A drift down strategy for us all

DEAR EDITOR:

Crossing an ocean at high altitudes, jetliners require two engines. The plane performs like a “well-oiled machine,” smoothly functioning in its sweet spot, and all is well.

However, lurking outside the thin aluminum tube, the environment is harsh.

Much like this routine ocean crossing, when America has both engines operating, it excels and flies high, but lurking just within reach are many threats that lull the “passengers” into a sense of comfort. Often without notice and at the height of complacency, one of the engines stops working. Immediate actions are required to continue the flight safely; it’s what pilots call the drift-down maneuver.

From what I can tell, somewhere during the last 5 to 10 years, America lost an engine and a drift-down is absolutely necessary.

There are forces in our current society that have put us in a downward trajectory that we need to understand. Social media has pushed us into ever tightening echo chambers with ringleaders that often seek incitement, rather than enlightenment. Corporations constantly bombard our senses with products that make false promises and very often decrease our self-esteem. Media outlets focus on clickbait, with expertly selected stories that seem designed to further the negativity amongst us. And most of all, our politics and politicians have reached an all time low. It is not good. As a community, we must collectively and actively choose a different path than what these very powerful forces are seeking to achieve.

Let me offer this drift-down strategy for all of us, so that one day we can again fly high with both engines operating.

1) Be grateful. Every single day you wake up and the water runs and the lights turn on, take a moment to be grateful. Be overwhelmed with gratitude that food is available and you have clothes on your back. I’ve fought in combat and seen the horrors many countries around the world find themselves in almost constantly. Between Amazon shopping and worrying about your brand on social media, I hope you pause to gain some perspective. Think about the sheer terror of over 45,000 people dying in Turkey and Syria, along with the Russian invasion that is destroying people’s lives. Be grateful.

2) Converse. Stop allowing a politician or a political party to control your personal life. Instead of raising your blue or red flag, do that Southern thing and have a truly personal conversation with someone different than you.

3) Look in the mirror. It’s hard to fix the world when you’re unwilling to put in the work on yourself.

So there we are, just like the plane, not quite where we want to be, but we’re stabilized. And also just like the plane, once we’re stabilized, we can start to work on figuring out how to get back up to that place on high where we function optimally.

Mark Dasher

Rome