JUST SO BIG

It’s just so big, you feel so small              A  E  A                 CAPO 2 OR 3
Why do anything at all?                            F#m  B7  E7
See that water on the shore?                    F#m    A7
Been knockin’ on my back door              D9  — F#dim
It’s just so big, you feel so small.             A   E    A

Now a rich man, doesn’t want to know
He’s happy, happy with the status quo
And a proud man doesn’t want to know
Keeps believing that it just ain’t so.
And it’s just so big, you  feel so small 

TV news, doesn’t tell it all,                            D    F#dim
Talk about trouble and the ratings fall    A   A7
Real story may not pay                                  D    F#dim
Better do what the bosses say                      E7  

Nobody is in this world alone                  A E D7 A E
Nobody’s gonna win this on their own   A  B7 E7
Change your lightbulbs if you will,
Change your senators, better still, D7  F#dim
Cause it’s just so big,  you feel so small.
Cause it’s just so big,  you feel so small. 

©Doug Hendren 2019

Anxiety about climate disruption has become recognized as a serious and widespread health problem, particularly among young people. People see big changes happening, and feel helpless and traumatized. The problem seems so big, and by ourselves we are so small.

In her wonderful little book “The Green Boat,” psychologist Mary Pipher describes this experience as “mid-traumatic stress,” wisely advising that collective action is both the most effective response,  and also the most therapeutic response to this experience.

I had the privilege to hear Bill McKibben speak at Yale a few years ago. One young woman asked him: “But what can I do, by myself?” Bill’s answer has stuck with me ever since, inspiring the final verse of this song. He said: “The best thing you can do? Don’t do anything by yourself! Do everything together with others.”

While changing lightbulbs and other parts of our own personal footprint are worthwhile, the real answers lie in collective action, in making our legislators support a transition to clean energy. Make them stop subsidizing the fossil industry that is poisoning and disrupting our life support systems. Our politicians are mostly rich men, and very happy with the status quo, as in the second verse above. It’s up to us to vote in leaders willing to do what needs to be done. That’s where our real power lies!

There’s plenty to do. I’ve just recently joined the ranks of the Third Act. What have we got to lose?