By Wayne Allensworth
We are in one hell of a mess. If you are paying attention at all, dear reader, you know that the Trump White House appears to be gearing up for an intensification of hostilities with Iran. Maybe even introducing ground troops in some way, perhaps to strike at the islands in the Persian Gulf where Iran maintains a significant portion of its oil refining capabilities. Maybe to strike at targets associated with Iran’s nuclear program, which was supposedly destroyed months ago. Of course, Donald Trump, in his TV reality show mode, has declared victory a number of times. And we hear vague talk of using tactical nuclear weapons, since the US military is depleting its stockpile of conventional missiles. Of course, there can be no such thing as “limited nuclear war.” Once Pandora’s Box is open, anything could happen. I could go on: European states, especially Britain and Germany, may be contemplating direct conflict with Russia. The US is veering into economic crisis, which will undoubtedly spur on a social and political crisis as well. We are still supposed to think that we have a real choice in the November mid-term elections, but I don’t think so. Whichever wing of the Epstein Party you might vote for represents continuity of the present elite’s disastrous rule. “Wasting your vote” would be voting at all as far as I’m concerned. Each branch of the elite is worse than the other in its own way.
There’s not much any of us can do about it. I was making many of the same warnings, for instance, particularly regarding global war and the threat of nukes, when Joe Biden was in office. Washington’s madness is a Janus with two faces, both quite ugly, both nihilistic. When this present madness runs its course, however, we do have some measure of responsibility for what will be left. We must resist, in whatever way is suitable to our conditions and circumstances, the encroachments of the surveillance state. The best resistance to madness is to focus on our daily lives and the things we can do something about. Your family, your neighbors, your friends. We want something to remain of civilized life when the system fails, as it surely will. This is not the counsel of despair, but of realistic hope.
I read a poem the other day by Richard Hayden entitled Those Winter Sundays:
Sundays too my father got up early
And put his clothes on in the blueback cold,
Then with cracked hands that ached
From labor in the weekday weather made
Banked fires blaze. No one thanked him.
I’d wake and hear the cold fire splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he’d call, and slowly I would rise and dress…
Speaking indifferently to him,
Who had driven out the cold…
What did I know
Of love’s austere and lonely offices?
I now know of love and those austere and lonely offices. It took a lifetime, but I know. And in times like these it is up to us who see and know to maintain the fire and warm our homes, expecting no thanks, but knowing that one day all will be made clear.
In the meantime, I enjoy my days and the fall weather. I enjoy the animals I watch thriving nearby. I enjoy reading good books and listening to music and taking quiet walks. I enjoy my children and grandchildren and I cherish old friends and fond memories. I am grateful for them. In sadness and sorrow, I know there is also light, for loss means we did have something to lose, something to love.
Meister Eckhart, the 14th Century Christian theologian, mystic and teacher, once said that the best prayer was simply expressing gratitude, saying thanks. So, every day, when I see the sun warming the Eastern sky, I express a silent “thank you.” And get on with living.
Chronicles contributor Wayne Allensworth is the author of The Russian Question: Nationalism, Modernization, and Post-Communist Russia, and a novel, Field of Blood. For thirty-two years, he worked as an analyst and Russia area expert in the US intelligence community.
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