Tag Archives: Jan Wilberg

Sunrise in America

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This short comment on the election by Jan Wilberg on Red’s Wrap sums up so well the current state of the nation that I had to share it.

Jan Wilberg's avatarRed's Wrap

We have been saved. By ourselves.

Maybe that’s all I need to say. But it feels like I need to say more.

We are changed by what has happened in our country. There are fine parts of us that have been worn away by the steady rasp of cruelty. We felt this happening. It was searing and painful at first, but soon we became numb, and then we were surprised to look at ourselves and see the fine parts gone.

There has been damage done, not just to us as a people, but to us as people. Each of us.

But there’s also been muscle built where before there was weakness. Millions of people, exhausted but made stronger by treading water in the bottomless, terrifying ocean of our country, found their way on to the life raft of the election.

Seventy-four million of us. We saved ourselves. We saved the…

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“On Doing What’s Normal When Things Turn to Shit” (Red’s Wrap reblog)

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“Normal has an extraordinary glow of comfort when things are turning to shit. Normal is your mother’s hand on your cheek. Normal is the blanket of your youth pulled up to your neck, your head deep in billowy pillows that only this morning seemed due for replacement. Normal is precious, rich, unique, a reward for suffering long or short.

When something terrible happens, we want normal. It might be just one fine thing that is normal while all around cascades terrible, freakish, unbelievable things but if this one normal thing can occur, then we can settle down, rest, and stop careening around, a BB in a bare room.

This morning’s paper detailed the criticism aimed at President Obama for going about his normal schedule in light of the plane shot down over Ukraine and the ever-ratcheted up conflict between Israel and Palestine. He should be at the White House, act like a Commander in Chief…”

This is an excerpt from an excellent excellent piece about how to combat the manifold ills of the world by stubbornly exercising normalcy.  Will Durant has made the same argument, but this modern day consideration of the matter is succinctly and intelligently written by Jan Wilberg, as is the norm in her award-winning blog, Red’s Wrap.  To read the entire essay, go HERE.  While you are there, you might as well “follow” her.  You won’t be sorry.