Escape from the Doldrums

We’re headed into the doldrums folks, the Horse Latitudes, the Sargasso Sea.
The days are shorter, the nights are longer, the heating bill’s going up and sooner or later we’re all going to start feeling a little down.
It’s human nature, and it’s nature nature: less sunlight often translates directly into a less sunny disposition.
That’s probably why we become pre-occupied with our selves, at this time of the year: not only do we have the time to take a closer look, we are often left with nobody else to talk to.
So we turn inward – and in my opinion, get a little obsessed with self-improvement. We change our hair, go on a diet, start working out, re-visit that unfinished novel, and in general turn all of our free time to the study and improvement of the most fascinating person we know.
But it’s hard to inspire yourself.
So we turn to religion: and specifically, Oprah. Because that’s what she does so effortlessly –talk about herself I mean, which translates directly into official permission to be self-obsessed.
If Oprah says it’s okay, it’s alright with me!
Is it any wonder that Valentine’s Day comes smack dab in the middle of the dreariest time of the year. The ancient talk-show hosts who played the coliseum and other venues knew that they couldn’t fight human nature: so they invented a holiday that seems to be about ‘others’, but is really about us, ourselves, again.
Sure we rush out and buy the chocolates, grab a bunch of flowers, and write out a little ditty for our significant other, or others. But we do so with the knowledge that this is an empire-wide holiday and that confirmation of our own importance to the world is sure to come by the afternoon mail.
We are loved, therefore we love.
I mean come on, if you were really romantically inclined and wanted to let your lover know how much they meant to you, you wouldn’t wait until the middle of the winter to make your case.
The real refrain of Valentine’s Day is, “Candy is dandy, sugar is sweet. I am the most wonderful person you are likely to meet.”

What has this got to do with Deval Patrick?
No, I don’t love Deval Patrick, but it’s something like that.
This column was inspired by him.
On a cold winter night I roused myself out of my usual state of near-hibernation and reluctantly drove over to the Radisson where Mr. Patrick, a candidate for governor, was scheduled to meet and greet local residents.
It would have been easier to stay home and watch Oprah, or any of the uplifting reality programming that is geared to make us feel superior by showing us people far worse than we are.
I could have stay home and watched SuperNanny, or FatChance, or The World’s Stupidest People, but I somehow managed to drag myself off the couch, out the door, and into an overheated conference room. Whoopee!
And Deval inspired me.

Okay, forget the politics of it. Forget whose side you are on, which channel you watch, how much you make, what kind of car you drive, where you went to school, how green your lawn is, or anything that includes the words ‘you’, ‘me’, ‘my’, or ‘our’.
What I am painfully slow at getting around to, the point I am trying to make, is that the best way to escape the doldrums, the best chance to get out of these ‘me months’ with your community spirit intact, is to let someone else pull you out.
And what better way to do that is to spend these long cold months with a nice warm ‘cause’.
Careful though, its easy to mistake self interest for a ‘cause’, or simply to make yourself the only cause on your plate.
Paradoxically, the best way to improve you, is to improve the lives of others.
But let’s be brutally honest here, about motivation.
If the only reason you join up is to take down, then it’s still about you.
If politics for you is only about lowering your tax bills, then do me a favor and stay at home and write a letter to the editor.
If the only person you will ever look to for inspiration is staring out at you from the bathroom mirror, than brother, this is your time to shine!