Be Here Now by Barry Rosenbaum

I was first introduced to the phrase Be Here Now almost forty-five years ago when I was a freshman in college. (Just stating this is a bit jarring. How can I possibly be approaching almost half a century since my college years? Yikes!! I’ll just take a deep breath and move on.) In his book Be Here Now, Ram Dass (who has an amazing biography, but that’s for another day) articulates an approach to living that immediately intrigued me — being fully present in the moment that is NOW, not being swept away by memories of the past or thoughts about the future. While continuing to be drawn to this practice, the ability to maintain that level of awareness has largely eluded me. As I’ve aged, I have become slightly more adept at being one with the underlying flow of the universe. I suppose the lesson would be to accept that too.

Acceptance is hard to practice when the nowness of the world appears to be so broken. How can the same country which brought us Washington, Lincoln, FDR, and Obama now bring us a leader who is a nonstop liar? He bases his pronouncements on not the slightest shred of reality or evidence. The perversity of his professing that Ukraine was responsible for Russia’s aggression and should forever forfeit half of all its mineral rights to us is shocking. I can’t help but slow down and write that again. The PERVERSITY of this is SHOCKING. Or is this simply the game that the two-headed beast, Trusk, is playing with the American people? The “Awe” of their professed “Shock and Awe” is the destruction of any semblance of the political order that we knew, as they relish the concurrent infliction of immense pain and suffering.

Ironically, MAGA supporters have received no protection from this onslaught. While some previously misguided followers may have begun to see that they are no more than pawns, the pace of this reckoning is excruciatingly slow and limited. Can anyone who has even a rudimentary knowledge of modern history really believe that Canada, Mexico, Panama, and Western Europe, our allies for decades, have suddenly not only become ruthless economic competitors, but are now to be treated as our enemies? Rather than being here now, I have the strong impulse to be as far away from now as possible.

This period reminds me of a song written by Gil Scott-Heron, Winter in America, with this stanza above all capturing the current moment:

The Constitution was a noble piece of paper
With free society — well, it struggled but then died in vain
Now Democracy is ragtime on the corner,
Hoping that it rains
Well, it’d been hoping, hoping for some rain

Yet, despite everything that is happening, and despite my inclination to just run and fade away, I choose instead to be here now. To bear witness to the depravity of the MAGA leadership and to work with all other Americans who believe in democracy, believe in equal opportunity for all, believe that billionaires should pay their fair share, and believe that we can again represent to the world those values which for centuries had been beacons, inspiring millions to come here for the betterment of themselves and this country. That’s what drew my grandparents or great-grandparents here.

While there is no doubt that the federal government can be clumsy and inefficient, that does not make its workers evil and cannot possibly provide a justification to destroy it all so there is no safety net, no meaningful or enforceable health regulations and available health insurance, no corruption oversight, and no right to pursue a life that reflects your culture, your religion, and your dreams.

The list of destruction is growing ceaselessly. We can be so much better than this.