The Big Picture – 
By Glynn Wilson – 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – So I woke up Sunday morning as I often do, listening to the show “On Being” on NPR.

While spirituality is the subject of the show, it is a far cry from all the noisy preachers on radio and television pushing their denominational brand of religion on gullible audiences. This soft spoken show is moderated by Krista Tippett as part of “The Civil Conversations Project” and explores questions with authors and experts on such topics as: What does it mean to be human? How do we want to live? Who will we be to each other?

The show on this Sunday was a rerun from last year, but it focused on author Katherine May and the subject was: “How ‘Wintering’ Replenishes.”

“In so many stories and fables that shape us, cold and snow, the closing in of the light — these have deep psychological as much as physical reality,” according to the summary pitch for the episode. “This is ‘wintering, as the English writer Katherine May illuminates in her beautiful, meditative book of that title — at once a season of the natural world, a respite our bodies require, and a state of mind.”

Krista first spoke with Katherine in midwinter 2020, and their conversation continues to offer a helpful container for our pandemic time: as one vast, extended, communal experience of wintering.

As 2021 draws to a close — still with so much to metabolize and to carry, with an aching need for replenishment — May opens up exactly what so many have needed to hear, but haven’t known how to name. She is an author of fiction and memoir whose titles include Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, The Electricity of Every Living Thing, and Burning Out.

As I was listening while carrying out my morning routine, it reminded me of a time that seems so long ago when we actually did take a break in December for the holidays.

Back before the 24-hour news cycle on cable TV, a time when most people got their news from a daily or weekly newspaper and a 30-minute news broadcast on network television, newspaper reporters had to get pretty creative to find stories to fill up the space in the papers around the ads in December. Congress was usually in recess, the president of the United States was often on vacation, state legislatures were not in session, courthouses were quiet for the most part, and the general activities of most people tended to slow down and focus on family during the holiday season.

Back then the very functioning of society in this democracy was much closer to the natural world than what we experience today. Yes, there was already the crass commercialization of the holidays. But it was very muted compared to these days.

There is such a competition for audience attention now by all the media companies chasing any little bit of sensational clickbait — and social media platforms where the posts never seem to stop — that people have to go to a lot of trouble to turn things off and tune out.

As I was writing this, for example, AT&T just had to text me, interrupting my train of thought twice, telling me I’ve used up my bandwidth for the month and that my bill is going up $10 as a result — even though I’m not using AT&T data. I’m hooked up to the internet through a T-Mobile hotspot I had to get this summer because the AT&T hotspot on my iPhone was not working very well inside the Beltway here in D.C. I’m told the new CEO for AT&T is a Republican, and in the process of firing any democrat who works for the company. Could they also be discriminating against customers? Maybe there is a lawsuit in here somewhere.

On top of that distraction, my Facebook notifications run constantly, trying to get me to keep clicking, clicking and clicking, feeding Meta with the traffic it needs to keep raking in those billions they refuse to share with those of us who actually write and produce news stories. And that’s not counting all the email messages I have to delete every day or the spam calls on the cell phone. I just feel like turning everything off and screaming, “Please leave me the f___k alone.”

Pandemic News

Even if people wanted to take a break, it’s hard to ignore the latest news about the global pandemic and the Omicron variant. As the coronavirus pandemic approaches the end of a second year, the United States stands on the cusp of surpassing 800,000 deaths from the virus, and no group has suffered more than older Americans, according to reporting from The New York Times.

“All along, older people have been known to be more vulnerable, but the scale of loss is only now coming into full view. Seventy-five percent of people who have died of the virus in the United States — or about 600,000 of the nearly 800,000 who have perished so far — have been 65 or older. One in 100 older Americans has died from the virus.”

Also as a result, across the world, covid anxiety and depression take hold.

On top of that, we also seem to be living in a time some critics are starting to call a boring apocalypse.

Climate change also plays a role in creating news in December these days as we just experienced with the strongest and longest tornado ever seen that was on the ground from Arkansas through Kentucky for more than 200 miles. How could anyone avoid or ignore those pictures and videos of unbelievable devastation?

Tornadoes and hurricanes used to happen in spring, summer and fall. Now they are also becoming winter events.

Powerful tornadoes strike 6 states

Democracy Under Threat

Meanwhile, unless you are one of those Americans living in a rural, modern version of Plato’s Cave, it’s hard to escape all the news about how America’s Anti-Democratic Movement — inspired by Donald Trump but much larger than him — is making significant progress, while Democrats appear to be asleep at the wheel.

The Atlantic also created a big stir in December with a cover story that was mentioned on NBC’s “Meet the Press” this Sunday morning.

“By way of foundation for all the rest, Trump and his party have convinced a dauntingly large number of Americans that the essential workings of democracy are corrupt, that made-up claims of fraud are true, that only cheating can thwart their victory at the polls, that tyranny has usurped their government, and that violence is a legitimate response.”

TRUMP’S NEXT COUP HAS ALREADY BEGUN

“This is why I remain in a near constant state of depression,” a close friend told me when we talked about this on Sunday.

As a news guy, it’s harder for me to take a break than most. But as a human man dedicated to living a low carbon footprint life in the woods for the most part, I find ways by turning the WiFi hotspot and the TV off.

I hope you can find a way to take a break this month, spend some quality time with family and friends. Get some sleep, more than usual. That’s what I do. I tend to sleep a lot in the wintertime, going to bed earlier because it gets dark so early, and sleeping late whenever I can.

I hope you all find a way. We have much work to do next year to save democracy and the planet. Everyone needs to be rested up and ready to go.

___

If you support truth in reporting with no paywall, and fearless writing with no popup ads or sponsored content, consider making a contribution today with GoFundMe or Patreon or PayPal.