Considering the circumstances

We live in perilous times. I’m sure that has always been true, for somebody. It’s after all, why apocalyptic literature always has an audience: it’s always the end of the world for someone.

But here in the US, things seem particularly fragile. Rights we assumed were etched in stone have been seen as ephemeral. Elected leaders have made room for White Supremacy and Christian Nationalism to go unchecked, even as they pour fuel on the fires.  

When I started this piece, I made a list of all the ways our country is falling apart in front of us, and all the ways this is making it harder and harder on all of us. But I abandoned it because you probably have the same list, and any list wouldn’t be exhaustive.

But suffice it to say, we are not living in normal times, and everyone feels it. The question is, what do we call it?

Because when someone asks you how you are doing, it isn’t cool to trot out that list. I mean, none of us have time for that, and there isn’t much you can do to solve any of those things as an individual today, and again, we all have the same list.

In the aftermath of the Civil War in the US, a thing that was of such magnitude that it practically decimated the US South, Southerners would sometimes refer to the war and its aftermath as “the recent unpleasantness”.

In Northern Ireland, they speak of the time of the conflict from the 60s to the 90s as “The Troubles.”

So much of what happened from 2020 to 2022 globally can be put down to “The Pandemic”, even things that were not directly virus-related. It is just how we talk about that time.

“I lost my job during the pandemic.” “We got married during the pandemic.” “I went half-crazy during the pandemic.” “The inflation that happened during the pandemic is lingering.”

But what is our shorthand for what is currently happening?

I have begun referring to all the chaos around us as “The Circumstances.” I’m sure I didn’t invent this, but I’ve been on too many Zoom calls where people check in and they say, “I’m doing okay, considering the circumstances.”

Everyone I explain this to laughs, but usually a little too knowingly. They too are living in the circumstances, feel pulled about by the circumstances, and like they are living at the whim of the circumstances.

“How are you, Hugh?”

“OK, given the circumstances.”

“Will you be at [event]?”

“Probably, but it depends on the circumstances.”

“Why are you writing so much?”

“I don’t know what else to do, considering the circumstances.”