Not my circus

January 3, 2020

Should we worry about the possibility of war between Iran and the U.S.?

This question occurred to me last night when I returned home from my weekly meditation group and learned that the U.S. had used a drone to kill Iran’s top military commander, Major General Qassim Suleimani, as he arrived in Iraq.

At first I was pleased to learn of Suleimani’s death, since he has been the main architect of Iran’s support of various terrorist groups in the Middle East. And I’m also no fan of the religious fanatics that run the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. I see the Iranian leadership in very negative terms due to their oppression of their own people and their support of violent groups and actions in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, and elsewhere.

But I noticed last night and today that I was feeling angry and resentful as I read about Suleimani and the Iranian government. I found myself imagining how this ongoing tension between the U.S. and Iran could escalate, and how I’d want to see the Iranian military destroyed if a war were to break out.

In other words, I bought into the drama.

As I began to notice the toxic effects of that anger in my body – higher blood pressure, and a tightening of my breath and of my stomach muscles – I realized that I was choosing to focus my attention upon an ugly scenario that does not need to be my problem. Yet by giving my energy to this developing crisis, I was making it my problem. I was allowing my emotions to get caught up in the excitement of the moment.

Perhaps I need to learn a lesson in detachment.

Recently I was enjoying a Christmas meal with my longtime friend Joseph, and we found ourselves discussing the problems of a mutual friend. Joseph surprised me by using an expression that I had never heard before to indicate his preference for non-involvement in our friend’s predicament: “Not my circus, not my monkeys.” In other words, Joseph chooses not to get drawn into our friend’s soap opera. He cares about her, and wishes her well. He just prefers to focus his attention on more constructive pursuits in the present moment, rather than getting sucked into someone else’s melodrama.

So in the coming days, weeks, and months, I will continue to follow the unfolding events in the Middle East. And I will hope that those events don’t spiral out of control into a full-blown war.

But war or no war, I don’t intend to worry about it.