Recently, I have been longing for a period of relief in the news. That is, news absent from major events and catastrophes that shake the world. This time of the year is, after all, the "silly season," "the slow news season," when traditionally there is nothing to report and newspapers scratch around for some minor tidbit to inflate into a story. Not so this year. It's not quite the case, but feels like the case, that each day has some horror, disaster, or event that threatens world peace. In the week just passed we witnessed the murder of scores of people in Nice and the attempted military coup in Turkey, with hundreds more killed. A joyful celebration turned into a bloodbath; a democratic and wannabe European nation shaken to its core. Both events were brought to us, courtesy of social media, in real time. As Guardian columnist Emily Bell said today, "We the audience, nearly all who click, are walked through the trail of mangled and broken bodies on the promenade in Nice, before the ambulances arrive." Following both events commentators, pundits and politicians vie with each other to present solutions—often leaning toward, and giving credence to the far right. For me, it's all too reminiscent of the 1930s—economic strain, violence, nationalism, scape-goating the Other, a call for a strong leader who will fix things, and the seeming inevitable rise of fascism. I want dearly to be proved wrong. I hope that we have learned something from the twentieth century, and avoid repeating its disastrous mistakes.Perhaps, the best thing to do is take a step backward for a needed breather. "Steady the Buffs!" comes to mind, a phrase made popular by Rudyard Kipling in his story "Soldier's Three." It means, more or less, "stay calm, don't panic, don't rush to act rashly." It derives from the British Army Royal East Kent Regiment, nicknamed "The Buffs" because of the buff, off-yellow, facing to their early uniforms. "Steady the Buffs" was a phase used, apparently, by Lieutenant John Cotter in Malta on the parade ground in 1858. It entered popular parlance, though I daresay it's one of those whimsical phrases that will soon pass from the language.
We need something like "steady the Buffs" right now as we face the changes and challenges that amplify the fragility of life, and make us more fearful than we were yesterday.
Ignorance is bliss, so they say, and we might be better off left in the dark. If we didn't know about Nice, or Turkey, or Baghdad, or ISIS, or the rise of fascism, we might sleep better. Writing in my beautiful garden, in the sunshine of a seemingly endless summer (NY is in drought), all of that seems far away, somehow unreal. But that is not the world in which we live. We can't put the paste of 24/7 news, streaming media, and instant notifications back in the tube. It's out there, and we are part of it. The world has never been more interconnected. Murders in Nice affect people in upstate NY. A coup in Turkey threatens the world economy.
An event happens. We want to respond, we need to act, we must do something, anything at all to make us feel better.
"Steady the Buffs!"
In the Daodejing the sage tells us, "The Master does nothing, yet he leaves nothing undone. The ordinary man is always doing things, yet many are left to be done." Wu wei—action though non action. Don't rush in. Don't do something just for the sake of action. Wait. Be still. Know with the Sufis that "this too shall pass."
"Steady the Buffs!"
+Ab Andy