We need a new story…

I have a day of client calls ahead of me – a truly joyful and cherished part of my working week.

However, I’ve hopped online and after just 10 minutes, I feel overwhelmed and heartsick. Partially at the news of horrific acts being perpetrated by our governments, and partially at some of the comments I’m reading in support of those acts. And I find myself thinking that it’s hard not to lose faith in the basic goodness of humankind.

But, you know, it’s actually the systems that we’re living in, the ideologies, the warped values of the societies we all participate within which are driving us, collectively, to the sanctioning of these unspeakable acts.

We are all a part of a global narrative which is invested in our dehumanisation as it strips us of our empathy. So that some human beings are seen as less than others – less deserving of care, of love, of protection, of resources. Simply put, they are seen as less human.

And along with that dehumanisation, we have the lauding of ‘the nation state’. But when the upholding of an invisible line drawn upon the land or the sea trumps your humanity and your capacity to see, and to feel the desire to alleviate, the pain of another human being, then the result is what we are seeing right now.

Children separated from their families. Scores drowned in the Mediterranean. Humanitarian crises springing up left, right and centre only to be met with accusations of bias and an abdication of responsibility.

The truth is, however, that collectives are formed from many individuals – vast complex organisms composed of millions of us, susceptible to the manipulations and machinations of powerful forces that structure our sense of what is important and what is possible, and largely ignorant of their own potential and often unactualized power.

All of which to say, as individuals we can make better choices. We can choose empathy over ideology. We can choose humanity over nationhood. We can choose the wellbeing of people (of all people!) over the inflation of populism. And in that way, strive to influence the implementation of inhumane policies enforced in our name.

Yes, I would imagine like many are feeling this morning, I am overwhelmed and heartsick. But, also like many of you, I am angry too. Because unlike those raising their plaintive protesting cry that ‘this is not who we are’, I think it is frustratingly and heartbreakingly clear that this is who we are. This is exactly who we are.

I read a wonderful book last year by Mohsin Hamid called Exit West – highly recommend. At the heart of the story is a question: what would happen if doors suddenly held the potential to transport us from where we are to another part of the world entirely?

As is so often the case, I think fiction holds the keys to seeing what might be possible. Not the magic realism of doors that open up onto new vistas. But the moving towards a time when people matter more than the ideology of nation states.

Ursula K. Le Guin tells us that “we read books to find out who we are. What other people, real or imaginary, do and think and feel… is an essential guide to our understanding of what we ourselves are and may become.”

So, yes, we need to take action – as individuals and as a collective – to apply pressure to those in positions of power (our representatives!!) who believe they have our consent to inflict trauma and torment on those they deem as ‘less deserving – less human’.

But we also need to look at the bigger picture and decide whether we want to continue investing in the current narrative as it barrels towards some inevitable and tragic conclusion.

Or if it’s time to write a new story… one that more clearly mirrors this idealised image of who we believe ourselves to be and which honours the lives of all as sacred.

Because, honestly? If we keep choosing the same story, we can only expect things to deteriorate further.

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So, I’m wondering… and this is where I’ve come to at the end of writing this piece before my client calls begin…

What are the works of fiction that you have read and would recommend that you think could help inform the creation of a different story for us all with regards to human rights, immigration, empathy, ideology, compassion?

And by works of fiction, I mean novels, tv shows, movies, short stories, plays etc.

Perhaps a new global narrative starts with a reading list…

“Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words.”
~ Ursula K. Le Guin