This writer can measure the sheer exhaustion of people with the current day crisis of leadership by how readers respond the the titles of this column.  I would have to say that there is a limit being reached in terms of how much bad news we can absorb. These columns are written partially to express possibilities for good, and to disassemble that error prone thought process that goes into bad news.  As the songwriter for Passenger said, The Good Decision column is constantly “searching for diamonds in a pile of coal”.  I thought I would share a coping mechanism for this kind of work to which we all have access..

Every week we are home we host games at our home. I mean common board and dice games with people from the neighborhood.  I suspect the political allegiances of this group are a bit spread out but really, in the midst of a Farkle or Rummikube game, who cares?  We tease each other, laugh a great deal, and have fun.  We are, for those hours, what is aptly called “light hearted”.  Even the losers of the games, while tragic figures for the moment, leave the house feeling full of good cheer.  For those few hours no one is lonely and the midterm elections are a distant abstraction.  The great thing about games is they are the last apolitical, uninfluenced force left on the planet in charge of outcome.  That force is called chance.  Flip a coin or toss the dice.  You might pray for heads or snake eyes but soon chance lets you know you just can’t help some outcomes.  Distressed people across all time have known the only healthy response to the inevitable is sometimes is the good laugh.

Modest Proposal for Good

Play games of chance with friends and strangers.  Laugh and let the real news of real life leak through the gaps when you shuffle the cards, organized the game pieces, or add up the score.  You will find over time that those few hours spent not accomplishing anything but fun and fellowship will keep you grounded in these days of corruption and ballooning crisis.  Fellowship is the ultimate big tent and that is not only good but hopefully the future. We may be deluded, but we aren’t insane. In the company of community lies the solutions, and the joy of play sometimes reveals the good in us that anger has buried.