The connotative study of words can be fascinating as their history and culture enable the word to be not only widely used but also spread and altered over time. The beauty of our language is that it can offer comfort as often as it does despair. Juggernaut is one of those gems.
Originating from Hindi, juggernaut is derived from Jagannath--a term for the Hindu god Krishna meaning "lord of the world." It came into common usage in the English language in the early nineteenth century, probably as a result of British colonization of India. In the Indian town of Puri a festival is held where Jagannath is dragged on top of a heavy chariot through the streets. The image conjures a massive inexorable force that threatens to destroy all in its path.
The British have a similar cultural meaning for juggernaut. A huge lorry barreling down the motorway is frequently referred to as a juggernaut, and no doubt the average UK driver will cautiously maneuver around any vehicle that size. On the other hand, this word does not slip habitually off the American tongue, if at all. If you were a Marvel comics fan of the 60s, you no doubt are familiar with the merciless and destructible fictional bad guy called Juggernaut, but where does that leave the rest of us?
The common usage of juggernaut may not be part of the ordinary American vocabulary, but that doesn't mean we don't feel the effects of it, and mightily. I asked a number of friends and family to describe the personal juggernaut--the unstoppable, dominant power, currently dominating their lives. With the exception of two people, their answers pointed to the metaphorical tsunami sweeping over them. The one prevailing trait was the level of restriction and containment of the Covid-19 quarantine, the way it bridled their lives and left people in a quandary ranging from disappointment to bewilderment. The virus, the protests in George Floyd's honor, the BLM movement, and all subsequent life changes have upset our comfort zone as well as the ability to battle everyday stresses. The day to day uncertainty delivered by fear of illness and death, joblessness and inability to feed one's family and take care of basic needs, the injustices endured by POC, the concomitant barrage of bad news from local and national television and social media, the long wait for a vaccine, and the unexpected, painful containment of our lives compelled by quarantine--this is a horrific juggernaut Americans, and even people the world over, have not experienced since the 1940s.
But wait, you ask, what about the two people whose responses were different?
Hmm. Well, they were interesting and definitely worth considering. Although they described their juggernauts differently, both answers amounted to the same power: love. One said her juggernaut was her puppy that she loves with all her heart. The other response was simply "Love IS power." We know all the bad stuff about that steamroller effect of juggernaut, but might there be another unstoppable, dominant power in our lives that we desire, that we actually need in abundance?
Christians believe in a God who sacrificed His Son Jesus out of love for all humanity. They follow the scripture that says, "God is love." Mothers and fathers, and sometimes grandparents, go to unimaginable lengths to protect and provide for their children. Family members donate their available organs to improve the quality and lengthen the lives of people they don't want to live without. Decades of research show that babies who are loved thrive whereas those who aren't held and loved become weak. We know that the compassion we show to our fellow human beings in their darkest days transfers to them the power to survive. Even beloved pets have the capacity to lengthen our lives, and when they are gone, the love is so strong we feel as if we have lost a dear family member. The power of juggernaut, the same indomitable force that has the potential to destroy, may also have the muscle to change our lives for the good. What if it doesn't always look like that inexorable mass of power headed our way?
Perhaps both the negative and positive connotations of juggernaut provide the necessary balance that allows us to wade through the storm to get safely to dry land. Although Carl Sandburg didn't use the word juggernaut in his poetry, I imagine his portrayal of love in "Little Word, Little White Bird" to be a quiet but dynamic horsepower that energizes us and moves us forward without the burden of anxiety and pain.
And it won’t help any, it won’t get us anywhere,
it won’t wipe away what had been
nor hold off what is to be,
if you hear me saying
love is a little white bird
and the flight of it so fast
you can’t see it
and you know it’s there
only by the faint whirr of its wings
and the hush song coming so low to your ears
you fear it might be silence
and you listen keen and you listen long
and you know it’s more than silence
for you get the hush song so lovely
it hurts and cuts into your heart
and what you want is to give more than you can get
and you’d like to write it but it can’t be written
and you’d like to sing it but you don’t dare try
because the little white bird sings it better than you can
so you listen and while you listen you pray
and after you pray you meditate, then pray more
and one day it’s as though a great slow wind
had washed you clean and strong inside and out
and another day it’s as though you had gone to sleep
in an early afternoon sunfall and your sleeping heart
dumb and cold as a round polished stone,
and the little white bird’s hush song
telling you nothing can harm you,
the days to come can weave in and weave out
and spin their fabrics and designs for you
and nothing can harm you–
unless you change yourself into a thing of harm
nothing can harm you.
Go forth and prosper in the power of love, friends!
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