By John Staley
I’m scared right now, and I don’t need to go into detail as to why. We may have different algorithms, but we all have the same internet. Myopic vandals are wreaking havoc at breakneck speeds with seemingly nothing to stop them. In the words of comedian John Mulaney, “There’s a horse in the hospital.”
The best some can do is get out of the way before they get hurt, as a national paresis seizes the rest of us — left holding our collective impotent rage in one hand as we doom-scroll with the other. It is a dark hole of despondence and hopelessness that has no bottom. The urge to stay informed has metastasized into an addiction to fear and anger that keeps us coming back, creating more and more ad revenue for tech billionaires whose greed will never be satisfied.
I have an idea—but first, we need to put down the phones and turn off the computers. Okay? Good.
The next time you are going to bake up a big batch of something — anything — say, a lasagna or cake or cookies — whatever it is, it doesn’t matter — go ask your neighbors if they would be interested in having some. That’s it. Many of them will decline, but if even one says yes, that is your opportunity to talk to them.
Share your concerns about the price of eggs or the price of gas, or worries about the economy, Social Security — things that affect so many Americans. Share your thoughts and your food. Have a conversation. Get to know the people you are closest to — literally.
Community isn’t just some nebulous, feel-good word from an Instagram infographic — it is an action. For too long, the American suburbs have bred paranoia. It was designed that way to keep us scared and suspicious of each other — of the very neighbors we should know and help support.
What do you have to lose — a Tupperware container?
Times are hard. It feels as if things might get worse before they get better — but now we have something we can do.
Asking for help is hard for a lot of us, antithetical to who we are, even when we desperately need it. Offering help, on the other hand, is a very easy thing to do. Besides, who doesn’t like baked goods?
This is how we find a little purpose and usefulness amongst the chaos and confusion. There’s a saying in Buddhist teachings: Tend to the part of the garden you can touch. That is how it starts — small, simple, local.
We bake pie and say hi.
Be First to Comment