American Dragons

 

Courageous Heart

“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage.”

Rainer Maria Rilke (Letters to a Young Poet)

          I wish I had known Rilke. What a mind, what a heart! His writing exudes intelligence, grounding, and passion in beautiful, poetic language. Occasionally, we meet, or at least discover the writings of, a singular human being who understood the big picture, and tried, with all their might, to lead the rest of us there. Rilke was one of those.

          The fact that we have had these amazing examples of the depth and breadth of human capacity and have done so little with it, disappoints me. Watching clips from the CPAC conference over the weekend—the empty rhetoric and outright lies told and believed—is enough to make one feel that we are devolving at a rapid pace. Have we always been like this in America? I keep asking myself when we became such selfish, self-centered, power-hungry, irreverent, and insensitive people.

          The thing that is saddest to me is that once upon a time, not that long ago, we knew what was truly important. We believed in the essential goodness of the land and the people of this land. We worked hard and gave away what we could. We helped others—both foreign and domestic—to gain a leg up and we cheered when they succeeded. There has always been exploitation and greed, but it seemed confined to thin layer of society, whereas now it has become mainstream, and is richly rewarded. Our stated belief in “liberty and justice for all,” which, even though imperfect, was a shared value, is now not even a consideration. It makes my heart sad.

          I stand with Rilke in the belief that we must hold on to what is good and decent and kindhearted, in the face of today’s hard world. It seems even more important now than in the past. I believe that if enough of us open our hearts and approach the world with love and respect, we can transform it. Just as Rilke said, “…don’t’ expect any understanding; but believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance and have faith that in this love there is a stretch and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it.” (Letters to a Young Poet) I pray that this may be so.

                                                  In the Spirit,

                                                  Jane