While expressing anguish over the lows of the US Presidential debate, CHANA MEDDIN thanks God for all the contributions India has made to the world and her life and sees hope return with the promise of yet another new day
On September 29, the first Presidential debate took place. It degraded democracy. We’ve sunk, here in the U.S., to such a low I can barely remember how to make a cup of coffee. The rest of the world feels sorry for us. They should. We deserve every bit of the concern, worry and pity other countries express. We are 1930’s Germany, with Trump’s “Proud Boys” at the ready (as he instructed them last night, during the debate) to exert their White Supremacy throughout the land.
Anyone laughing at us is cruel. We are in trouble here and everybody I know is on edge. Americans are not enjoying good mental health. If we were actually working on site together, everyone would be gathering around the coffee maker to whisper their fear in hushed tones. How can this be America?
I don’t know. It’s smoky out again. How can this be? How can California be burning with Oregon and Washington not far behind? Those places in California were among some of the most idyllic…I always dreamed of that quintessential “cabin in the woods.” Now I imagine the dread of living that perfect life. The fear. Those living in California’s esteemed wine country interviewed on the radio yesterday are bending, if not outright breaking, from the strain.
Layer upon layer of the worst news we’ve faced since World War II greets us every day here. The coronavirus would have been enough. The lockdown and corresponding economic devastation would have been enough. Racial inequity, injustice and outpouring of protesters and subsequent violence would have been enough. Climate change with concurrent forest fires and hurricanes would have been enough. Losing Ruth Bader Ginsberg would have been enough. Flags still sit at half mast.
But now the very real threat posed by a sitting President who has the intention of remaining in office despite the ballot count…he’s already triggering a Constitutional crisis in the midst of all the other chaos. Chaos he thrives on, but that drives the rest of us to question our sanity.
It’s a good time not to be a journalist. I’d have had a nervous breakdown soon after the last election. They don’t get to come up for air as our crises have become more rapid-fire than a machine gun.
But, it’s time to meditate. To enjoy a cup of hot, spicy chai tea (wickedly laced with Starbucks instant coffee.) To meditate. Practice yoga. Take a walk. OK, scratch the walk. I still have bronchitis from the last “smoke event,” as they are being called. The sun is bright red in a sky whose colour I cannot describe. Smoky? How do we go on beneath all the smoke yoking us to the threat of democracy?
One foot at a time, I guess. One mindfulness sitting at a time. One cup of chai laced with Starbucks. Pet the cat.
Take deep breaths on and off the yoga mat. Water the plants. Propagate new ones.
Thank God for all the contributions India has made to the world and my life. If I didn’t have this wisdom…and time to enjoy it. Unimaginable.
The chai is delicious. My kitty is purring. We will survive another day here in America. Possibly, even thrive.
Hope returns with the promise of yet another new day.
Chana “Hana” Meddin is a lifelong meditator, nature photographer, artist, and wildlife advocate. She has written for the Times of India’s ‘Speaking Tree’ and has a story published in Oswald Pereira’s book, ‘How to Create Miracles in Our Daily Life.’ She lives in Seattle with her cat, Annabelle Fluff. They both enjoy yoga.
(Presidential debate pic courtesy ABC News)
Sad with what’s happening in America. Heard the debate was very poor and Trump very mean. Hope voters manage to show him the exit door.
Thank you, Nita. We would like to show him the door. He has said he won’t accept the results of the election if they are not in his favor, is the problem. Having been diagnosed with COVID-19, who knows what will happen? I pray for unity and that we remember we are all one humanity and in this together.
Yes, times, when time is not our side, it is good to meditate, make a cup of tea or coffee, gently communicate with self..and be on one’s side to thrive…All the best Chana & best wishes to me too…let me too sip my cup of tea!
Dear Baturam, wouldn’t it be lovely if we all could drink our cups of tea together and enjoy one another’s presence? Loved “gently communicate with self,” and honestly feel you’ve got it there. With ourselves and God. With that cup of tea in hand and feeling of being with our loved ones, sharing our tea from the same Divine Giving Vessel. Be well, my friend.
The deafening crescendo of klaxon political announcements. More than enough to puncture the aural psyche of AMERICA. And perhaps the rest of the world.
Simultaneously devouring and eschewing what I was hearing during the debate last night. Was it a brutal combat for political survival? True to fact, that moment dwarfed the other issues which were nevertheless became bones of contention within that nightmarish upheaval. Paranoia sat beside me as an uninvited guest to watch what was tantamount to a horror film. Touchscreen commanded such ease in navigating from NBC to CNN, then to CBS and back to where I started. Making pit stops at local channels. Aghast ? they were all the same.
Such was a futile attempt to dislodge the cacophony. Only to find myself all the more trapped. How piercing !!! How painful !!! How maddening !!!
Finding oneself at a fork, crucial decision to make… should it be XANAX or MEDITATION. Rephrase >>>> MEDICATION or MEDITATION. Orrrr both.
Knocking at all doors hoping to hear better sound bites. Anybody?
Miss MEDDIN, Yessum, heard you loud and clear.
Dear Edwin, yes, lol, it was for me pretty much as you so adroitly described the horror show of watching the debate. It was like what they say, you need to look away but just can’t. Thank you for sharing your own experiences. We need each other. And those cups of tea, deep breaths, meditation and walks to sustain us each and every day. May you find a kitty to purr in your own lap!
Be there.
Fully in silence.
This is in another way, a sacred time. A time to unite the whole world. To find minds moving in same direction- masking face, and dissolving in one ambrosia that is fear.
Everyone everywhere was clipped of one’s wings, of prosperity and material strength. A millionaire or a beggar feeling the same fear, same pain.
Chana this is a time really realizing the essence of our unity.
No one is really in charge. Trump and his wife are now in home quarentine. Modi here is perfectly on his journey to within.
The Sun, moon and rains have gone beyond human estimation. Everyone everywhere floating in uncertainty.
As you said… it is time to enjoy every little thing available near you. A cup of hot tea, a smelling wind to breath, a smoking sky or a presidential debate without clarity and substance.
Yes Chana we need to practice acceptance and get make effort to get within. With our constant prajatna that shall happen, some day sometime and that moment shall free us from all griefs, hurts and inadequecies.
Only Ananda… the prime space… the real place… reaching where is the implicit goal of life…. lives those we have already covered….
Let us try to make it happen now, in this life, in these sacred moments.
Enjoy dear friend… staying absorbed on the lap of this powerful time.
Dearest Manas, what I wouldn’t give if you would write for this site so that all readers could benefit from your mystical, poetic perspective! Everything you say is true. We are all united in this upthrust of Kali Yuga. Maybe it’s dissolution’s last big gasp before we do find ourselves, with self and collective effort, in the lap of Ananda, our one true purpose. May we all “try to make it happen now, in this life, in these sacred moments.” And may we cherish the gifts the pandemic, climate change and political turmoil bless us.