Getting to the Other Side

Androscoggin River in Maine.

One day a young Buddhist on his journey home came to the banks of a wide river. Staring hopelessly at the great obstacle in front of him, he pondered for hours on just how to cross such a wide barrier.

Just as he was about to give up his pursuit to continue his journey he saw a great teacher on the other side of the river. The young Buddhist yelled over to the teacher, “Oh wise one, can you tell me how to get to the other side of this river”?

The teacher pondered for a moment, looked up and down the river, and yelled back, “My son, you are on the other side.” 10 Short Zen Stories - Sofo Archon (edited to keep the verb tenses consistent. Sorry, former editor here.)

It’s been a helluva time in the United States ever since Trump was inaugurated 6 million years ago.

Wait. Was it only a little more than 2 weeks ago? That can’t be right.

It’s right. Jeepers crow, as we say here in Maine. Holy moly, as we say here in Maine.

Friends, I am just saying it has been a helluva time. The United States is in the middle of a coup. So far, it’s being carried out nearly entirely by one man, nearly entirely through technology, and it includes the biggest cyber breach in history. The implications, both here and world-wide, are breath-taking and horrific in magnitude. I am sure you will understand when I tell you I have had a very hard time settling on One Good Thing to write about this week. Sure, there are plenty of good things out there, but I have been pretty busy contacting my Senators (the Republican one in particular) and Representative, not to mention simply trying to stay on top of the disastrous news.

I don’t know how to contact Elon Musk, who appears to be running the country now.

I do not intend to turn One Good Thing into a political blog or a volcano of despair. Probably you are as tired of that kind of rhetoric as I am. I’m anchoring today’s blog post in our current context for two reasons:

1. to reassure you that I am not some Pollyanna who is unable to see what is happening or who fears to look chaos and cruelty in the eye because doing so might spoil my day and

2. to commiserate with you if your nerves are jangled and your feelings of hope are frayed. I understand. Mine are, too.

I’ve spent considerable time reflecting on this post, trying to find a message that will help to nurture my soul in these trying times and hoping that where I have landed will help you, too. No good will be served if any of us gets so exercised that we are unable to function, unable to link hands with the resistance, unable to fight back.

At fraught times, I often turn to ancient wisdom stories. They have passed the test of time, after all, guiding generations of people, right up until now. Their messages speak across the ages and touch my soul. While searching several days ago, the story about the young Buddhist wanting to get to the other side of the river caught my attention. I have been pondering it ever since.

Perhaps the most obvious lesson in that story is one of perspective. From the viewpoint of the great teacher, the young student was on the other side of the river. If the student had asked, “Can you tell me how to get to your side of this river,” that would have elicited a different answer — and maybe the answer the student wanted to hear. But not the answer that would be most useful to me in these moments. And not an answer that would have caused me to ponder.

Friends, in some ways I so wish I were on the other side of the river — if the side of the river I am imagining even exists. The side of the river where coups aren’t happening. The side of the river where the United States is not withholding food and medicine from hungry, sick, and suffering people all over the world. The side of the river where white, straight, cisgender, Christian (in name only), English-speaking, able-bodied, American males are not being elevated over all other human beings. The side of the river where the richest person in the entire world isn’t riding rough-shod over the poorest, most vulnerable people on earth. The side of the river that is actually governed by democracy. The side of the river that values unity, dignity, humility, compassion, honesty, mercy, and love. I want to be on that side of the river. I want to know how to get to that side of the river.

For several days now, I have been pondering the question of getting to the side of the river where the world of my dreams exists. But that little wisdom story has encouraged me to take a look around, and here’s what I have noticed. First of all, that other side of the river is mythical. Moreover, here on my side of the river, a lot of amazing things are happening, thanks to little people like you and me. In other words, it’s just as the great teacher said: I’m already on the other side of the river.

Here on my side of the river, callers have swamped the Congress switchboards ever since Trump’s draconian plans have started to take shape. Protesters have gathered at state capitols across the nation and at other locations, such as the U.S. Department of the Treasury building.

Protesters in Denver, Colorado.

Here on my side of the river, postcard and letter writing campaigns are in full swing.

Here on my side of the river, little people like me, an English tutor, are also learning how to teach rights to the people whom ICE may try to arrest.

Here on my side of the river, independent news reporters on Substack and other platforms are reporting the actual news, not the largely watered down news reported by mainstream media and not the disinformation reported on Fox, Breibart, OAN and other rightwing channels. (Heather Cox Richardson, one of those whom I trust, cautions people to make sure the blogs they are reading contain credible references. Otherwise, they could be just a heap of lies and misinformation.)

Here on my side of the river, members of Congress are beginning to find their own way to the resistance. Some are boldly speaking up. Some are even introducing legislation. Yesterday, for instance, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wash.) introduced a bill named the Eliminate Looting of Our Nation by Mitigating Unethical State Kleptocracy (ELON MUSK) Act. The bill, if passed, will ban special government employees (pointedly, Elon Musk) from obtaining federal contracts. Chances of the bill passing are minimal, because that would require Republicans to grow spines and consciences. But the bill will gain publicity, and those who vote for and against it will be public knowledge.

Here on my side of the river, organizations like MoveOn and Indivisible are organizing online and in-person resistance events.

What I am saying is that my people are here, on my side of the river.

Here on my side of the river, the threats are real. The United States is under attack. People are being hurt. Ask the starving baby in Sudan. Ask the person in rural Arkansas whose hospital may now be shuttered because federal funding has been withdrawn. Ask the 12-year-old girl who was raped by her uncle and cannot get the resulting pregnancy aborted. Ask the young woman miscarrying and bleeding out in the hospital parking lot. Ask the women, black, lesbian, gay, and transgender members of our armed forces whose achievements and sacrifices are no longer publicly acknowledged or welcomed. Ask … well, there is no shortage of people to ask. Virtually every American is at risk right now, because our personal and financial data is in the hands of one, powerful, unscrupulous man.

But, here, on my side of the river, people are beginning to fight back. This is our country. We have voices. We have creativity. We have the will of the people. We are the people.

In his blog today, Robert Reich says:

“Do not give up on America. Do not fall into the traps of cynicism and defeatism. Remember, Trump won the popular vote by only 1.5 points. By any historical measure, this was a squeaker. In the House, the Republicans’ lead is the smallest in almost a century. In the Senate, Republicans lost half of 2024’s competitive races, including in four states Trump won.

“America has deep problems, to be sure. Which is why we can’t give up on it — or give up the fights for social justice, equal political rights, equal opportunity, democracy, and the rule of law.

“The forces of Trumpian repression and neofascism would like nothing better than for us to give up. Then they’d win it all. We cannot allow them to.

On my side of the river, we are not giving up. I see the signs around me every day. So many signs that they qualify as way more than One Good Thing. There are more good things than I can count, because: We, the people.

Love,

Sylvia