We’re all aware of what Donald Trump is not, but if he’s anything at all, what is it? If Zohran Mamdani in New York is anything, he reminds us of what an elected official is elected to do. And he wasn’t even born here.

Contrasts help us to see what our choices are. They let us see more clearly our own feelings, our own grasp of situations and their ramifications. Unfortunately, in today’s world, points of view are like a captain unwilling to change tack or course even though the breeze has changed directions. Sailing analogies have much to teach us. If the crew doesn’t follow the captain’s orders because they see them as possibly an imminent danger to the ship and crew, what’s to be done? In stormy conditions the decisions are more clear cut and the crew knows what to do — shorten sail, batten down the hatches, and all hands on deck.

Saving the ship, protecting the lives of the crew, knowing the job you need to do, speaking up when serious or life-threatening conditions are present. No formalities here, We all depend on each other.

Democracy has its all hands on deck aspects, as we can now see. It too, sails along on its merry way and we, its passengers depend on the captain and crew to deliver them safely to their destinations.

Quite a difference it would seem are things on land without the constrictions imposed by the vagaries of wind and sea, currents and floating objects, and sub-surface dangers. The sea provides its metaphors for the hapless and ill-prepared above. But just think about the whales and other sea creatures, subject to Man’s predatory intrusions and exploitations. Underwater realms cannot reverse the course of above water incursions. Life will try to adapt with varying degrees of success, readapt to imposed changes or eventually become extinct.

How foul and feeble is the recognition of our complicity. How magnificent our abilities to observe and effect change. Why do we choose violence and displacement, annihilation, then build marble monuments, mass detention centers, we do to ourselves what nature never imposes on us. Century on century we survived and grew. Life has always been about connectivity and survival. An agreement over just what beauty was all about.

So here we are, faced with the ineffable. That’s something profound for which there may be no words, no image, something that transforms and reinvents itself, is untouchable. I love that idea. It means we’ve dispensed with the idea that life is determinant, rather destiny resting on our own desires and actions, the universe which is wide open: We are indeed magical.

Only when we are uplifted by what can or might be, and where we accept the road that provides real answers, will we fully step up to the task before us, when we have decided to make this the final round.

We know that the current nonsense affecting the country and world should be in its final gasps, replaced with the triumph of dignity, honor, and trust. So far our wars have brought us anything but. After sorrow and loss, each of us must be an example, the best role of our ability and lives.

But there are still many things in the way.

The size of the evolution taking place. The displacement of outworn ideas that accomplish nothing. Misunderstanding our own personal struggles in the context of global upheavals, environmental degradation, political turmoil, techno-oligarchy, etc. To many, they are victims, the subjugates, for who’s suffering the powerful should and must be accountable. The pain that greed and selfishness inflict obscures the true nature of ourselves and the powers we possess.

We have leaders today who’s concerns, rather than magnify and address the real concerns of people, are caught in the maelstrom of self-wealth and regard. A contest over wealth and power that has nothing at all to do with our own struggles and aspirations. How dare we imagine that our abilities and desires might lie outside the usual parameters of material accumulation. We work hard for success and visualize that our powers and abilities will contribute to the advancement of our mutual well-being.

We haven’t quite figured how to get around the problem of what others in power wish us to be. Is that too big a statement? Docile combatants? Happy consumers? Complacent sectarians? Placid performers? Loving spouses? Reliable providers? Never rock the boat, accept the world as it is, know your role. Love is always the fallback. Friendships can never be undervalued or taken for granted?

Before us lies the new world order: The human as algorithmic function. Everything we do will be part of an algorithmic descriptive. Can art save us? Novels give us perspective, films make our choices clearer, music still taps into our soul? Our relationships remain honest, true to the heart? What have we become? My advice — stay human at all costs.

Alan Harris lives in Shelburne Falls.