Of fish, bikes, moons and men: Who makes room for nuance in today's chaotic world?

T-shirt from 1979: A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle

T-shirt from 1982: We've put one man on the moon / Why can’t we put them all there?

Back in the day, I’m pretty sure I owned both those t-shirts and I was more than willing to take on any man who wanted to challenge the sentiment and the politics.

Today, I wouldn't wear either.

Not because I don’t, in a moment of levity in an otherwise grave discussion of rights and respect, tend towards their essence, but because I no longer believe that proclaiming such a sentiment loudly on my body’s front does much to further interesting, productive conversation — and probably alienates us from each other more than it encourages understanding between us.

Today, I wear plain t-shirts and I welcome nuanced and smart conversation with anyone interested in solving the hard problems we are, as a society and a world, facing these days.

And, oh boy, are we facing problems.

Air strikes, attacks and outright war: Headlines seeded by decisions taken by, well, it’s indisputable, men. Women and children are among the victims, as are men, but it’s fact that men started this current global crisis.

There is no room for nuance when rockets are being launched. Survival comes best to those who determine decisively to move swiftly away from the problem and head towards…well, maybe they don’t know the specifics of their destination, but they know survival is more likely over there, ahead of them, than right here, where they are a target.

There is no room in headlines for nuance. Questions lobbed by journalists, hungry for a story, at politicians treading a fine line between saying nothing that creates a headline and saying (doing) something that creates a headline — the politicians dip and dance, tripping over the tightrope that is increasingly the context created by today’s mainstream media. Fall on one side or the other, and their headline is written. 

None of the newspapers I read or online shows I watch seems much interested in creating a context for nuance, yet that is what the complexity of today’s world requires. Black or white polarizations are not getting us very far beyond bloodshed and loss. How about a little grey. A little genuine appropriate hedging. An honest and human, “I’m not sure about tomorrow, but here’s what I can say with assurance about today — and that will help get us to tomorrow and then the next day and the next…and so on. Together, we’ll get there in one piece. Peace.”

Wouldn’t that be refreshing? Because who the heck knows where any of this yelling and bombing and assuredness is taking us?

With at least one idiot male leader generating most of today's headlines, in terms starkly black or white, I welcome what I believe Canada’s Prime Minister offers in many of his answers to the media: nuance, smarts, compassion — none is usually stark, most are usually complex, many require consideration and reflection to fully appreciate.

The world is moving at break-neck speed towards a state of who-the-heck-knows-what. Wouldn’t it be good to...

Slow down to breathe

Make room for thinking 

Be generous towards each other 

This is what we need: 

Time

Space

Generosity of spirit

This is what I want from world leaders: 

Humanity and 

humility and 

hearts and heads working together 

Fronted by a plain t-shirt.

In any colour they choose.

Just not black or white.

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Land acknowledgement: I respectfully recognize that I live on the original lands of Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.

Fish photo by Gábor Szűts on Unsplash
Bike photo by Chris Barbalis on Unsplash 

Moon photo by Pedro Lastra on Unsplash