OK, some realised, some didn’t. So let me clear that up now.
My April 1 effort – ‘More Positivity in Portuguese Politics?’ (published online at portugalresident.com) – had some delighted by the idea of an upbeat political force which (in my fantasy world, at least) suggested that, ahead of our latest election: “This is a remarkable moment and opportunity for the Portuguese people to rise up, stop struggling and live wonderful lives in our beautiful country.”
Furthermore, the idea that the Partido Positividade de Portugalwas urging people to “focus on peace, love and happiness”, such that it might “become their own as well as the collective reality”, offered a sudden and joyous, if only brief, respite from the usually bitter and cynical norm.
I am sorry (not sorry) if your optimistic bubble got burst earlier this week on rumbling my well-intentioned prank, or even if the penny just dropped in these last few seconds, realising the truth about my annual first day of April effort.
But whilst it may be disappointing to reveal there is no PPP saviour in the political landscape, I sincerely ask you not to give up either Humour, or Hope. It’s at times like these that we need both, and in generous measure, and you can count on me in both departments, as we walk the road of life together on these pages.
Incidentally, there’s another ‘H’ which I’ll add here to make a holy trinity of an action plan, given that PPP’s preparedness prescription – launched simultaneously with the bogus party – was, although excellent, not true or probably sustainable. The survival kit suggestion was prompted by my sense that we are being encouraged (perhaps forced) to plan for the worst.
Did you see the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib, urging us recently to be “ready for anything”, whilst rejecting “scenarios of alarmism and panic”?
A ‘well-prepared citizen’, the EU suggests, should have enough emergency supplies at home, including water and tinned food, to last at least three days, a torch, a shortwave radio with batteries, and a first-aid kit.
A straw poll among friends and family will no doubt flush out the ‘preppers’ and ‘ostriches’ in your world, with most finding themselves somewhere in the middle, having pondered plans most likely for wildfire evacuation in Portugal, possibly earthquake response, and some up-to-speed with the EU’s darkest and most dire suggestions, for the inflamed situations they are currently pouring petrol onto.
What I struggle with, along with their blatant, murderous warmongering, is the seemingly total preoccupation with fear when it comes to how things might be, that has no vision of the peace and happiness that I fantasised about in the satirical scribbling that welcomed in this month. The EU’s guidance seems to concern itself only with gloom and doom, and I, for one, think we might set our sights and expectations a little higher.
That’s the job of the government, you might say, to protect and defend us; happiness and wellbeing are the responsibility of the individual. And, in a less Utopian, more pragmatic mood, who would disagree? Which, of course, brings me back to Hope, Humour and the third ‘H’ of my trio for transcending these testing times.
Hope alone has its limitations, perhaps best characterised as ‘Hopium’, something that American writer, Margaret (Meg) Wheatley, tells us we should liberate ourselves from. “Hopium never gives us the energy and motivation we need to contribute and persevere,” she says. “As we free ourselves from the cycle of hope and fear, we don’t become useless, hopeless people. Instead, we become people who can see clearly how to contribute in meaningful ways. We discover work that makes a different difference. We contribute meaningfully within our sphere of influence to a person, a community, a local cause.”
Humour too, whilst arguably the ‘best medicine’, again can’t work alone in helping us rise above challenges on a practical level, even if it does offer a transient mental or spiritual balm, as I hoped my April Fool would. What’s needed is the third ‘H’ that I will commend today, that being ‘H’ for ‘Hands-on’.
Holocaust survivor Hannah Arendt told us: “Hope is a dangerous barrier to acting courageously in dark times.” It could even be a hindrance, she may have been suggesting, adding: “In hope, the soul overleaps reality, as in fear it shrinks back from it.” So hands-on, we must now be in the age of almost total political ineptitude and paralysis. Or put another way, given how low our collective expectations are of the political and ruling elites, is it not high time we took the responsibility for our destinies, in our behaviour, and not just our thoughts?
I am not, by the way, calling for a revolution or any kind of conflict or war here, despite the fashionableness of such rhetoric. The ‘hands’ I speak of are to be placed firmly and mainly on the tillers of our own lives, families and communities. Not those in other lands, with whom we have interfered for far too long already, and ineffectively – venturing an opinion about what should happen in Ukraine or Gaza, as armchair NATO general, whilst not taking action on our own doorstep.
Worthy of mention here is Maya Angelou‘s evergreen AND timely angle, which encourages a disposition that is: “Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst, and unsurprised by anything in between.” We’re there, aren’t we? The ’perineum’ of unsurprise, adrift between best and worst, with that Covid lockdown energy in the air again, with disbelief and incredulity the ‘new normal’ of our daily reality?
At my recent ‘Men’s Shed’ group, talk there turned to preparedness and disaster planning too. And despite the sobering subject matter, what emerged was an ability to face some of humanity’s worst fears, together with Hope, with Humour, and with that Hands-on willingness to look into the dark and share your torch.
Another way of looking at this might be to ask that age-old question: “Where does hope abide?” Hope in the mind is doomed, with its dismal tendencies and obsession with the wrongs of the past and fears for the future. Hope in the heart, however, has us see what, and who is in front of us in the here and now, which is all we will ever really have.
Those Shakers’ words “Put your hands to work, and hearts to God” have never appealed and called to me so much. Do you think the time has come to work towards what we want, and not think constantly about what we fear?
