The daily liturgy of conversation for our generation is rooted in a familiar fatigue. We are the insecure survivors of a pandemic who find ourselves amidst a hiring freeze in a hypercompetitive job market. Repeat rants of late-stage capitalism. We find ourselves longing for the smallest comforts, and even they seem out of reach. The reality we face reminds me of the twitching, restless spasms of a dying animal. We speak bitterly, perhaps too casually, about how everything has spiraled into chaos: the economy, politics, human relationships, the world itself has “gone to shit.” The stress, the overstimulation, the feeling that this is a ridiculous generation to be born into, the most absurd time in history to attempt to survive. We find ourselves dreaming not of success or happiness, but just of peace.
This chaos is the central fact of our time. As we’ve crept into adulthood, chaos has appeared more and more frequently, each time a little less shocking. It soon becomes not just a visitor, but the tenant. It is in all our endevours, in all our relationships and ambitions. We pursue chaos and we are pursued by chaos – our lives are defined by our relationship to it.
But chaos, this expense of peace, is also the source of peace’s true indulgence. After all, is there any point to savoring peace today if you assume peace will always be available tomorrow? Can you have any peace today if you don’t face the fact that chaos might be necessary tomorrow?
Chaos – the wellspring of life! It sounds ridiculous, but, has any generation in history pursued the simple joys of life with more intensity and fervour? Remember the excitement brewing weeks before the first sunny day of March. The sweet intoxitating joy of simply walking, sitting, and talking under the sun. The gleeful delight of clutching a frozen pizza on the way home, a promise of comfort. The exhilarating thrill of a perfect karaoked song, start to finish. The short happy friendships we bask in as we acquaint ourselves with a new town. The life in our time is tragic and beautiful, vivid and brief, there, and soon, not to be there. Chaos sharpens that realization, it deepens our gratitude, and magnifies each passing joy. Look into your own life, and if you can, into the lives of others. Is it not so?
The daily liturgy of conversation for our generation is rooted in a familiar fatigue. We are the insecure survivors of a pandemic who find ourselves amidst a hiring freeze in a hypercompetitive job market. Repeat rants of late-stage capitalism. We find ourselves longing for the smallest comforts, and even they seem out of reach. The reality we face reminds me of the twitching, restless spasms of a dying animal. We speak bitterly, perhaps too casually, about how everything has spiraled into chaos: the economy, politics, human relationships, the world itself has “gone to shit.” The stress, the overstimulation, the feeling that this is a ridiculous generation to be born into, the most absurd time in history to attempt to survive. We find ourselves dreaming not of success or happiness, but just of peace.
This chaos is the central fact of our time. As we’ve crept into adulthood, chaos has appeared more and more frequently, each time a little less shocking. It soon becomes not just a visitor, but the tenant. It is in all our endevours, in all our relationships and ambitions. We pursue chaos and we are pursued by chaos – our lives are defined by our relationship to it.
But chaos, this expense of peace, is also the source of peace’s true indulgence. After all, is there any point to savoring peace today if you assume peace will always be available tomorrow? Can you have any peace today if you don’t face the fact that chaos might be necessary tomorrow?
Chaos – the wellspring of life! It sounds ridiculous, but, has any generation in history pursued the simple joys of life with more intensity and fervour? Remember the excitement brewing weeks before the first sunny day of March. The sweet intoxitating joy of simply walking, sitting, and talking under the sun. The gleeful delight of clutching a frozen pizza on the way home, a promise of comfort. The exhilarating thrill of a perfect karaoked song, start to finish. The short happy friendships we bask in as we acquaint ourselves with a new town. The life in our time is tragic and beautiful, vivid and brief, there, and soon, not to be there. Chaos sharpens that realization, it deepens our gratitude, and magnifies each passing joy. Look into your own life, and if you can, into the lives of others. Is it not so?
