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“We’ll See.”
An ancient Zen story to help you manage every October surprise from now until Election Day.
2020 has been nothing if not a spate of continuous, unprecedented and unforeseen events: A pandemic, a massive economic shutdown, months of protests against police brutality.
The President himself catching COVID-19 was an unexpected plot twist, the disaster of the first presidential debate was another one. This year, it feels as if the moment we come to grips with the latest proverbial earthquake to impact the outcome of the election, the next one is already brewing.
Part of this perspective is being influenced by the 24-hour news cycle. The prevalence of click-bait, not just in article headlines like these and these, but in entire media strategies is making it seem like the sky is falling all the time.
Part of this perspective is being influenced by Trump himself and his penchant for creating drama. An equal and opposite part is being influenced by the energetic Democratic strategy of releasing- or rereleasing- to an overly credulous media anything and everything to hurt Donald Trump’s chances in the run-up to the election.
But part of why 2020 seems so fraught, so hectic and frenetic, is because it really has been that tumultuous. It is likely to get worse before it gets better.
How do we cope?
With Election Day looming, and all its inherent uncertainties coupled with new uncertainties this year; with the prospect of election night watch parties and gloating partisans indulging in wild conspiracy theories in an ongoing effort to stand out above the journalistic fray; with a truly breathtaking amount of money being poured into political campaigns; amid an ongoing barrage of dueling political ads- how will we maintain our sanity?
Here is an ancient Zen teaching, sometimes known as a “Koan” you might consider in the days to come.
“We’ll See.”
Once upon a time, on a fine fall morning, an old farmer went out to tend his animals and crops.
At first light, the farmer was dismayed to see his fence had been crushed by a falling tree during the night. All three of the farmer’s prized horses had disappeared.
