Crabs in a bucket.
Rats in a maze.
We encounter struggles in our lives, uncertain times, hardships, sickness, death, war, and we do one of two things; we either band together and endure, or we break down into ineffective individual units and we multiply the problem with infighting.
Look around. You can see it now. “The Division”, is the media soundbite, like it’s another shitty Netflix series. Without a doubt we are fragmented as a society. Our racial, social, regional, economic, and even our sexual differences have been weaponized against us by a regime desperate to hold on to power. Unity is problematic. Not only is it problematic, it’s highly unusual and unlikely in a free society. We naturally break into enclaves of like and like. “Same, same.” I’ve heard the Japanese say. If “Unity” is not our natural state, then what is?
Traditionally, human beings break down into tribes. Of course, historically, region, race, and culture would have denominated this. These days it seems we break down along the lines of like Values. It’s interesting to see.
The idea that we are “divided” may not be accurate in the way we think about it. While previously held socio-economic lines grouped us into class by race and wealth, in the growing uncertainty that is today’s world, there are new cultural lines being drawn around what values people hold. While the old world passes away, a new world begins to form, for good on ill.
There will always be people looking to destroy. They will scream that the sky is falling and that “The End is nigh!” Then, there are those who quietly assess their situation and begin to go to work fixing things. “Room on Fire” is about just that. It is the decision of the individual whether they will look at the world around them and decide to retreat into their shell, lashing out at anything and everything that they perceive as a threat, or will the choose to work inside of a community to build, to preserve, and to even exploit the instability to make life better for themselves and those they have chosen as their community.
Do we see walls, or do we see potential doors and windows? Anything is possible with properly applied energy.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Be safe.
Be well.
Much Love.
-DJR
