BY FATHER THEOPHAN MACKEY
Los Alamos
There are a lot of people excited about the results of recent elections and a good number of people disappointed. There is also a level of uncertainty in both groups about what the political future holds. We’re all waiting to see what happens next. Will there be a measured and thoughtful agenda put forward or will it all devolve into the normal political infighting that so often plagues our public life?
Whether or not you are pleased with the results of last Tuesday, the future of American political life is still up in the air.
The big stuff always seems a bit out of our control. And sometimes more than a bit.
It is easy to give in to the feeling of powerlessness, and sink into bitterness, or, God forbid, despair.
Often (and more often during election cycles) people will come to me with these feelings. “What is to be done?” Or more specifically, “What can I do?” It is difficult in the face of complex, big picture problems, to think that we can do anything. Yes, we vote. We may protest or call our representatives. But, as useful as those things are, they don’t feel like we are doing much of anything.
When I am approached as a priest with those questions, I have two related pieces of advice:
First, lengthen your perspective. For those of the Christian faith, this can include eternity. For all of us, though, we can take a step back and look at the larger trends of our civilization. If we do, we will see that, in opposition to the message of news outlets, the world is in better shape according to almost any metric you would want to use. Death by war, starvation, and infant mortality are lower than they ever historically have been. Even the American prison population is declining rapidly.
If we only look at the current snapshot of American political reality, we may miss all the good that is happening.
The second, related piece of advice is the inverse of the first. Shrink your focus. Concentrate on things that you can really control or influence. The only thing we can truly control is ourselves. Most of us can only influence our families and the people around us.
Whatever political stripe we are, we love our country, our state, our town, our faith community, and our family. Not because they are perfect, or the best, or even good, necessarily, but because they are ours. And that love allows us to be honest about what is good and what is bad. And it should give us the motivation to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing… at least make them better.
We can and should do good things here and now in our locality.
That brings me to my point. A dedicated group of people here in Los Alamos has begun organizing Macrina’s House. The sole purpose of Macrina’s House is to found and operate a domestic violence shelter here in our hometown. It has been a registered non-profit 501(c)3 organization since 2020.
The Los Alamos County domestic violence advocate gets, on average, two calls a week from a woman in crisis, in distress, and under the threat of or victim of violence.
We have seen a need that can be addressed, a problem that can be solved. We need more people that are willing to do something about this evil consistently present in our society.
If we let go of the things that we cannot do anything about and keep things in a healthy perspective, even under the worst circumstances, we can find peace. That peace can bring clarity, that avoids both despair or blind optimism. That place of peace is the perfect launching point for action.
Please join me and Macrina’s House to do all the good that we can do, and make our home a better and safer place.
If you are in, if you want to do something good for Los Alamos, for those under threat or in crisis, here it is:
Please contact us at macrinashouse@gmail.com or donate through PayPal with the same email address.