Well, this is a fine mess, isn’t it.
At the moment I’m on the other side of the world, so I was waking up while everyone else was waiting for the polls to close and probably feeling exhausted and jittery. We were heading to the ruins of the Heraion outside of Argos, a temple to the goddess Hera, patron of the city, as it became pretty clear how the results of the election were going to break.
So, you feel all the feelings you’re feeling—rage, fear, despair, disgust at the millions of Americans who voted based on hatred and racism and fear—and once you’ve let that move through you (kind of like the Bene Gesserit litany against fear), you ask, what now?
When I say “you” here, I mean me, of course.
On Instagram a quote from the late science fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin passed across my feed, leading to this post on her blog following the 2016 election. It’s more relevant than ever, sadly, and talks about a way forward that’s not couched in warlike terms, the way of water:
“The flow of a river is a model for me of courage that can keep me going — carry me through the bad places, the bad times. A courage that is compliant by choice and uses force only when compelled, always seeking the best way, the easiest way, but if not finding any easy way still, always, going on.”
It made me think of another quote, somewhat more malevolent but still applicable, from one of the scariest Doctor Who episodes, “The Waters of Mars:”
“Water is patient, Adelaide. Water just waits. Wears down the clifftops. The mountains. The whole of the world. Water always wins.”
But do go read the whole Le Guin post. Maybe it will offer you some solace.