As I stood up on the bench and pulled the rusty chain of the ceiling fan above the sweltering café patio, I told my friend, who was complaining of the still-air heat, “I am an engineer. I fuck with my environment to make it better.” After a few tugs, the dead fan sprung to life and kicked up a steady breeze below.
This line of action is the finest way I’ve found of nullifying the learned helplessness I’ve been taught along the way. I have agency; I don’t have to suffer. Nobody has to suffer. I can do a small public act and offer a bigger public gift: comfort. And what taught me this? That scene in “Men In Black” where Will Smith’s character loudly dragged the heavy table over to his egg chair so he could write. That intentionality is what saves the world.
Get up and improve something.