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Within a week I was worn out with inner conflict. Nonetheless, it took over thirty years before I realized that struggling to be "better" was about as effective as spanking a child. Instead of creating positive, lasting change, my resolute use of internal force and shame just pissed me off and made me rebellious.
Once I gave up self-threats and vows of various celibacies I made a startling discovery: The carrot works better than the stick. The simple goal of having more fun motivated me far better than resolutions to "get it together or else." I discovered that when I maximized fun, I felt more optimistic and energetic. I got more work done and experienced increased joy in doing it.
Just before I sat down to write this, for example, I took a spin on my electric bicycle in the glorious December sun. I gave thanks for the winter light on the old chicken coop in the meadow and the evergreen trees which swirled their full green skirts in the wind as I rode past. I had a fabulous bowl of coconut-miso soup for lunch at the island's newly reopened Sound Food and pedalled easily (thanks to my battery assist) back up to town where I browsed for new old books at the Bookshop. I had a dose of good island fun and returned home ready to do what's needed with a smile on my face, a spirit full of gratitude, and a ready-to-sit body.
This year I resolve to have even more Fun.
Unfortunately, there currently exists a broad-based, many-fronted War
on Fun. This dates back to the conquest of cottage industry by mass production. Today, thanks to corporate rule, we have fifty-two less
holidays than our kin in medieval England.
Wars themselves are never fun, resulting as they always do in death, grief, rage, loss, rape, meanness, prejudice, and the stupid, unquestioning abdication of personal integrity for blind obedience. In terms of effectiveness, war is really the international exchange of spankings.
Throughout history, each war has only caused the next, until today we arrive at visions of high tech war machines and the post-WWII legacy of the Middle East. We go to war because we're afraid and we end up with more to fear. I can think of a hundred ways to have more fun and less fear than the war we are now conducting.
But destruction is profitable. Already the weaponry empire, one of America's largest industrial complexes, makes a killing from fear and revenge. When President Bush talks about our new world war he emits a weird kind of driven light, like a vampire drunk on blood. He's sure he'll live forever even as he blows the world out from under us. He does not promise us good times, but rather an endless, expensive, fundamentalist Republican battle. Already the vital essence of millions of unemployed, homeless and unheard people in the United States has been sacrificed for the obscene profit of a few CEOs. Overseas our high-tech war pounds people and the earth, churning out craters, refugees, orphans, and corpses. At home and abroad, it is well to consider that life in a police state is a drag.
The good news is that as we stand on the lip of this new year it's not too late to resurrect fun. Having fun means speaking our truths in the most creative, diverse, fun-ny and noncompliant way possible. In this shimmering new 2002, may we dance with the trees, welcome the light, and take the "damentalism" out of Fun.
VASHON ISLAND, WA, USA - Since childhood, New Years has been the occasion for torturous forays into flagellatory attempts at self-improvement. For years I made odious and ultimately impossible resolutions: I will not pinch my brother. I will not talk back to my mother. I, Louise, on this New Years Eve (pick a random year) will quit smoking. I will meditate for an hour every morning and evening and devote myself entirely to running-Yoga-walking-weight-lifting-aerobics-fasting-and-positive thinking. Like a soldier facing the long march, I sternly surveyed the year ahead, chest out and jaw firm.
LOUISE WISECHILD is the author of two books and a lecturer on alternatives to violence. Her op-eds have been published in the Christian Science Monitor and the Seattle Times. Since Sept. 11th, she has been a regular commentator on KUOW Seattle Public radio. She also write a regular column, "Here and Everywhere," on economic globalization, peace, and the quality of life for the Vashon-Maury Island Ticket. Her previous anti-war essays also appear widely on the web where they have been posted by readers. This is her first article for The World's Magazine.
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