A man was telling how, a century ago, his father sought 20 acres in the middle of rural Pennsylvania so he could raise his children away from “the mean streets of Huntingdon.” (Huntingdon has a current population of 7,000. The word “mean” seemed hilarious, and I hope it referred to raccoons.)

Also, recently, a young couple near me was speculating about the best place to raise their toddler. Should you isolate them from exposure to harsh realities, or coach them through? That is, how do you teach children about “reality,” and also instill in them HOPE and JOY, and keep them safe?

This is playing into my feeling that our society has turned mean in the last two years. Yes, hate and meanness are being modelled by our leaders on a daily basis. And it is expressed by random “haters,” also on a daily basis, who are killing Muslim children in the formerly-safe suburbs or plowing their cars into crowds or blowing themselves up in popular cafes. Or posting vicious—the worst--things you could say, in great numbers, on social media.

We are hearing that some things we held precious are going to be destroyed: national parks, spiritual places on Indian reservations, whales and dolphins, and clean drinking water. Dog fighting is okay again. It’s okay to say you love dog fighting. BRUTES and BULLIES are in!

Yes, I think we have entered a dark age. And I believe we will come out of it.

But meanwhile, there is period (one year, a decade?) of visible evil and suffering. And yes, a democratic society voted for a leader who is bringing this catastrophe, possibly because they felt so hopeless already that they wanted the whole country to get blown up and suffer along with them. We are headed to be like the banana republics in South America, where the rich live in gated communities and drive from house to rich play-grounds in black-tinted limousines. Like Africa, where septuagenarians suck all the money out of the population, sock it into foreign bank accounts, and turn away from refugee camps full of starving, sick people (who comprise most of their society).

Yes, there are thinkers who say Africa will be saved by the youth, who will rise up and take power back.

Who will save us? Will there be enough leaders and activists to put jobs, health care, money and opportunity back into the hands of the majority of the population? Undo the “wired” capitalist systems that let billionaires avoid taxes, export jobs, exploit workers, make higher education exclusive again, and disdain charity? It doesn’t look like our elected leaders are willing to fix this. Those in power have reached levels of corruption and sell-out formerly seen in other countries.

While the pendulum swings between horrible and okay, in our daily political life, we have to find redeeming hope and joy, and not succumb to hopelessness and anger. Be more kind than we’ve ever been. Help others as much as we can. Random acts of kindness, tolerance, respect, and appreciation. Materially, most of us still live better than most of the world.

I am compartmentalizing. Most of my day, I try to behave like my best self, the person I would want to be in a good, spiritually ideal society. The kids need to witness decency and respect. People around us will see that and we can lift each other. But during other moments of the day, I am angry, incensed. Depressed, hopeless about the good things I value: equal rights, support for the weak and sick, equal opportunity. Social justice. We need to keep acting, and voting, for the values we hold.
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Thanks to all the people who are RESISTING the transgressions against democracy, against civil rights, against charity and giving, and respect. I think we will prevail. I am sorry we could not take it for granted, and the election swung us into a dark age, making it hard work again. 

Jeff’s grandchildren brought masks to our Seder, representing the ten plagues of Egypt. There was a set of finger puppets too.

According to the Book of Exodus, there were ten calamities threatened or inflicted by the God of Israel on the Egyptian Pharaoh, to persuade him to release the Israelites from slavery. It worked. The Pharaoh let these people go, and their exodus began.

Whether you think they are figurative or actual, the story is great. They are mostly “natural” disasters:

• water is turned into blood,
• hordes of frogs are unleashed,
• all the dust in the air becomes lice,
• swarms of flies attack people and livestock,
• horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep goats, and even cats belonging to Egyptians are diseased,
• Egyptian men and their animals are covered with boils,
• there is a thunderstorm of hail and fire,
• a swarm of locusts consumes all the farm plants,
• the sky goes dark for three days shutting everything down,
• and the firstborn of the Egyptians are going to die.

I thought the masks were hilarious. I’m not Jewish and did not grow up with an annual recitation of the plagues. The stories are High Drama. Magnificent, Unimaginable Curses.

Of course the calamities are commensurate with the suffering of the Israelites, the slaves.

