Breaking Together by Jem Bendell and lessons to take away

I have been reading Jem Bendell's book Breaking Together, and -- without going into it too deeply -- it's about the collapse going on of society and life as we know it. This is due to a few factors, including our consumer and progress-driven mentality and climate change. We're feeling the effects of panicking elites who don't want any challenge to their power or way of life. We've been pushed into polarization and competition, and it has caused us -- ever expanding, ever grasping -- to destroy our earth and much of the life on it, including human life.

As you can imagine, there are some difficult truths pointed out in the book. I took 3 1/2 pages (in tiny writing) of notes, because he gives suggestions too, not just scary facts. These aren't solutions or answers, they're just ways we can respond. We may not be able to change things, but we can change how we show up, how we treat others, how we reclaim our own power. One thing that stood out to me is how my desire for a farm (and a bunker. And food storage. But yeah, mostly the farm) is an ego-centric response. What I need to do is be more open-hearted and community-minded, seeking small, local ways to replace the crumbling systems we currently depend on.

Anyway, there is a lot in the book about people's emotional response to all of the stuff that's happening, and in particular how today's youth are feeling. As I was reading the final paragraph of the book, two of my sons came home from a jaunt together, and they came into the room where I was sitting, plopped down, and chatted for a bit. I told them a little bit about what I was reading and some of the lessons I was absorbing from it. And I told them what Bendell had said about today's youth and the emotional struggle all of this is causing them. I told my sons that I was here if they ever needed to talk to me about any of this, and to let me know if they experienced any depression... and they both burst out laughing and said they'd been depressed for years, all their generation is. What could I do about it? As one son said, "I'm depressed! Fist bump. Good talk!" So I said I meant acutely depressed, which he hammed up, being cutely depressed. We ended up having a great laugh about it, actually, which is, in fact, a healthy thing, and really the only possible response. As they say, sometimes you have to laugh in order not to cry. Then they went downstairs to paint Warhammer, and I can still hear them down there laughing and talking animatedly. And I'm left sitting here with my notes and a whole lot in my head...

They're right. I can't solve anything. We can't guarantee any outcomes, or even hope for certain things in the future. I can't give them solutions, or even comfort, really. The earth is in a tough predicament, and it's going to get tougher. All we can do is acknowledge reality and then do our best to do the right thing, not because it will fix things but because it's right. We need to live open-heartedly and try to be creative and compassionate, no matter what happens next.