Snark Infested Waters

Woe is us! It does seem that all hell has finally broken loose and there’s not much we can do about most of it, except carry on.

It feels like living in a salad, constantly tossing: this pops, then that pops, then another thing, never ending popping. A virus, tremendous loss, maybe war, protests of all kinds (hey, what’s not to protest), all bad for business, etc. I know you know the list.

It makes sense that we are short-tempered, it’s so stressful. Social media set the precedent of behaviour years of ago saying horrible things to people they know, and to complete strangers. It’s mean. What’s to be gained? Only misery from what I can see. But it is easier to be mean than it is to be kind. Kindness takes willingness and some presence of mind. There’s also strength of character needed so you’re not blowing you stack all the time. It’s bad for your health too. I feel bad just writing about it.

Yet in the midst of this we have seen many kindnesses, right along side of the strain. Borrowing from our indigenous citizens, here’s a little story. A child is speaking to an elder about a dilemma, not knowing what to do. The elder says, “We all have two wolves within us, a good wolf and a bad wolf, and sometimes they fight”. The child asks, “which one wins?” The elder answers saying, “The one you feed”.

Our situation is not hopeless if we look at it this way – which wolf do you want to feed?