Category: Choice

What Time is it?

“What time is it on the clock of the world?” I remember the first time I heard Grace Lee Boggs use the phrase her husband James had brilliantly coined. Not simply what time is it in my day, in my existence, but what is the time on the clock of the world? For decades now the couple’s passion for humanity helped spark a revival of community in Detroit and beyond.

There are precious few who call us to a greater awareness of our commonality. Yet everyone has the ability to feel the preciousness of our interconnection. Everyone enjoys the benefit of unity. 

In many cultures children are raised to understand their position within a lineage and the importance of community. They’re taught to maintain the circle of life and are invited to play their significant role, whatever that may be.

How fortunate are those who have maintained their cultural relevance in a time when many are hell bent on assimilation. Spending time with indigenous people who recognize the sacredness of all life and who understand the concept of “all my relations” is a cherished gift. We can learn so very much as we unlearn separation.

What time is it on the clock of the world? It’s time to relinquish our self-importance. It’s time to return the garden.  

If you have the good fortune to find yourself in the company of those who are striving for the good of all, play your part.  Play it to the best of your ability. 

As long as we’re alive the game is afoot. And not all the plays have yet been made. There’s still time on the clock for human kindness to prevail.

Neglect is Abuse

On this Fourth of July I exercise my patriotic right to dissent. I cannot celebrate a nation so very willing to talk a good game and live another. We can and we must do better.

From this week’s “Consider This”:

From 1869 through the 1960’s thousands of Native children were forced from their families into residential schools for “cultural assimilation”. Many never made it home again.

As hundreds of unmarked graves continue to be located near former Canadian schools, Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland launched a similar search of old boarding schools here in the United States. This project is set to complete in 2022, opening wounds and bringing closure to the inhuman practices of our government towards Native people.

And a friend asked me, “Do you think they were abused?” I responded, “Neglect is abuse.” 

We’re talking about children. We’re talking about ripping families apart. We’re talking about inadequate facilities and more importantly we’re talking about uprooting the sources of love and respect of their very existence.

And before you think, “How awful, how could that have happen?” Let’s go over a few more facts: More than 14,000 migrant children are now in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services, some have been held in overcrowded Border Patrol facilities, some have been relocated to emergency sites like Fort Bliss. Some have been held in these places for months. Thousands are held in Fort Bllss in tents, in the desert…children…

There are reasons people are fleeing their homes. A lot has to do with US foreign policy. And the link between violence and gun trafficking from our country can no longer be denied. 

So before you say, “How could this have happened?” think on this: It has happened on our watch. It is and has happened during the leadership of both parties for decades. 

We can stop this cycle of violence and inhumanity, but it will take all of us. We need a revolution of the heart. We need a revolution of understanding and kindness. 

It will begin with those who care. 

image compliments of wikimedia commons

The Greatest Lie

Two hundred and fifteen children’s bodies were unearthed at a former residential school for Indigenous youth. Forced assimilation was the hallmark of schools throughout North America. 

And we are finally acknowledging the 1921 massacre of Tulsa’s thriving Black community, as we continue to uncover the systematic racism that haunts us.  

These are not merely historical one-offs. The mindset that created them is alive and permeates all dominant cultures. It’s a sickness that forbids diversity and that is why trans people are among today’s targets. It’s a virus willing to stifle anything and anyone that may interrupt its control and that is why children from Palestine are routinely arrested, as are imprisoned Uighurs of China and on and on…

If we view these atrocities as separate issues, change seems hopeless. How can we possibly stop all inhuman acts? We lack the will and our excuses are endless. But if we look to the source of the sickness…we have a chance.

Our sensibilities give way to self-destruction. Our insistence on conformity and our inability to see ourselves in another allow ignorance to thrive. It’s not enough to “love the sinner and not the sin”, as my Christian friends are eager to say.  No, it is best to slay the dragon of judgment that we each carry. 

It’s not enough to cry for the two hundred and fifteen children and their families, rather we must stop perpetuating the greatest ignorance of humankind: that we are separate from the whole. It is the greatest lie.

One people. One planet. Every action carries consequence. Every silence is betrayal.

Print / photo compliments of wikimedia commons.

For more on the evolution of humankind, Listen to John Trudell.

Hold Onto Wonder

In years past I traveled the world. Humanity’s contrasts of life styles and beliefs are a marvel, but it was witnessing our similarities that touched me. At the end of the day, we all want and need the same things. Good food, clean water, fresh air, “a little elbow room”* to live as we please, and peace. Settling into farm life, I questioned if my travel discoveries had come to an end… but now it seems the world comes here.

This region is a magnet for people seeking to enjoy the natural world and a simpler way of life. There is migration afoot in this melting pot of milk and honey and I’m grateful for the kaleidoscope of diversity and the richness it brings.  

