A Zen Ju-Jitsu Maneuver

Folk #1: "Stiff upper lip." Maybe that British pose & idea is a little over-rated or out-dated, and of course, it can be "over-done," and detrimental, but as you watch your fellow humans freaking out at every little news story, you think, a bit of discipline, gumption, and counter-intuitive narrating is in order. "Woke," seems to point to sensitivity, empathy, compassion, intelligence, & gentleness, but we can also be gnarly, recalcitrant, burly,  spikey, often playing "devil's advocate." Trying on personas day to day. You know, Vince Lombardi's "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." Being tough without being tough. A permeable hardness. Tough of Spirit, and, soft of touch. Sort of a Zen Ju-Jitsu maneuver.  Look all the star-crossed little sheep running like a crazy, doomy mob, watch them all gladly leap off the cliff together. You really feel for those mis-guided, hairy sheep. You aspire to be the Shepard, not the sheep. You stand still, take it all in, let it percolate inside. "In it, not of it." Sometimes, just like the cheese, you must stand alone.