Frenetic activities come from a busy mind. Life comes at us all at once with little time to think about the results. The busier we are, the more successful we feel. We check off our accomplishments from our master list. Activity is our goal. We seek someone to realize our monetary value. Who will pay us for our time? The new vocation of Influencer is popular. There have always been influencers. Salespeople are paid to convince us that the subject of their influence campaign is worth our dollars. We used to call these people the power of positive thinking or con people. It is seductive to believe that words are the answer to success. Many are blessed with a loquacious gene.

Quiet time is vital to our mental health. I often refer to the ‘little man’ in my head who oversees my antiquated filing system. If I give him enough time, he will find any file. As he has gotten older, he takes somewhat longer. He wears a bookkeeper’s cap and is curmudgeonly. He does not like to be bothered. He takes his time. He always comes through in his own time.

Authoritarian governments seek to do a lot in little time and let the people being hurt sort it out. The ‘little man’ in their heads has not had time to find the files. Words are the coin of the realm. Truthful words are shunned. Influencers seek results, not peace or a sense of place. Confusion serves havoc well. Doubt feeds insecurity and fear. Fear is the goal of dictators.

Campus Pond was quiet this morning. Yellow flowers were prolific. No one was selling. No one was buying. There was nothing to check off the list. Who made the list?

Life is tenuous. We need air to breathe. We need our sleep. We seek the spiritual amidst the carnal. Bells of progress clang incessantly. Alarms go off at all hours. Tomorrow we will stop and think. We will research the truth behind the influencer’s claims. Who gains by the silken words of the politician? Has spiritual enrichment increased as our monetary donations have? Are some rich and most abysmally poor?

Influencer cries in the town square, ‘Trust Me.’ The hungry look to the sky. Influencer says that we all must suffer economic pain. Eggs are increasing in price.

Many have inherited their money. Others have powerful friends. They laugh when the poor say they can not afford to miss a Social Security check. It will mean no groceries nor rent, or medicine for the month. How could that be, the fortunate sons ask with a manic grin on their well-groomed faces?

Preacher invites the forgotten to the woods. Children who speak many languages are welcome. There is a wheelchair ramp. There are quiet moments in the woods. Time to find the dusty files of former days. Time to find the lessons of youth and war, suffering and deprivation.