People often say, “It feels like home,” and I smile because the “home” to which they refer is not the terrain. It’s in the welcome, the beauty and the acceptance. “Home is where the heart is” most surely and when we live within our heart, we’re always at home.

They visit in one season or another and usually leave wanting to see them all. The stars are the same stars, the moon is the same moon, but living outside the neon jungle is a rare gift and those who have not lost the wonder of it appreciate the darkness. 

And in all of this coming and going and listening to each other’s stories, I learn why one has said she’s from Burma instead of Myanmar, and glean deeper understanding of Palestine from a young Muslim couple. 

For a brief time difference is irrelevant and human sweetness is victor once more.

Hold onto wonder. It opens the door to Love.

Hold Israel Accountable

What’s happening to Palestinians is a crime against humanity. Eleven days of Israeli bombs have, with full knowledge and disregard, wiped out entire families, schools, hospitals and communities. Still the government of Netanyahu refuses to let up. 

Make no mistake it is genocide.

Yes, Hamas chose to retaliate the Israeli police attacks on Palestinians in Jerusalem. Much like Geronimo refused to go quietly into the hell of his oppressors. Much like Jewish men and women of the Warsaw Ghetto fought against the Nazis in 1943.  

No one should die. Either side. Innocents are caught in the cross fire. Dominant culture exacts its power aided by United States weaponry and yet another president unwilling to hold Israel accountable. 

But how surprised should we be? Zionist thinking fuels this “good Christian nation” and our history’s attempt to exterminate Native people was a playbook for Hitler’s holocaust. 

We could end this horrible tragedy with one strong united voice.

But we have not yet learned that it is a very few people pulling the strings of war. We haven’t learned that our collective voice for peace could prevail, but for that to happen the silent must speak.

Yes, the silent must speak, those who have grown weary of their allegiance to hatred even though it comes in the form of religion and government. 

Yes, the silent must speak, those who have not lost compassion and are brave and loving enough to say, “No more.”

It’s wise to remember that a people are not their government. Jewish people the world over – and in Israel – are standing for peace. 

Everyone knows the blockade of Gaza; the injustice and loss of life are inhuman. To remain quiet now is to sanction Israeli apartheid.

Let us act on our humanity. Speak up.

image compliments of wikimedia commons and Carlos Latuff

Disarm the Police

The ruthless killing of Black men and others by police is being challenged, as it should. Thinking people and those who suffered the consequences of force run amuck are working towards creating new systems. Phrases like “defund the police”, “disarm the police”, and “abolish the police” are being discussed as we come to this fork in the road. 

Some are willing to explore the possibility of life without policing, as we have known it. They are championing funding for mental health care and community support. They’re educating us on the historical roots of policing that was created to maintain the wealth and property of the upper class. And they’re upending the myth “to serve and protect.”

In truth we should all welcome this evolutionary moment. But some do not believe in evolution. And it shows. We were all handed a system and some are determined to stick with it – for good or for bad. Their resistance to change shows in “Back the Blue” signs. It shows in comments of how people should obey the police. “If you are innocent, no need to run, right?” Wrong.

As an institution the police force is beyond repair. Doubt it? When a twenty-six year veteran, instructor and past union president of the police force can’t tell the difference between a Taser and a gun…they’re either lying or living proof that the system is beyond repair. Some police are driven by fear of other, some by hatred and some are all too clear what betrayal to their comrades will mean.

Make no mistake; we have arrived. The conversation has begun and we will either go kicking and screaming into that good night or we will embrace what should have happened long ago. 

Disarm the police. Demilitarize our lives.

We’re better than this. 

photo: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

No Mandate for Kindness

The Wisconsin Supreme Court once again shut down the mask mandate for the state. Within moments jubilation was resounding in the streets, in the market, on social media and even in our little library. 

Sitting quietly there, I heard this conversation from behind, “Oops, I can’t believe I forgot my mask. “ Then another, “You don’t need it. Do you have your shots?”  The voice got closer and she coughed right behind my chair, “yeah, you don’t need masks now, no mandate.”

Yep. She’s right, there is no mandate for common sense and there never was a mandate for kindness. 

To all who have received shots and believe you are impervious…clearly you have not read the fine print. Vaccinations may or may not stop you from contracting the virus. It may only decrease the severity. And your ability to carry the virus means you may still spread it to others.  

Tuesday was Election Day. I was grateful to see our poll workers masked and distancing. But apparently other towns were intent on flaunting their “freedoms” and callously displayed the ignorance gripping our nation and refusing to let go.

It doesn’t matter if you believe that masks work or don’t. It doesn’t matter that leadership is more eager to battle than to help. It doesn’t matter if you’re a liberal anti-vaxer or a conservative science hater. The sideshows don’t matter.

