Being Grounded
A brief pause in the action yesterday as I was doing some recording work with my local team here in Ireland and starting down the long road of being sick. Just back from Copenhagen and it’s already time to leave back to the US again for the balance of the year. It’s unknown what the next few months hold as there are some significant changes in the air but, I’m sure I’ll be back before long.
As we were flying back from Copenhagen, I got the opportunity to look outside at the clouds that formed the boundary between the earth and sky. Their puffy, cotton-ball like appearance hid the ground and ocean below, leading one to believe that there was nothing but soft down for us to land on.
The layers of clouds cast shadows on each other, the bifurcation of each layer creating a rippled line of contrast down the seams and valleys between each puffy oclusion. It’s as I always say: darkness and light.
As I wind my way home this morning, I’m also conscious that just down the road from where I sit, the heart of Dublin experienced violence like I’ve never seen since I started coming here in 2014. Across the various news outlets this morning, the discussion of riots and looting, fires and savagery, chills the congenial attitudes that the Irish are known for. That we respond to perpetrated violence with escalating violence strikes me as an asymmetric mistake.
The dog whistle of anti-immigrant nativism was loud, a more common theme these days as the flood of refugees and asylum seekers seems to overwhelm peoples sentiments. Yet, I have to wonder if, just like the US, these fires are stoked by fear and misinformation, stoked by those who seek to upend an inclusive society for one that is driven by anger and malice. We’ve seen the effects of this in the US and I’m startled that, for a nation that seeks to hold itself to a higher standard, Ireland allows the foment of such to fester and spread.
For me, I’m allowed to escape, to leave, to set aside the traumas of this moment for something less troubling. But for many who’ve experienced this, some for the first time and undoubtedly not for the last, there’s now going to be a marker in their memory of the fear brought on by a thuggish crowd, looking to “solve problems” with fist and fire.
I pray that, in the days, weeks, months ahead that there remains a memory of goodness and grace, a memory of the Ireland of diaspora and dedication, of a delightful mosaic comprised of all colours, creeds, nationalities, religions. May it ever be so.
Originally published at https://davegraham.substack.com.
