In the long, hot summer of our discontent, the time has come to leap

Dale Peskin
Sep 5, 2018 · 3 min read

There are two ways to cook a frog, the recipe goes. One is to drop the amphibian into a pot of boiling water. The problem is that frogs have acute reflexes: they’ll jump out as soon as they feel the heat. Better to place the frog in a pot of tepid water and slowly turn up the heat. It relaxes as the water warms. Before it figures out what’s happening, froggy is cooked.

Please don’t try this at home. We rather like frogs and appreciate them hopping around ponds instead of being served as an appetizer. The cooked frog story is a parable about change and reaction. It feels appropriate during a moment when the heat is on.

The heat index reached 105 degrees this week, September’s first. It seemed hotter during a summer of discontent in our part of the world.

Much of the discomfort emanated from the heat-seeking missile that is Donald Trump. We sought shade from insults, bullying and tyranny as he skulked out of the White House to play golf at his country club in Sterling.

The two candidates for Congress in Virginia’s 10th District turned up the heat even before Labor Day, the traditional start of the campaign season. Rep. Barbara Comstock launched a TV ad campaign skewering state Sen. Jennifer Wexton as a tax-and-spend liberal. Wexton responded in kind with attacks on Comstock’s defense of gun policies and her failure to call out President Trump on most everything. Temperatures are rising with two months to go before the midterm elections.

It was hot going back to school, too. Students lugged their backpacks to the bus stop wearing shorts and flip-flops. At Park View High School in Sterling, alumni, boosters and students rallied around community support and school spirit to restore a proud football program that was taken from them.

Commercial development was on fire as Northern Virginia awaited a decision from Amazon on its second headquarters. Oddsmakers elevated the region to Number One in the HQ2 sweepstakes. 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in economic activity …. hot, very hot.

A wild fire also burns, seemingly out of control, as developers buy up the best of Northern Virginia — its woodlands, farms, parks, recreational areas and golf courses — for housing subdivisions, mini-cities and data centers. The land grab leads to urban sprawl and a breach in our relationship with nature.

Symbols and the past continue to sear local lives. A monument to Confederate soldiers remains outside the Loudoun County Courthouse, still dividing a community that would rather move past the symbol. Meantime, the president of Loudoun County’s NAACP chapter spearheads a project to establish historical markers at the sites of three lynchings in the county.

What to do about events seemingly out of our control?

We know more than ever before and all of it makes us crazy. Our combustible moment leaves us overwhelmed and uncertain.

“Be the change you want to see in the world,” the oft-cited quote from Mohandas Gandhi reminds. Wise, but also flawed. Gandhi’s response when he was asked his opinion of western civilization: “I think it would be a good idea.”

So what is the moral of our current condition?

Be vigilant, the answer comes.

Take some action as soon as possible, even if it is risk. It is far riskier to do nothing. In the current heat of change, we must always look ahead. Complacency boils the frog. Time to leap and cool things down.

— Follow informed coverage of key issues impacting Northern Virginia at Dale Peskin’s “A Pony and a Boat” blog on Medium.com.

— Follow Dale’s posts on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dale.peskin

— To receive exclusive alerts to authoritative stories and insights, or to suggest a story, send an email to Dale at dalepeskin02@gmail.com

Dale Peskin

Written by

I'm an author, journalist, civic facilitator, designer and mediapreneur. Look for my novel The Timekeeper's Daughter, coming soon.

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