When You're Depleted and Defeated, Turn to Leonard Cohen and "Ring the Bells that Still Can Ring"

The climate talks (COP24) in Katowice, Poland have wrapped up with as little accomplished and as much left undone as expected ... but we always hope for better, don't we? I find myself doing a lot of finger crossing (for good luck) these days, but without holding my breath (expectations can be demons). 

The devastation of the biosphere can only get worse now, and faster and faster. We're likely in "only a miracle can save us now" territory already. 

My hubby is just back from the International Criminal Court in The Hague. He and others (including Polly Higgins) spoke about getting massive environmental damage due to climate change recognized internationally as a crime against humanity. But the wheels of justice turn very slowly (unless, of course, you're an African-American accused of a misdemeanor crime in the United States), so that can only be one piece of the strategy. 

But things have been heating up (pun intended, I guess) since the publication of the IPCC's Special Report on 1.5ºC, and the Fourth National Climate Assessment in the United States. Here's how I know. Amongst articles such as The 15 Most Stylish Topcoats to Wear All Winter and Damnit, Ted Cruz's Beard Looks Tolerable, Esquire Magazine offered up 

by Charles P. Pierce. The subtitle of his article is: "The lastest U.S. government climate report is a pre-emptive coroner's report, and our politics aren't equipped to deal with it." I don't think I have to say any more.

Maclean's Magazine, in Canada, is into the fray. David Moscrop wrote:

"We can’t address an existential threat with our fellow citizens standing in our path. They rob us of the hope we need to save ourselves" is the subtitle. Now, you know what I think of hope (it's a developed world luxury that we don't deserve — unless we're taking action), but I'll let him have this one because he's a newbie who has just woken up to the climate crisis and is going from zero to "climate grief" quite rapidly. (Whoever could have imagined that one of our greatest obstacles to climate change mitigation would be people who think that hope and feeling good are more important than action?!)

Anyway, my point is this. Sometimes, this calling hurts. It's hard. We can feel defeated and depleted. And when that happens, we have to have our touchstones. The people we can reach out to, the uplifting books or movies we can read or watch, and music — songs we can listen to over and over again that speak to our souls and know exactly what to tell us.

So whether you've been doing this for decades (like my husband and me) or you're just discovering how desperately bad the climate change crisis is now, Anthem by Leonard Cohen is an excellent invitation to take stock and then to keep at it ... imperfectly, if necessary.

ANTHEM, by Leonard Cohen

The birds, they sang 
At the break of day 
Start again, I heard them say 
Don't dwell on what has passed away 
Or what is yet to be. 

Yeah, the wars 
They will be fought again 
The holy dove 
She will be caught again 
Bought and sold and bought again 
The dove is never free. 

Ring the bells that still can ring 
Forget your perfect offering 
There is a crack, a crack in everything 
That's how the light gets in. 

We asked for signs 
The signs were sent: 
The birth betrayed 
The marriage spent 
Yeah, the widowhood of every government 
Signs for all to see. 

I can't run no more 
With that lawless crowd 
While the killers in high places say their prayers out loud 
But they've summoned, they've summoned up a thundercloud 
They're gonna hear from me. 

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering 
There is a crack, a crack in everything 
That's how the light gets in.
You can add up the parts 
You won't have the sum 
You can strike up the march 
There is no drum 
Every heart, every heart 
To love, will come 
But like a refugee. 

Ring the bells that still can ring 
Forget your perfect offering 
There is a crack, a crack in everything 
That's how the light gets in 

Ring the bells that still can ring 
Forget your perfect offering 
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in 
That's how the light gets in 
That's how the light gets in