Vata + the Vote: Could thinking of individual gun rights as imbalance lead to common-sense solutions?
Me and Uncle Jim. 2017
The beginning of a new school year always lifts my spirits. As a kid, I was excited to leaf through the JCPenney catalog and pick out my new digs and then trek down the half mile of dirt road to the bus stop. I was keen to explore and the world was a magical place. As a teacher, each September I was always stoked for the chance for a do-over – to innovate and uplevel my courses. In both situations I felt bold – and I was never scared.
My friends and colleagues were barely in their classroom a day before a young man in Georgia killed 4 people with an AR-15. Afterwards, I listened to a big bald sheriff angrily say “that was pure evil”, and I agree. But I disagree that it was the 14 year old boy that was evil. He is a product of his culture.
Evil is placing your agenda, reelection, and your unresolved insecurity issues before decency, good policy and common sense. To be clear, I'm not saying the politicians themselves are evil, I’m saying that way of thinking and behavior is.
I spent the first 22 years of my life around guns in the swing state of Pennsylvania where schools closed for the first day of buck and doe season. I experienced responsible gun ownership and felt safe around them. After my grandfather passed, I arrived his the service just in time to participate in a 10 gun salute. When I visit home, I stay in the family hunting cabin filled with rifles and handguns, but there is not an assault weapon in sight. I’ve had a concealed carry permit.
I’m not anti-gun. I’m pro-common sense. I’m anti-anyone-can-have-any-kind-of-gun-they-want, anytime-they-want. I’m pro- “with great power comes great responsibility.” The weight of the minority – of the individual gun rights lobby – has grown out of proportion to the will and well-being of the majority. And, I do believe we can balance the interests of all stakeholders and protect our citizens.
We can vote our way back to safety. What can be made can be unmade.
Ok…let’s take a pause and three slow breaths before we pivot…
In Ayurveda, autumn is a season of change and the classic vata season. Vata is composed of the elements of air and the ethers — and the attributes that characterize vata dosha are dry, light, cold, rough, subtle, unstable/irregular/mobile, and clear/empty. As we are moving from the hot pitta summer to the cool, windy fall vata season, so let’s acknowledge transitions can be hard, but they can also be joyful!
Seasonal transitions are some of the most important times to be mindful as the shifting climate can contribute to imbalances in our mind and body. Our digestion and immunity may weaken, making us more susceptible to allergies, bloating, dryness, restlessness, anxiety, or insomnia. Our mind can feel scattered. In September, as the leaves begin to change, nature reminds us we can to do the same.
I believe we are also experiencing an historical transition. The United States Constitution was constructed to allow for the hope of greater enfranchisement. Generations before us have fought and died to expand rights and bring more and different people into this experiment in democracy.
But sometimes that expansion of some rights comes at the expense of our greater society – like expanding gun and corporate business rights. Nature does not just require expansion, it also requires contraction. Fact. Capitalism requires unceasing growth, and so does cancer.
Repeatedly, our great nation has had to learn to change and let go of old ideas of how to be in relationship with power. For those who double-down on power-over, power-with has got to be a tough one to swallow.
Back in the day in my social studies classroom, I asked students to examine to what extent “Ideas move men.” Ideas are vata — they are light, quick, and constantly moving. Just as vata is changeable and dynamic, ideas shift, evolve, and spread rapidly from one person to another – much like a virus. Like vata, ideas thrive on creativity, fluidity, and flexibility, shaping our thoughts (and actions) and influencing the world in unpredictable ways.
Ideas implant themselves in our minds and recruit us to do their bidding. Let that one sink in. An idea without a host is impotent. It’s the person who acts out the idea. We see the idea via the way a person behaves.
Again, I’m sadly thinking of that Georgia boy and the four beloveds who lost their lives to him acting out the will of “his” ideas – with access to an assault weapon.
Ideas matter. They are the impetus for the actions we take. Watch your thoughts and the ideas you are hosting in your mind. What do your ideas drive you to do?
Where did that Georgia kid get his ideas? We know where he got the gun.
Do the ideas you hold shift your balance forward toward positive action or rock you back on your heels into stagnation and resignation? Because, though I love being informed by history, I’m not interested in going back.
In a bit over a month, we have the chance to restore balance to our political system and put better ideas in place. We know change is the only constant, and vata is forever present as the animate energy that facilitates that change. Let’s use vata and our vote to put kind, reasonable ideas in action and demand changes and purposeful policy that serves our greater good.
