excellent) example of input on legislative changes by Jennifer Robson on CRA’s proposed “automatic benefits” mechanism (deemed tax filing), with attention not only to the policy intent, but also the implementation details. Essential reading for anyone wondering how policy and implementation (which, these days, often means software) are so inextricably linked.
• Thoroughly enjoyed this brief history of late 19th century American municipal governance, and cases from two states in which municipal government was deemed illegal! It’s used to illustrate where judicial intervention is effective (government, stop doing this illegal thing) versus not (government, stop doing this illegal thing, but also it’s an essential thing, so don’t actually stop it, but instead make a new thing—which the courts are not well suited to direct or supervise). (via SB)
• How is Italy fighting Mafia corruption in the Olympics? Why, transparency in government contracting, how else?
• As a dabbling furniture designer and woodworker, I’ve learned that measurement isn’t all it’s made out to be—often, you can be far more precise without measurements past a certain point in the construction process. How? With basic, ancient tools, like a straightedge and dividers.

All the best for the week ahead!

Lucas