Jenna, thank you for sharing this thoughtful piece. What resonates most is your call to "refuse to participate in the hysteria" - a reminder that we can choose how we engage with the world rather than being swept along by polarized narratives. The image of you on that hilltop, seeing "the past meet the future," captures that moment of clarity we all seek.
Didion's observation about how "everything was understood to have some moral freight" in the '60s feels eerily relevant today, when everyday choices seem politically charged. Your piece reminds me to distinguish between meaningful values and mere symbolic allegiances.
I find myself wondering: How do we maintain self-respect and character while navigating these divisive times? How do we, as you put it, "live in the world" without being defined by its hysteria? These questions feel increasingly urgent, and I appreciate your thoughtful exploration of them.
Looking forward to Part II and hearing more about how you're finding sanity in what often feels like an insane world.
Jenna, I like this struggle to sort through (sort of), and either get past, get through, or just be in the present with the world. I have some questions, but I always have more questions. Nothing big. This is essential thinking. I have great admiration for you.
Every generation reconfigures the past values to suit their hopes for a more pleasurable future. Each of us has developed a list of should’tdos and neverdos based on what is acceptable because we want to belong.
All of that has gone. People now do whatever they want, regardless of consequences. Perhaps the internet has reconfigured society and eliminated social values - it’s ok to destroy cars of strangers, give $100,000’s to a stranger who murdered a healthcare insurance executive, prevent Jewish students from attending class while celebrating the massacre of people while they slept.
The belonging part has overcome any semblance of objective moral standards, I think? Where celebrity and fame are on the opposite side of complacency and entertainment. "Amusing Ourselves to Death" as Neil Postman argued. But we're hystericalizing(?) ourselves to death, too. The internet/information age has supplanted character and principle and responsibility for ourselves and our families. People grasping for meaning in tribal belonging but the tribe has no values. I don't know. You've given me a lot to think about.
This is compelling writing. I was struck by the view from the hill of endless sky and how it could make any of us, depending on our state of mind, think that we are small and insignificant or that the world is large and magnificent.
I am a person who is unsettled by rapid and sudden change. And rapid and sudden change seems to be happening. So I hold on to long lived relationships and small acts of kindness and the life of my mind.
I've quoted this recently but I'll quote it again: "I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space were it not I have bad dreams."
This is thoughtful, wise advice. You get at what I try to convey and part of the transformative experience that comes with humbling oneself (myself!) through a kind of epiphany -- the compliment to one I wrote about before -- that we all have a choice in how we live our lives and participate in the world, not just a lawn sign or words or symbols. And we don't have to be swept up in the hysteria political or otherwise despite what many people try to tell us. Thank you for sharing your observations and generous words. I genuinely appreciate it.
"innocence ends when one is stripped of the delusion that one likes oneself" really does not make any sense. I like myself and I have never been stripped of that, delusion or not. It's a dirty job but someone has to do it. Might as well be me. As for the 60s "when everything was understood to have some moral freight," quite the opposite was true. The disruption of social norms created a relativist nightmare where very little, given the US as a purveyor of state murder (millions in Vietnam) was fixed in moral space. It also proved to many of us that "moral freight" was never quantifiable; many respectable citizens thought it was ok to slaughter foreign people of color. So morally we were unmoored, floating without an anchor, in the way which led us to today.
Wonderfully honest and reflective piece of writing, Jenna. Good job.
This means the world to me, Jeff. Thank you.
Jenna, thank you for sharing this thoughtful piece. What resonates most is your call to "refuse to participate in the hysteria" - a reminder that we can choose how we engage with the world rather than being swept along by polarized narratives. The image of you on that hilltop, seeing "the past meet the future," captures that moment of clarity we all seek.
Didion's observation about how "everything was understood to have some moral freight" in the '60s feels eerily relevant today, when everyday choices seem politically charged. Your piece reminds me to distinguish between meaningful values and mere symbolic allegiances.
I find myself wondering: How do we maintain self-respect and character while navigating these divisive times? How do we, as you put it, "live in the world" without being defined by its hysteria? These questions feel increasingly urgent, and I appreciate your thoughtful exploration of them.
Looking forward to Part II and hearing more about how you're finding sanity in what often feels like an insane world.
Thank you, Mark. I think Part II might be the end of all this. You are a kind, generous soul.
Jenna, I like this struggle to sort through (sort of), and either get past, get through, or just be in the present with the world. I have some questions, but I always have more questions. Nothing big. This is essential thinking. I have great admiration for you.
The questions, yes. If you have any answers, please share them with me.
“Refuse to participate in the hysteria.” Great advice in any era, particularly so in the present one.
I'm thinking of putting it on a t-shirt. Thank you for reading, Will!
Every generation reconfigures the past values to suit their hopes for a more pleasurable future. Each of us has developed a list of should’tdos and neverdos based on what is acceptable because we want to belong.
All of that has gone. People now do whatever they want, regardless of consequences. Perhaps the internet has reconfigured society and eliminated social values - it’s ok to destroy cars of strangers, give $100,000’s to a stranger who murdered a healthcare insurance executive, prevent Jewish students from attending class while celebrating the massacre of people while they slept.
The center may not hold.
.
The belonging part has overcome any semblance of objective moral standards, I think? Where celebrity and fame are on the opposite side of complacency and entertainment. "Amusing Ourselves to Death" as Neil Postman argued. But we're hystericalizing(?) ourselves to death, too. The internet/information age has supplanted character and principle and responsibility for ourselves and our families. People grasping for meaning in tribal belonging but the tribe has no values. I don't know. You've given me a lot to think about.
This is compelling writing. I was struck by the view from the hill of endless sky and how it could make any of us, depending on our state of mind, think that we are small and insignificant or that the world is large and magnificent.
I am a person who is unsettled by rapid and sudden change. And rapid and sudden change seems to be happening. So I hold on to long lived relationships and small acts of kindness and the life of my mind.
I've quoted this recently but I'll quote it again: "I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space were it not I have bad dreams."
Recently I've had too many bad dreams!
This is thoughtful, wise advice. You get at what I try to convey and part of the transformative experience that comes with humbling oneself (myself!) through a kind of epiphany -- the compliment to one I wrote about before -- that we all have a choice in how we live our lives and participate in the world, not just a lawn sign or words or symbols. And we don't have to be swept up in the hysteria political or otherwise despite what many people try to tell us. Thank you for sharing your observations and generous words. I genuinely appreciate it.
Good writing always starts with sound thinking. Thanks
That is very wise advise.
Well, your prose is very compelling
"innocence ends when one is stripped of the delusion that one likes oneself" really does not make any sense. I like myself and I have never been stripped of that, delusion or not. It's a dirty job but someone has to do it. Might as well be me. As for the 60s "when everything was understood to have some moral freight," quite the opposite was true. The disruption of social norms created a relativist nightmare where very little, given the US as a purveyor of state murder (millions in Vietnam) was fixed in moral space. It also proved to many of us that "moral freight" was never quantifiable; many respectable citizens thought it was ok to slaughter foreign people of color. So morally we were unmoored, floating without an anchor, in the way which led us to today.
Yes. "The disruption of social norms created a relativist nightmare." You're right.