What matters is your consideration of others. What matters is your willingness to recognize that in this moment of time we are all interconnected. What matters is your ability to care.

People are still dying. Mutations are still occurring. This worldwide crisis is separating living human beings from those who are merely pretending. 

The only way to beat this pandemic is to become respectful human beings. Therein lies your freedom. 

Photo courtesy:  Dcpeopleandeventsof2017/wikimediacommons

Nine Minutes and Twenty-Nine Seconds

The Derek Chauvin trail has begun. 

Instead of over eight minutes of Chauvin with his knee on the neck of George Floyd, we now know it was 9 minutes and 29 seconds. 

We know the first two arresting officers had handcuffed George Floyd and that he had begun to plead, “Please don’t shoot me.” And that he expressed fear of getting into the squad car. 

Then Officer Chauvin and his partner arrived. 

The four officers’ escalation of force had bystanders expressing concern for the safety of George Floyd. And one by one they spoke tearfully and painfully from the witness stand of how they watched George Floyd killed that day. 

They spoke of feeling helpless. They spoke of regret. They wondered what more they could have done to save the life of a man they did not know. They recognized it could’ve easily been one of them, there on the cement, held by four men with a man’s knee on their neck. For 9 minutes and 29 seconds.

They’ll never forget George Floyd begging for his life, crying out that he couldn’t breathe, and calling for his mother.

The entire world is watching. And again we are reliving the senseless killing of a man of color by an officer sworn to protect and defend. Once again we hear the defense of fear as the excuse given to treat another human being as less than.

I can’t help but recall the photos I’ve seen of white hoods and hatred. Of whips and forced removals, of white ugliness cloaked in religion and shielded by politics and the “law”.

And I hope and pray that we see ourselves on trial and that we make it our business to not turn away. Make it change.

Say his name. George Floyd.

photo courtesy of No Spiritual Surrender on Facebook.

Reversing Apathy

“It will never change”. This phrase pops up a lot these days when conversations turn towards conscientious gun laws, ending systemic racism, reversing climate change…you name it. 

Whatever demands we move towards more humane and dignified living, people are quick to say, “it can never happen”.

Really? Of course change can happen. Change is the one thing you can be sure of…but how will it change? In what direction will it change? Will we dive deeper into division, pummeled by lobbyists devoted to violence and war? Will self-serving politicians and clergy manipulate us?  Or will we overcome the apathy that accompanies our unconsciousness?

In a matter of four years, we changed from a country whose whispered racist undertones rose to a crescendo. Who are we, with our doubts and our unconscious apathy, to think we can stop it from changing again – this time for the better?

Martin Luther King was very right when he spoke of the silence of our friends and the mediocrity of whites as being the greatest enemies of humanity and justice. And I add this to his list of enemies: doubt. We doubt our power because we do not know our power. We have not yet understood the strength of our humanity.

When we realize our interconnectedness, we will stop being satisfied with our own personal status quo. Activists call it intersectional thinking. I call it common sense. When empathy and compassion reign in our hearts, they will again reign in our land.

As a nation we refused to protect ourselves from a pandemic just as we have repeatedly refused to protect ourselves from gun violence. 

But it’s not too late. 

Change will come, of that there is no doubt. But the direction change will take… that is still within our grasp. Get in the game.

Above meme credit: Lisa Ann

In Numbness We Stand

On February 25th, the United States carried out an act of military retaliation on a Syrian village making Biden the seventh consecutive president to bomb the Middle East. Senators Kaine and Murphy called for congressional hearings on the legality of the bombing. Representative Ro Khanna made it clear that without imminent threat the president must get Congressional approval…but so it goes.

We are a nation of people unwilling to end war. Words like “necessary deterrent” and “collateral damage” have made us numb to the blood on our hands. The Syrian village was bombed in retaliation to an earlier airstrike in Iraq that killed a Philippine contractor and wounded a United States soldier – let that sink in. Various reports indicate that we killed 3 to 22 people. Nobody knows for sure and those that care are intentionally not heard. Oh and the village was “believed to be” occupied by militias. That’s right, “believed to be”.

The smoke and mirrors of both parties in using our military, our soldiers, and our name to preserve and protect the precious oil in the Middle East is horrifying. And yet it continues. It continues because we have grown numb. We accept the headlines and stop reviewing the details. 

We have forsaken the sanctity of life. We cannot be bothered to demand tools of diplomacy be our first choice. Yet our weapons become more sophisticated, more deadly and more expensive. 

And today’s greatest lie is “we must preserve our way of life”, while we bomb villages, and destroy the earth for fossil fuels and to fill a few wealthy pockets.

We have relied on “might is right” for far too long. I look forward to the day when one human life is as valuable as another and this Christian nation lives up to its boasts.

Photo compliments of Creative Commons Attribution – Wikimedia Commons