I'm not here to f*&k spiders

Are you?

Okay, if you’re unfamiliar with this beloved turn of phrase, let me acquaint you before we get to the real task at hand.

This is Aussie slang, perhaps at its best. Pretty much every time someone hears this for the first time there is shock, awe and a burst of hysterical laughter.

That’s the point.

All it means is, “I’m not here to mess around. We’ve got a job to do and it’s time to do it.”

But that just doesn’t roll off the tongue with anything like the colloquial emphasis I desire.

So here we are. I’m introducing you, perhaps for the first time, to a saying you simply will not forget.

But why?

Well, I’ve recently written about the not so subtle art of giving a f*ck. I’ve written about relationality, love and existential hopefulness. I’ve written a pretty darn detailed response to the dogma that is the Techno-Optimist Manifesto. And I’ve been an active participant in many discussions that traverse such substantive and essential topics.

The gist of all of this is that we are experiencing the unfolding of a pretty darn consequential situation. I’m not going to go on about that today. That has been well established.

What I would like to briefly get into is how we respond. Because we do have to respond, hence the title of this post.

Note the use of ‘how’. How we respond it most important.

A friend of mine wrote a very beautiful and important post about the how in relation to a decisive issue here in Australia, the Yes (or what turned out to be No…) vote.

This is the type of thing I’m talking about.

Whether it green growth, agrowth or degrowth. Whether its low tech or high tech. Whether it’s back to subsistence living or a reliance on geoengineering. Whether it’s all or none of these things, we need to start with a love for life, all life. We need to massively widen our circumference of care. We need to realise that the cliche of, we’re all in this together, is about the truest fucking thing you could possibly utter.

So, take a deep breath. Embrace your partner (if you have one, I’m a little more like Donkey right now…). Laugh out loud with your kids. Play. Paint. Write. Sing. Cook. Grow. Rewild. Speak out when you see something horrific. Speak out when you see something beautiful. Express your gratitude. Say the ‘nice’ thing if it pops into your head.

Do all of this and more. Just do it with care and with love.

I don’t know how this will play out. Neither do you. Nor does anyone.

What I do believe is that humanity at its best is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. I see evidence of this every single day, pretty much everywhere I look.

Because of this belief I also believe that we can find ways in, through and beyond our meta-predicament.

So, I’m not here to mess around. I know we’ve got a job to do. It’s just not the job the people often think it will be.

Our job is to live, laugh and love. Through that deeply human - perhaps universal - process, we will find some way.

We will.