Keeping the Faith in Trying Times

It all depends on where you focus

A friend asked if I could write about how to keep faith when democracy is falling, and I’ve been pondering that question a lot. To start with, I’m not sure democracy is actually falling — it’s under a lot of stress, but the systems that undergird it (Like the separation of powers—thank you courts!, And “Government of the people, by the people, for the people” — the people are PISSED and pushing back…) are straining to bear up under it. I have hope they will prove durable, even if they are battered.

But things are definitely bad, weird, and challenging. And yet, I find myself still faithful and still hopeful. So here’s how I am keeping the faith, and maybe it will help others:

1. Limit your exposure to media and the internet. Seriously. No more Rachel Maddow, or even Jon Stewart. Ditch the WaPo and take any other form of legacy media (even the New York Times and The Atlantic—which I have kept subscribing to, but read more judiciously) with giant grains of salt. Find Substacks that might give you a better perspective (The Contrarian, The Bulwark, and newly-minted-Pulitzer-Prize winner Ann Telnaes are some of my choices)—especially if they are some of the voices that legacy media wanted to control or silence. These journalists speak for themselves now. But really, keep any media consumption to the absolute bare minimum that you need to keep informed. The whole media enterprise is really just giant corporations trying to sell advertising and make money. They want you anxious and afraid, because that will bring your eyeballs back to their content. Don’t give them that satisfaction.

2. Speaking of not giving someone satisfaction…what makes a narcissist super happy is knowing that everyone is thinking about them and talking about them and obsessing about them. Try to keep your brain as free of the Narcissist-in-Chief as you can. He’s not paying you rent to take up all that space in your head. Again, what is the minimum you need to know about him and his plans to stay informed? Know that, and then that’s it. Don’t let any more thoughts of him into your head. Probably you don’t need to be a Facebook warrior (plus, Meta is ruled by another sucky billionaire who should be avoided), posting memes about him, or, conversely, critiquing his own memes (Like those AI-generated images of him as a Sith on Star Wars Day, or as the First American Pope …well, that didn’t happen, did it?). Don’t give him the satisfaction—even if he doesn’t know, he knows—of giving him that much attention. Think and post about other things, maybe more beautiful and hopeful things, maybe pictures of your dog?

3. DO SOMETHING TO RESIST. Every day if you can. Make calls to your reps. Send money to your public media outlets. Send flowers to those great folks at the local Social Security office who are so helpful and who don’t even know if they will get to keep their jobs. Protest. Show up at town halls. Write postcards to voters in upcoming elections. There’s so much we can’t do to change things, but there are so many things we can do to try to move the needle. Take the time you would have spent consuming media or fixating on the Narcissist and put that time to good use. When you feel despair, just do another thing. Every small good thing is good. Do more good things.

   

4. Read history. Not just of Germany in the 1930s, but of Central America in the 1980s, and South Africa under apartheid, and of the rise of the labor movement in the 19th Century. Even under the most brutal, murderous regimes, people resisted and persisted and fought for justice, and inevitably, the wheels of history turned and things changed. Read history, and figure out how you want to behave at this moment in history. When they write the history of the 2020s, what part do you want to have played? Go play it.

5. Practice resurrection. I’m a Christian, so I believe that when things die, when even the most beautiful, best thing, like God, dies, there will always be resurrection. In this theology, death is never the final word, God always wins, and there is guranteed to be new life and new creation coming, even when you can’t see it. This beautiful poem by Julia Esquivel, written in the middle of a hideous civil war in Guatemala, continues to give me hope: They Have Threatened Us with Resurrection.

6. Read the psalms. The last time we had the Narcissist-in-Chief, I noticed that the psalms basically trolled him almost every day. The psalms encourage us, give us hope, remind us that bad rulers are doomed to fail, and that we can push on, knowing that justice will come if we keep working and keep waiting. Try Psalm 9, 10, 58, 74, 76, 82, and 141 to start. The psalms insist that God will reign. Stand on that promise.

7. Look for the resisters. Remember the Mister Rogers quote: When things get scary, “look for the helpers. There are always people helping.” Same thing. When the oppressors look like they are winning, look for the resisters. There are always people resisting. I have a friend who is a quiet, buttoned-down lawyer who used to be a faithful Republican … but on May Day, he was demonstrating with other lawyers at the U.S. Supreme Court. Holding a sign! His act of resistance has threatened ME with resurrection. I had better get out there and do likewise.

   You too?