Dear Reader,
I have recently been grappling with the threshold of my capability. Our last printed edition was in December, and while there has been no longer than two months between the editions, it has felt as though years have passed on the political timeline. Every day comes with a new headline, and I don’t know about you, reader, but every thought has also come with a greater sense of dread, fear, and above all, helplessness. Beyond each distressing new article, a new semester comes with the frantic rush to finalize an internship for the summer, plan out my academics until I graduate, and apparently figure out the remainder of my 60+ years of life (if all goes well).
Odds are, if you are reading this edition of BYU’s Political Review, you probably are feeling similar emotions right now. Selfishly, I am comforted by the fact that I am not alone in it. I really wish I could grant you some sort of life-changing insight on the matter, but unfortunately, my 21 years of wisdom have not yet taught me how to mitigate malaise. Maybe ask me next year?
My twin brother is currently on his mission (Quezon City North in the Philippines). He calls every p-day, and I use the time to unload about the political climate of the week. It has been a fascinating personal study of sorts, seeing how someone so disconnected from everything reacts to the current climate as I try to remain mostly unbiased. Most recently, our call lasted over two hours, with the majority of it being screensharing various articles and videos. I concluded my verbal tirade by talking about a mayor in the Philippines, and at the end, he said, “The world feels so much smaller out here. The people feel much more real, though.”
So, in the midst of a tornado of information and emotion, I had the chance to pause at that thought. We were never meant to consume this much all the time, and sometimes that comes at the cost of information losing its value. However, having information at our fingertips is a blessing that humankind has never experienced before. Being educated, having the chance to form opinions, and learning about the world are all privileges. How can we balance that?
I think the point my brother was making was correct. Maybe the best we can do to “mitigate the malaise” is to try to make the world feel smaller and the people feel more real. Please find a community around you, do your part in having conversations and learning, but never forget that politics is ultimately about people. In a period defined by scale and speed, choosing to think carefully and relationally may be one of the few forms of agency still available to us.
I am certainly not telling you, dear reader, to disengage (I am surely not doing that). I am telling you to remember why you care and who you care for. You are not alone.
Signing off,
Annie Walker, Editor-in-Chief
