Stand up. Dismiss. Be Patient. -

The world seems to have gone mad. Anger is everywhere. Reason has taken a vacation. Neighbors scowl at one another, family members glare over the dinner table, friends disappear as events of the day spiral even further out of control. What can we do? We boomers who have lived lives of hard work, worry, duty and responsibility? How can we keep peace around us, and somehow, peace within our hearts when we see so many things we fought for falling by the side of the road?

There’s so much that can be said. Yet it feels like too much has been said already. Maybe it’s time to be still enough to hear the peace that can be found if we search hard enough. And if peace really does begin with each of us, take a new look at Walt Whitman and his words. Soothing. Encouraging. And forceful.

Hear what he has to say:

“This is what you shall do:

Love the earth and the sun and the animals

despise riches, give alms to every one that asks

stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others

hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people

take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men

go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families

read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life,

re-examine all that you have been told at school or church or in any book

dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes

and in every motion and joint of your body.”

Dismiss what insults you. Hold fast to your heart. Reach out to those with less.

Walt had the idea.

Like Lieutenant Dan in Forest Gump, we can hold tight to the mast…the winds can only blow so long. Meanness, evil and lack of justice will, like any noxious weed, eventually wither and disappear.

And in their place, new life can grow.