Get Small

Small and very local bees...

I am mad, but I don’t want to get even. Instead, I want out – out of a culture where everyone seems overextended, lonely, and hopeless. I want to escape to a space where I can enjoy others, enjoy the sunrise on the Elkhorns, enjoy spiders, and even enjoy the two broody hens who have settled themselves onto the same clutch of eggs for fourteen days now and counting, in what appears to be a coparenting hatching partnership. I want to shed the dirge of depression and the constancy of worry. And I certainly want to free my mind from the language of monetization and the push to compete, where every action has a price affixed, and relationships are rendered transactional.

I wonder, though, if the default impulse to depart, to find new territory, is largely rooted in a colonial legacy – “Go West!,” then “To the moon!” and now “Mars!” are all variations on the same post-plunder theme of “We’ve wrecked this – let’s away and leave it to someone else to clean up.” Starting fresh smacks of certain privilege – the assumption that the funds to relocate can be secured, that opportunity and civil rights will be granted, that one’s body will not be policed to the point of incarceration like those of millions of Americans. It might be more appropriate that, instead of escape fantasies, I focus on arrival; instead of getting out, I might attempt to live more fully in the place and space that I am currently in. Such a go-local approach feels wildly insufficient. With a globe in crisis, am I just going to retreat to my own small world of influence? But trying to live a non-capitalistic life while immersed in an ever-more consumptive society is, in truth, a challenge of the highest order no matter where one goes. I might as well start where I am.

Much of contemporary American culture is a flash in the pan of human history, brief and wildly unsuccessful experiments in social organization played off as status quo. The patriarchal family, with a straight male at the helm? Extended and adaptable kinship networks have actually been the human standard. Heteronormativity? The historical record reveals that multitudinous sexual expressions are the norm, with humans finding pleasure in a panoply of arrangements and behaviors. Monotheism? A baby-faced newcomer to the cosmological landscape, where animism can claim stable and generative practice over thousands of years. And the big baddy of them all – capitalism? A mere blip in comparison to cooperative structures that value all life forms and prioritize caring and balance over monetary profit.

...and bush bean seeds...

Given the disaster and hurt these newly arrived “norms” have caused in such a brief span of time, might we consider a different approach? Some brave folks are creating networks of care outside traditional family structures, the Queer community is proudly trumpeting a joyful array of sexual and personal identities, and the value of the more-than-human world garners attention in some circles. What seems most difficult to conceptualize is a route out of capitalism, a way to begin living into the reality of capitalism’s demise well in advance of its actual collapse.

Granted, the current political moment demands attention, and we must be active in protesting, in boycotting, in striking, in voting, in mobilizing. But partisan chatter, regardless of flavor, isn’t addressing the mechanics of a move past capitalism, and until we can find a way out of the profit-driven mess we are in, the human-wrought devastation of all life on this planet will continue, no matter who is in charge. Denial of human rights, genocide, misogyny, war, and White supremacy are unquestionably appalling and deserving of our attention. So, too, is a big box store filled with shelves of packaged consumer goods and a gas station pumping out fossil fuels for morning commuters. As Lyndsey Stonebridge explained, “tired horror…can be as, if not more, morally corrupting than the vivid violence of pure terror.”[i] At a time when climate crises and human devastation abound, we can be lulled into looking past the “tired horror” of everyday capitalism because the “pure terror” of global events seems so much worse. In truth, they are of a piece.

Capitalism infects our culture, our relationships, and our language. It has turned our values upside down and elevated inhumane behavior as legitimate. It is no surprise that despair abounds. Yet even in the midst of confusion and weariness, we can act against and beyond capitalism. As the inimitable Audre Lorde explained, “we cannot fight old power in old power terms only. The only way we can do it is by creating another whole structure that touches every aspect of our existence, at the same time as we are resisting.”[ii]

Accepting that capitalism must go takes most Americans a bit of time to reconcile. For those of us who have journeyed to the point of relinquishing our loyalty to a cruel and capricious system, there is no obvious next step, no do-it-all organization to join, no listicle of ten sure-fire steps to simultaneously achieve post-capitalist nirvana and dewy, hydrated skin. I want a formula, a guarantee. But the universal direction from our elders sounds less-than-revolutionary. As Hannah Arendt put it, “We humanize what is going on in the world and in ourselves only by speaking of it, and in the course of speaking it we learn to be human.”[iii] 

...and a day-old piglet.

Camping out at the how, the place where lofty theory must be translated into hands-in-the-dirt praxis reveals solutions that take so much work – we need to talk to each other about the mechanics of doing this. In truth, that is the lessen of social movements throughout history. Humans talked. They argued, they hung out, and they shared their stories. They came to understand each other and found pathways into action. AIM had police patrols and encampments, radical feminists had consciousness raising, Black Panthers had schooling and medical services. When we engage in serious conversation that imagines a post-profit-motive future, we can help each other take the first steps to getting there.

History shows that humans have constructed a teeming variety of social structures over time. There has been no one best solution, but we can absolutely see patterns and consistencies that validate the horror of our current global structure and point the way to numerous potential ways forward. This isn’t about a human utopia, but rather a suggestion to engage in a process that provides the end benefit up front as we partake in dialogue.

Our talk must be transparent and should be grounded in our everyday realities. Our dialogue will, by necessity, include such uncomfortable topics as voluntary income redistribution, shared work schemes, and legal protections. Strategizing must be place-based and include commitments to and from those that we share physical space with. The time of all participants must be valued equally.

So, let’s begin – or continue – these conversations, chatting our way into a future that is less lonely, less violent, and far less driven by capitalistic dogma. Even as we strive to get small in our consumption, we can all stretch and grow to become larger in our humanity, imagining something that might feel new and different, despite its ancient roots. Caring, being in relationship, reflecting, acting with thought, working towards shared goals – this is the stuff of human history. Can it be part of a human present, too?

[i] Lyndsey Stonebridge, We Are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt’s Lessons in Love and Disobedience, Hogarth, 2024, p. 135.

[ii] Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches, Ten Speed Press, 1984, p. 102.

[iii] Lyndsey Stonebridge quoting Hannah Arendt in We Are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt’s Lessons in Love and Disobedience, Hogarth, 2024, p. 307.