Journal Entry: the Chinese Long March
Feb. 9, 2021 My home, USA 74
Dear Journal,
I fell into a great depression Sunday, Feb. 7. I am okay now.
Finally, after many years of denying it, I am admitting that I have depression. This is a major victory for me. To live in honesty instead of denial is a good thing.
That’s when I began to think of the Long March.
Long March
I am thinking about the Chinese Long March. I think of it a little differently than historians write about it.
Historians say that this was a march by military communists. It began in 1934 to 1935. It was about 6,000 miles long. Supposedly, it was one army running from another.
I think of it as a march by a desperate people who were hoping for a better life. So they walked from one life into another.
Only the life they walked into wasn’t different. It was the same ole, same ole done by people with different names but the same motive: to gain power no matter the cost.
Stories
The stories from that march tell of ordinary people including families with young children walking everyday, doing without adequate food, water and rest. The stories tell of people who gave up and committed sucicide.
The stories tell of how they cherished the red flag and thought the people who carried it were friends and helpers. The stories tell how many times these people were betrayed.
They ran from one situation straight into the exact same situation. Stories from the after-the-march time tell of the same awful things continuing to happen.
So Journal, how do we, in this time and place, use the lessons of the Long March?
I realize that running to a place or time where I think the grass is greener is a mistake. If I do that and actually arrive in the greener-grass-place, I will soon find that it is the same ole, same ole just in a different place.
I realize that depending on someone else to fix whatever problem I want fixed is another mistake. Depending on others often leads to betrayal.
And, yet, as Opral says, “No one makes it alone. Everyone needs help.”
And, as I have explained, “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps is nonsense.”
Possible Solution
So maybe the solution is to find others who want to solve the same problem you do, join those people and work with them to problem solve.
Maybe the solution is to have many groups and each group focus on the solution to one problem and only one problem.
Maybe the solution is to find people in your geographic area who are committed to solving a certain problem rather than depending on groups formed on the internet or social media.
I say “geographic area” because I understand the elements of a problem in my area but may not understand the elements of the exact same problem as it exists in another area.
Journal, the only thing I know for certian is I’m not going to go to the greener-grass-place and I will continue to find solutions to the problems that trouble me with or without the help of others.
And so it is.
Dr. Barb
Barbara Lucas, PhD
bslucas@bellsouth.net
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Barbara Lucas teaches 