Time for a Deep Breath
Today, a shorter newsletter after the longest of weeks.
The past few days have been mentally distracting, emotionally burdensome, and psychologically exhausting.
This tweet from Venture Capitalist Paul Graham provides an apt metaphor:
And yet, despite the rancor and furor: What a time to be alive!
This may well prove to be the most interesting, consequential, strange year of the early 21st century. I have this lingering feeling that we may be experiencing the last gasps of a number of political, economic, and social institutions.
We are proximate to modern history in the making.
We resemble our forebears gathered round Washington at Valley Forge, Lincoln at Gettysburg, Nixon at Watergate (hopefully not too close to Tricky Dick ;).
The events of the past (and coming) few weeks will go down in history with a reverberating bang, not a meek whimper.
During the most banal of times, I encourage everyone to write. As I have scrawled in a previous post:
To write (even poorly) is to better map one’s mind, order one’s perceptions, and refine one’s thoughts.
The next few weeks hold tremendous consequence.
I implore you to set aside some time to record your thoughts, describe your emotions, pen your concerns, and capture your feelings.
After all, what better, more fascinating gift to yourself, to your descendants, to history as a whole, than a peek into life lived amidst extraordinary events?
At the very least, future you will thank you.
At the very most, future generations will.
What better way to remind ourselves of America’s beauty and grandeur than the stunning photography of Ansel Adams. Adams captured the raw, unvarnished beauty of America’s national parks and landscapes through stunning black-and-white photography. Interestingly, some of his work is up for auction at Sotheby’s.