Pop 89: The Habit of Joy

By Madonna Hamel

“People seem lost,” says Betty while I wait for the library kettle to boil. "We don't have any real gathering place or reason to get together anymore. It feels like no one's been happy for a long time." I agree. "And when we do, the room seems to degenerate so quickly into gossip and complaining. I miss the church."  When The Nativity was open, we gathered to celebrate the liturgy  - a ritual of worship, not of money or celebrity or the latest culinary treat or pop music icon. It gave us a chance to meet together yet rise above ourselves. To transcend.

I remember my mom saying how important church was for the community. It was where everyone met and shared a meal, and I miss that. When the church was still open, we may not have always felt joy at every mass, but we put ourselves in the path of it. The liturgy of mass provided and facilitated time and ritual to focus on a deeper sustained joy—a joy that doesn't come from winning the lottery, a playoff, or even choosing a political candidate. 

Writer Tish Harrison Warren defines "the liturgies of living" as "the habits we enforce." What we practice is who we are. Whether it's buying, whining, or catastrophizing, what I practice reveals who I am - what shapes me, what I love and adore and crave. 

So, when the DNC announced their "politics of joy" campaign I wondered: is that a thing? Can you just muster up joy like you can a compliment? I will admit, their optimism was more winning than the RNC's politics of fear and contempt, a politic that insisted the world was in need of policing and bullying. Still, both sides seemed a little hysterical in their delivery, whether the RNC wishing worst on their enemies or the DNC the best for everybody.

I don't think the "politics of joy" is something you can create. In fact, I don't think joy has a political source. Joy is the purview of the Spirit. Whipping a convention center into a frenzy of happy delirium is no more reassuring than whipping a convention Center into a frenzy of cruel laughter.

Humans are capable of being joyful - but you can't just tell folks it's time to feel it or manufacture it. Joy is a practice, a habit needing rigorous tending and nurturing. But you can encourage hope. Only, that word was already taken - twenty years ago by Obama. 

However, Harris has to have been a joy-nurturer all these years just to have made it this far. How else does a female politician continue doing her job amidst a press who, across the board, just can't seem to get its head around the idea of a woman as a leader of America. That's because the media itself sexualizes every female in front of a camera, from newscasters to volleyball players. False eyelashes and, plunging necklines and cascading curls can get in the way of doing your job as a reporter. In fact, they can be counter-productive when it comes to be taken seriously.

Often joy is sparked by wonder, by a willingness to be enchanted by life. By being open to awe. But even then, we need to be present to those moments of enchantment and awe to be receptive to the experience of joy. And that, more often than not, means joy grows out of a long and dedicated journey toward joy. It's an emanation, not a an instant emotion bidden by others.

The "politics of joy" approach, if looked at in another way, is a new way of looking at strong, capable, smart women smiling at the world. Harris' smile is something more than a harmless or inane ham for the camera. Maybe her smile and laugh is due to the genuine thrill of being acknowledged for the hours of hard work she's put into her career as lawyer, DA, senator and VP. Maybe it's a bit overwhelming to be acknowledged appropriately for a change. 

And maybe, just maybe, a smile is exactly what is called for after decades of scowls, gangsta-posturing and raised eyebrow threats. Maybe the world is tired of fear tactics as a form of crowd control.

I still don't believe we can summon up joy in a hot minute. But I'm relieved that a woman's smile is being portrayed as something more than insipid goofiness or a sexual come-on. I'm glad that a woman who works hard gets rewarded. Perhaps the best part of Barak Obama's speech was his tribute to women - to mom's, especially black mom's and aunties, who, in my experience of them, have always been a fearless glue, holding families, communities and dreams together. 

Obama talked about "the strong, smart, resourceful women" throughout history who were "full of common sense" who "went about their business" undeterred by and disinterred in "bullies and braggarts". He talked about women "smarter than the work they did" who toiled at "jobs too small for them" in order to break down barriers for the next generation. "Putting down others is no life; for them life is a card game and a meal shared by friends." 

I will add that a successful life does not mean being a celebrity - America's most democratic obsession. You do not have to be rich or famous to be joyful. In fact, joy seems less tangible with the scrutiny, criticism, attacks and expectations that come with fame and fortune. Women outside the limelight understand the small joys of living and of caring for others. And they are getting their due - and that's a joyful thing.

It is a giant cultural leap forward for our culture to register a female politician's grin not as a comment on her brain power or her sex appeal but, refreshingly, on her capacity for joy in a crazy and often cruel world.