Fog

The day is grey, the skies cannot be seen because of the fog cover that San Francisco is so well known to host as we approach summer.  The temperature has hit 53 degrees fahrenheit and the thickness of the air makes one naturally breathe a little more shallow.  Today is Friday.

There is physical fog.  There is brain fog.  There is the fog that covers one’s heart and soul when things go sideways, and by definition conditions are unexpected and often unwelcome.  One can say there is collective fogginess watching our elected leaders who tend to complicate life and society so much more than needed. Without the complexities, there might be little purpose for the systems we have created.

The basics:  people need food and shelter.   Then they need a way to see meaning in daily living (without this, the fog can really set in!).  Beyond that, human beings need their spirits to return to  a place of seeing the essential in caring for one another - and not just in material ways.  Sometimes in holding space for silence.  Sometimes in a look that conveys true compassion.  Sometimes a smile (as in the song and greeting of the flight attendant last night, who sang the Temptations song "My Girl" as we landed, "I got sunshine on a cloudy day.  When it's cold outside, I got the month of May..."

The news of the day blares out conflict between countries, between leaders in business and politics, between communities organized for change and those who sit in decision-making positions with only partial authority to respond to the needs being shared.  Everything is driven by every player believing they are doing their best to improve lives, deliver justice, ensure access and equity. Then, the reality hits and the common answer as things get mired:  “It’s complicated.”

Yes it is.  And we are intelligent enough to work it out.  But in every situation - it is people.  Individuals, not movements of people or the ubiquitous reference, "the community".  It is individuals.  Individuals who don’t have the ability to upset the existing frameworks of politics and business.  Individuals who fear losing their power.  Individuals who fear the opportunity to see how they will do in going into the unknown by finding a way to both honor the past and move into the future. And the fog sets in.

Watching out the window, the fog blocks the sun from coming through.  It hovers and erases the skyline that only yesterday was clearly visible in the night.  The fog has its own quality of air becoming tangible through the moisture it brings.  It is also, as many have recently learned, a source of relief for times of drought if the fog-catching nets are up to gather precious water from the air.  We need more fog catchers in the form of individuals who want to go into the unknown, and stand amidst the grey, thick cover, capturing the moisture that can save us from the drought of not caring, not seeing, not making space for us to see the whole scene.

Again, nature has something to teach.  Hopefully, the lesson can cut through the fog and we can see our way to what really matters in living as a human being today.