Nothing Can Be Done

2-18-18 Nothing Can Be Done

It has been a rough few days in that there was another mass shooting in a school in Florida. This takes a lot of psychological energy as one reacts to the brutality and futility of the act. There has been a lot of public debate too. The decision will probably have to be resolved by the gun owners at least in their willingness to work toward a solution.

I started a drawing with the words: Nothing Can Be Done. This seems to be the general do-nothing attitude for many problems.  It can feel that nothing can be done, but it can also be an excuse for doing nothing and buying some time in order to keep everything the same until the next disaster.

In the drawing, there is a giant hole into which people are falling.  The hole can stand for whatever problem they happen to encounter. I’m thinking of the shootings, but also drugs, domestic violence, climate change, economic hardships, ect. Some people seem to be trying to help, but may be in danger of being pulled in.  Others could have avoided the hole – walked around it possibly.  It’s not apparent why anyone would fall in, but they have.  The people who are holding the sign, Nothing Can Be Done, don’t seem too concerned, maybe alarmed, but not willing to help.

The question remains why humanity gets into these predicaments, despite previous experiences.  Sometimes the situation seems new, but certainly predictable if people are looking.  It would seem that an alarm sounded would bring results. It’s as if we don’t trust our ability to create solutions. We may jump out of the way if the danger is immediate, but often we aren’t proactive even if we have time to avoid a problem.  There is the tendency to endure a bad situation, hoping that it won’t happen again, but then it does and we are still there hoping it won’t happen again, and again. (It has been 20 years since Columbine- the first mass school shooting). Sometimes we see the danger and take action, but often we just let it happen again.

That seems to be what is happening now.  For a while, we were in shock and denial, but now it seems we can see the pattern as it is happening regularly. We don’t know where the next one will be, but we know that it can happen again. 

6-22-18 Nothing Can Be Done (again)

So much of my writing is about self-concern, insecurity, identity, and uncertainty of action within the social order. It’s tiring to always be in this place and disappointing to read through journals and see the writing reflecting this as an ongoing position. One thinks that this way of being should have been transcended, one should have grown beyond this, matured if not in circumstance then in attitude.

It is as if there is no change in the state of mind, just a reformulation of the complaints, the fear and the uncertainty.

It reminds me of the drawing, Nothing Can Be Done, which was a reaction and reflection on the human tendency to repeat the same disasters over and over, despite what we have seen and experienced. We’re always falling into the same holes we’ve made for ourselves.

There is another drawing done years ago called, What Happens if We Don’t Look?, which again is about falling into holes because we refuse to look, our eyes covered. There is a desire not to be disturbed by what we see or could see. But the other drawing, Nothing Can Be Done, suggests that we are creating the conditions and then falling into the trap of our own making.

This has been the frustration that I have felt lately, that I have created my own trap through the desire to do something that had certain rewards, but also obvious negative consequences that I didn’t want to see or believe. It is as if I have fallen into that trap of my own making and now I want to get out, but am not sure how to. There is also the tendency to say that one doesn’t know if there is anything outside of the hole and then, of course, the motivation is not great to get out. Why not just stay in the hole where one is familiar with the surroundings?

There is a projection that nothing can be done and so one stays.  If one says that it’s not true, something can be done, then it takes a step outside of the known to see what might happen instead.

There is fear that one may be left with what one was avoiding in the first place – a shallow, limited life, full of drudgery and obligations and tradition. But one finds the trap also shallow and limited, repetitive and restricted, and there may come a time when one is willing to take a chance and the first step out will be taken.