The pageant of this brings to mind Chinese New Year’s dragons and Tibetan demons: personifications of evil that become fodder for colorful festivals. Yes, the root story is frightful, sad, devastating. But the memorial can be fun.

Meanwhile, I thought: what are the plagues of our age? More precisely, what plagues has MANKIND WROUGHT on this Earth?

• Pollution (rivers, oceans, our garbage)
• Over-killing of edible animal life (fish)
• De-forestation and destruction of eco-systems needed by other species (reindeer, extinct species)
• Long-term poison in the form of pesticides and radioactive waste
• Hunting giant, noble animals so we can harvest one tiny piece of them (ivory, horns, shark fins)
• Subjecting sentient animals to experiments for their entire lives, for our cosmetics!
• Keeping sentient animals in captivity and confinement for our amusement or as slaves (zoos, circus)

I’ll call these the SEVEN HUMAN PLAGUES. If Mother Nature could speak: Stop destroying me and mine.

My wish: this becomes a theme for murals all over the world. Somebody holds a contest and comes up with a colorful template that children can execute on any sizeable wall.
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Also, somebody hold a contest for a set of masks and a set of costumes that can be hauled out for festivals (Earth Day?), to raise awareness of our need to STOP IT.

Update: The fundraising has begun, in order to organize a contest. PLEASE DONATE, so we can hold the contest. See https://www.generosity.com/community-fundraising/the-7-plagues-mural-contest

                When people recall a near-death experience, they often report that they experienced a “life review” that comes to them in nearly an instant and is like a video of major events of their life. Some of the events are surprising, seemingly trivial, and long forgotten: the time you shared your bike as a kid, or the time you took food to a neighbor when they were sick. The events are significant in revealing your character (morals) or a pivot point in the making of YOU.

                I say the events usually have a “moral” dimension because I believe in karma, and I think this review is summarizing choices you made or things that happened to you that were key elements in the challenges you were incarnated to meet.

                Some who believe in reincarnation say that when your soul is between lives, it “chooses” the next life for certain challenges. Will you be a rich and corrupt person, a victim of violence, a severely disabled person, a bland person whose inner dreams are foiled? (The goal of every life is to “grow your soul.” Level of difficulty can be easy or hard.)

                When we write fiction, we try to introduce, into our main character’s story, something called a plot point. Usually there are only two major plot points in a play or a novel, with a few “pinch points.” A major plot point is a significant event that spins the action around in another direction. (See Larry Brooks’ Story Physics.) Brooks says that, in a novel, “something enters the story in a manner that affects and alters the hero’s status, plans, and beliefs, forcing him to take action.” It “raises the stakes” in the story and usually involves conflict. Plot points are challenges the writer made up to make the story interesting.

                In fact, I think the key to creating a fictional story is inventing or conceiving a few plot points or pivot points that fascinate you and reveal a character’s deeper identity and struggles. Something HAPPENS, in the course of a story; there’s a change. Someone falls in love and is transformed. Someone is murdered and the detective pursues the murderer. A kid rises from poverty and discovers a magnificent drug.

                Every one of us has a story, a life story. People who write their memoirs are mining their lives for significant events. Things that “shaped their lives,” “made them who they are,” “became their identity.”

                A therapist may ask you, “name a few adjectives that describe you,” or “name some of your failings.” And behind those are probably a story: why you think you were “made”  Strong. Sweet. Mean. Kind. Boring. Dynamic. Sad.

                Catherine Bateson, the daughter of Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, wrote a memoir called Composing a Life. She was capturing the idea that we make our lives, either through reacting to what happens, or working to have things turn out a certain way.

                What is your life story? If you were a character in a novel, how would you describe you? What are some of your “plot points?” How do you want the rest of the story to go? What are your big themes?

                Recently a friend told me about a person in her life who caused her extreme, constant distress. (She is seeing a therapist.) Since she’s a writer, I suggested that she write a short narrative about “my life without this person in it.” How would you be different if you could change a giant negative element in your emotional life? (“What if…”)

                The principle is: “Live as if you are the author of the story of your life.” What kind of character are you creating? What’s happened to them? What do you want to happen next? What would you like to see in that “life review?”