A Year That Taught Us The Meaning of Fragility: The Lesson 2018 is Trying to Teach Us

https://eand.co/a-year-that-taught-us-the-meaning-of-fragility-7067876fd36d

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The word I’d use to sum up the year is fragility. The first one, anyways. (Medium’s doing a series on one word you’d use to sum up the year. It’s a fabulous thing, full of all kinds of clever and witty and interesting insights. Such a good idea, in fact, that I thought I’d take a stab — or a couple of them.)

This year, we found out how fragile democracy really is. In 2017, few would have predicted what was to come — authoritarianism, fascism, supremacism, meltdown. Kavanaugh, Trumpsim, neo-Nazis in the Bundestag, and so forth. And those that did use all those words were roundly laughed at, scorned, mocked, ignored (oh, hi.) It’s understandable — nobody, as Monty Python once famously remarked, expects the Inquisition. Nobody expects their world, their country, their society, to suddenly implode into white supremacists in the White House. And yet there we were.

In 2018, all the things that the wise men laughed at and said were impossible — “LOL, forget it!! It’s not like they’re going to turn into fascists!! Grow up!!” — came true, with a sudden fury, a terrible vengeance, a shattering swiftness. All of a sudden, authoritarianism, fascism, supremacism, corrosion and hate and spite and violence — these weren’t the things of hyperbole. They were proudly marching right before our eyes, issuing statements from the Oval Office, appearing every night on CNN. They were building concentration camps, trying little kids, separating families — happening faster than we could understand or make sense or fight. The stuff we were told to dismiss fantasy as had become, impossibly, razor sharp reality, seemingly overnight. Snap. Fragility. Our worlds cracked apart, just like mirrors shattering. Why was that?

We found out how fragile civilization really is, too. The fissure of democracy becomes a crack in running through the heart of civilization. We were reminded how much we must treasure — and really defend — the ideals of nobility, truth, equality, freedom, justice. That they are not just idle words for the speeches of statesmen — but something we enact, hold close, give, share, create collectively, in our every word, thought, action, movement — or don’t. And so all those must be wise and graceful and courageous things, too.

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https://eand.co/a-year-that-taught-us-the-meaning-of-fragility-7067876fd36d