Nevertheless:
On Not Being a Lion or a Gazelle
When my late husband and I started a business together in 2006, he printed out this quote and hung it on his office wall:
“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
“It doesn’t matter if you are a lion or a gazelle; when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”
I understand this is a popular saying in libertarian circles, and he was one. At the time I took it to mean that if you are in business for yourself, you need to actively pursue customers and business development if you want to succeed. But something about it made me uneasy.
It was the idea of being a predator. I did not want to be a predator.
Remembering the quote again this morning, I feel even more troubled, because I realize it expresses the dominant theme of the economic and political philosophy that has brought us the MAGA movement. The predators have won. At least for now.
These are truly historically significant times. The incoming presidential administration and those who support it see themselves as the lions. They don’t believe they should have any restrictions on how they fatten themselves. They see the rest of us as gazelles. The only freedom we get in the deal is the freedom to run or be eaten. No wonder we’re tired.
Many of the rest of us see freedom a whole different way. Call us idealistic, but we believe the ultimate goal is for a society in which the lion lies down with the lamb.
To us, freedom means everyone gets an equal opportunity to thrive. Everyone gets equal protection under the law, whether they are prosperous property owners or not. It means having a say in the systems that affect every area of our lives that can either create safety or hold us down.
The question people like me who aren’t satisfied being prey are asking now is this: How can we continue to stand for freedom for all? How can we resist the plans and actions of those who want to take our freedom away, whose definition of freedom is no barriers to however far greed for money and power can take them? How can we stand up and say we will not be prey?
Resistance and acceptance overlap. They often are in tension. Yet their partnership is necessary as we live in the reality we find ourselves in. Can we hold space for and live into both? I hope so.
I’m not a political strategist and I don’t claim to be an expert. I am a person who has lived through a lot of history and spent almost four decades of my life as an eyewitness to the convergence of political and economic libertarianism and fundamentalist Christianity. Based on my experience then and the processing I’ve done since then, here are some thoughts about small ways we can resist being gazelles. You can take them or leave them. Civic engagement requires more than these, but we can begin here:
Read. Read history to understand the context of how we got here and how people in the past have come out the other side. Read to understand other perspectives. Start a book club in your community to discuss what you’re reading. (Look for reading recommendations in future posts.) Stay informed, being sure to choose your news sources wisely. But it’s also okay to take a rest from the news now and then when we need to de-stress.
Bow out of the greed economy. Amazon is super convenient. It makes it super easy to over-consume. I haven’t bought anything from Amazon for years and you know what? I’ve been just fine. Jeff Bezos is one of the richest people on the planet. He has a business model that is predatory to small, local businesses and his employees. He does not have our best interests at heart.
We have options that are healthier for the common good. Buy from locally owned small businesses whenever possible – and it is possible more often than not. Unfortunately, this usually costs a bit more, because these businesses can’t buy at the same scale as big corporations. Shop thrift stores. Repurpose, repair, and reuse. Support makers. Become one. Barter. (This is actually better for the planet, too.)
Bow out of the attention economy. I scroll a lot. Too much. But I fully understand how individually and as a culture we will be more free if we free ourselves from this addiction. Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are two of the richest people on the planet. They do not have our best interests at heart. Their business model is designed to keep your eyes and fingers on the screen as long as possible so they can profit off of your engagement. And the algorithms are set to learn to manipulate our attention with outrage and salaciousness.
Retrain yourself not to bite. Limit or stop time on social media. At least realize that if it’s free, you are the product they are selling. Reclaim your time and focus so you can develop yourself, develop your family, develop your own business, and develop authentic relationships.
Which leads us to . . .
Plant yourself where you live. Loneliness is epidemic. It not only makes us heartsick, it also makes us emotionally susceptible to those who would use us.
Get to know your neighbors as people, not as problems to be complained about, irritants to be avoided, or enemies to be feared. See others. Hear others. Welcome others. Respect others. Be curious about others. Seek them out. Nurture relationships at home, at work, in your faith community, in your neighborhood.
Stay or get clean and sober. We need to be able to think straight, feel all the hard and happy things, and be fully present to each other.
Bow out of constant busy-ness. Too commonly, we have no time to do all this. I think that actually benefits the economic powers that be. If we don’t have time for each other, for contemplating, creating, and critical thinking, we won’t rock the boat. We will be enmeshed in the status quo.
Let’s be more intentional about what we allow to take up our time and energy. Get less busy. A simple life is really quite lovely.
Where we are now did not emerge overnight. Repair and renewal won’t happen overnight either. We have to be in it for the long haul. So buckle up. But also breathe.