The Way Things Are

“Well, that’s just the way things are.”

That is a phrase I no longer want to hear. Ever. We are never in a static state. In a participatory democracy like ours, on a planet like ours, there is no such thing. Laws are written, and un-written; lives broken, lives repaired; a tree is born and a tree dies, and actually, as my son is fond of relaying the truth of the matter: a tree never dies, but is simply fuel for the next generation. Smart kid.

All is change, all is in flux.

“The way things used to be, is… AND the way things are now, AND what we’re striving for IS…” are the phrases I want these motherf*ers to learn. Change is omnipresent. Change is the energy of this ongoing, ever-enlivening, ever-migrating, power-over vs. power-to Species! Because we are of the Earth, and Change is the only state we can be in.

Don’t be fooled, though. God cannot end these struggles! God cannot gather control of us! He gave us way too much free will. He gave us so much free will, He gave us the will to be able to turn away from Him completely. (I should know; I didn’t believe in God for much of my life.) No. God, or no God: Man himself must surrender to the cycle of life, if nothing else.

Change is not only inevitable, it is a fundamental law of our reality.

Don’t believe me? Go outside, or look out a window, and stare at a tree.

See?

You don’t even have to believe in God to believe in Change. Life is Change. To not believe that Change is inevitable is madness. You couldn’t make that tree stay still, mid-summer! Nor mid-winter! Not for all the tea in China! You, Mankind, are small. Please. Please… get used to it.

You’ll have more fun. Trust me!

I should back up and explain the image above. Photographed here (in all her glory) is St. Therese of Lisieux (AKA “The Little Flower”) dressed as Joan of Arc. Therese was a cloistered nun in the 1800’s (which sounds great to me, right about now), and yes, St. Therese was probably the only nun ever to be able to boast of having an AKA. (Believe it or not, they used to have quite a little bit of fun at those old nunneries. In-between cleaning everything within sight twice over, and praying, and a meal or two… what else was there to do but laugh your ass off, and go to bed grateful?!)

It is said that Therese drew people to her, like flies to honey. It is said she could never find a person she didn’t love. She must have realized, on some level, that to be so full of mirth made people around her want to give her whatever she wanted. So of course she staged Joan of Arc, cast herself in the role, found the costume pieces, assembled the nuns, and performed the play! Who wouldn’t take the opportunity, when afforded such freedom, to do so?

Therese longed for Change.

The very next day… she was Joan of Arc.

Change feels slow, but it can also shift — just like that.

We are always in a state of Change. The beauty of it begins when we set ourselves near a tree… and peer at it. Or kneel down in Thanksgiving! Or, ask …what next?

Now that (hopefully) I’ve demonstrated that Change on this plane of existence is inevitable, now comes the real challenge:

How you feel about Change
is however you decide to experience it.

PS: War is the ultimate “that’s just the way things are,” by the way. We could decide tomorrow “no more war, not one more, ever again” and then someone else would come along later and try to explain why murder is justified.

We know better. We can change. We are change.

NOTES: Unless Substack does something horrible like starts World War III, I’ll be here journaling. It looks like I could actually earn some money here, so if you’d like, subscribe and share.

PPS: I’ll never not be writing. So, at least there’s that.

PPPS: Sometimes, there might be a poem.

Is Change

Is Change a smooth and glassy sea
you must, must, pull row across
with only your two arms
to pull you?

Or are there sixteen more arms
helping? Or—

Is Change a raging sea
tossing you back and forth,
up, down— Or
A river
run? Rapids and waterfalls?
Unfathomable rocks—

Or, is change a slow walk with the dog.
The growing interest in the plant-life.
The “Let the young handle that one,” and the
“Let’s live while we’re young?!”

Yes.

Yes, please, don’t forget to live
before diapers
become a part of the picture,
again.