Bad News and Good News

The bad news is all the things going on are going to cause damage. People’s lives are going to be ruined. Trust will be harmed and take a long time to rebuild. People are going to be lost. Those that resist will suffer. Some may even give up. We will continue to move in the direction of cruelty, violence, power grabs, back stabbing, conniving, coercion, demanded compliance, abuse, injustice, and more. We will move in the direction of our most basest animal instincts, rather use our rationality. We are led by people with control issues who sincerely want to believe that reality can be bent to their will. These things will continue and we should expect them too.

Misery loves company after all. And the people who are pushing this agenda forward are miserable in the core of who they are. Miserable people need to make others miserable. They think that is the recipe for feeling anything but miserable. But that never works. It doesn’t satisfy. It doesn’t ease the pain. It doesn’t bring joy. It doesn’t offer relief. It doesn’t give a sense of peace. It just expands misery.

Those oriented towards tyranny, autocracy, and all their minions who do their bidding are miserable people. They look for ways to kill joy, happiness, peace, and wholeness. They think they need to be more than human, which is impossible, hence their misery. They think if they force the world to comply to their will, then they will experience happiness. They live by the ends justify the means. And they lie to themselves, or they just don’t have the capacity to understand, that everyone and everything is disposable in that way of operating – Including them. Especially them. No one mourns when a tyrant finally dies off. No one is sad when the cruel and violent meet their end. No one wishes for more days with a person who is addicted to power and will throw anyone under the bus to get it. No, we all cheer when these people are no longer a threat. We don’t build statues for them. We equate their names with evil, destruction, cruelty, and more. No one names their children after them. No one wants to admit they supported them. No one has nostalgia for their time in power either.

That’s the bad news. There’s no way to avoid this either.

But there is good news too. And it is really simple. The good news is that the tyrant, autocrat, cruel, violent, unjust, manipulative, war mongering people cannot sustain their misery. It is not sustainable. The weight is too heavy to bear. The miserable have to be on 24/7. They have to flood the zone with misinformation constantly. They have to always be forcing compliance. They have to use violence to the point that it eats away their very soul. They have to keep increasing their cruelty. They have to destroy more and more. And the reality is they can’t do it forever. As soon as they pause, their empire of misery starts to fall apart. Their power is seen for what it is – weak and pathetic. Their facade of invincibility shows the kinks in the armor and they expose their weaknesses without knowing it – which leads to their demise. And no one lives forever. Their time will come to an end one way or another. It’s just a matter of when.

The good news is all it takes is one person to say no, to not comply, to stand in the way, to sabotage, to fight back, to insist on a better way, to envision a better world, to offer an alternative, to build trust with others, to follow the way of peace, to show mercy. All it takes is one person.

The empire of misery requires 100% compliance. Which means that as soon as one person says no, or acts in opposition to misery, the empire of misery starts to fall apart. And should that person fall, all it takes is another person to stand up and take their place. And another, and another.

The good news is the empire of misery is not inevitable, and it is not sustainable. It will fall. It’s a matter of when. The bad news is that there will be destruction as the empire of misery flails about attempting to hold onto life and power.

The good news is that every policy the empire of misery implements is reversible. And we should reverse it. And when we do, we should move further than where we were before. We should repair damage done. We should restore losses. We should mourn those hurt or worse and bring healing to them and their families. We should do what we can to make things right again, or right for the first time so that there is no lure, no appeal towards the empire of misery.

Misery is lonely, because it insists the one person is the center of the universe and all else must comply. It is all about control. Those caught in the illusion of control are miserable because they can never have it. They are never satisfied. They are never whole. They are never enough.

The good news is we are enough. We don’t need to be more than who we are. We don’t need more to be satisfied. We don’t need more to be whole. And that is the first step in ending an empire of misery. It is that no matter what happens to us, we are enough. The good news is that the empire of misery ends. The good news is that when it does, we have a choice – do we repeat history, or do we learn from it and change the circumstances and systems that drive humanity to misery.

The societies that care about their people, providing for basic needs, are built on trust and are the most content – happy even. The societies that see people as disposable, that force people to struggle to survive, are built on mistrust and are miserable. They do not last. Nor should they.

There is bad news and there is good news. The bad news is there will be much unnecessary suffering and destruction. The good news is that it will not last because it is not sustainable.

Resist. Stand up and say “No.” Insist on a different way. Sabotage cruel systems. Proclaim good news. And be an example of enough. Be good news. And by being good news, you invite others to be as well. You offer hope. You offer a future. You show a way forward. We show that the empire of misery will fall and those that prop up that empire will come to an end. And when it ends and when they are no longer in power, we will cheer. We will celebrate. We will plant. We will rebuild. We will heal. We will start again.