“no fear, no envy, no meanness”

So the story goes, Liam Clancy proposed a toast to a young Bob Dylan, and as Dylan told it, Liam raised his pint of Guinness and said it: “Bob, No fear, no envy, no meanness.” It struck me. I wear that quote on my wrist…but most days I fail to live up to it, one way or another. But many days, I do.

The word, resentment keeps coming up in my thoughts, these days, so the quote seemed appropriate. Resentment. It permeates our society. Feelings of being overlooked, ignored, marginalized and disrespected.   We all feel resentful at times—hell, I feel slighted on a daily basis. We resent each other…for big things and small things. FDR said it’s all about fear and maybe he’s right, but it seems envy and resentment have crept up on fear these days.

It’s a question of “deservingness,” as Kathy Cramer put it. We gaze in “at undeserving groups who don’t work as hard as we do.” They’re not one of us…

Resentment didn’t appear out of thin air.  America has a long history of it. We’ve been haunted by racism and nativism from the very beginning.  Hell, ask the Irish…my ancestors--Help Wanted No Irish Need Apply. Of Course, a few decades later, they turn around and play a big role in the Civil War draft riots in New York City, targeting free blacks as scapegoats, so there you go. People in glass houses and all that.

Ah, the scapegoat theory. Politicians who  cultivate race consciousness and demonize others—give many someone or something to blame for their fears, frustrations, and failures. The politics of resentment rages on.

Resentment has become a driving force in politics—from the left and from the right. Angry citizens who feel they have no voice, are feeding off it. It grows from a disaffection and distrust for traditional institutions and leaders. And I’m not saying we shouldn’t be pissed off at our representatives. There is plenty to be angry about.

But maybe a cure for all this is to start looking up at people rather than down.

I don’t have to look very far to find people who work harder than I do…who do more for others; endure more hardship; more pain; who complain less; tolerate more. That act of looking up and around—rather than down— is humbling, liberating and inspiring.

Take it from an old moody Irishman—being angry and resentful is exhausting. It takes much less energy to be joyful and cheerful. Now if I could only practice what I preach.

While I’m convinced that there are only spiritual and moral remedies to all this, a good dose of truth would help. We need to get out of our information silos and embrace some semblance of reality. Dostoevsky said, “The man who lies to himself can be more easily offended than anyone else. And he will revel in his resentment till he feels great pleasure in it.”

It’s obvious that we all need to be a little more grateful, more understanding, more humble; less envious… The reality is there are people who are less deserving of help than others, but when I stop and think about it, I realize that I have far more blessings in my life than I deserve. I don’t know about you.

And as far as my complaints? Mea Culpa…Mea Culpa, Mea maxima culpa. When it comes down to it, my problems are mostly my fault. So Let’stop blaming others! Let’s deal with our failures just as we deal with our successes. I think if we start there, the solutions to real problems become much clearer.

NO FEAR, NO ENVY, NO MEANNESS