Choice – Page 15 – let kindness win

Something’s Happening

There’s something much greater happening right now than an election, and no, it is not the selection of a Supreme Court Justice, and no, it is not the ongoing crisis of a pandemic that never had to be this out of control…

There is something much greater, and much more immediate that’s happening. The intense polarizations are leaving us with a choice. Will we continue to participate in the downward spiral of separation and hatred or will we reclaim our connectedness and our humanity?

The choice is always there.

I found a young rooster who had been beaten up by the others of his flock. His jaw is broken and it appears that his spine is broken as well, but still he stood and wobbled as he walked. I gave him some water and put food into his broken beak. He responded in a positive way and we have worked out systems that keep him safe and well fed. I bathe him with dust and he grooms himself with it. I am amazed at how much I love him and how my love has grown. His desire to live is a great teacher to me. And I will assist him as long as he needs.

Our hearts have the capacity to love deeply and without restriction. And love itself is the reward.

That is the choice before us. We can maintain foolish divides or we can allow ourselves to love and to heal.

The status quo is full of contradictions and hypocrisy. The beliefs that we have inherited have made us very sick. But the remedy has always been at hand. Love. Love foolishly, love graciously. And appreciate the fact that you can love. It is a gift.

Love is our greatest ally and our greatest weapon.

Love lavishly.

Time to Say “Uncle”

I found a young evergreen we had given up for dead. I wondered what tripped me and turned around to see this young sapling waving or so it seemed. It had been mowed, driven over and walked on, yet still it stood. I was impressed with its resilience and promised to return.

An all day rain seemed to give it more life as I pounded a few stakes and fenced it for protection. One never knows the outcome when love and attention are given, but the very act of kindness offers immediate reward for the giver.

The destruction of Hurricane Laura and the seemingly endless wildfires out west on top of a pandemic and an exceptionally dysfunctional leadership are testing the resiliency of many. As the numbers of homeless rise and I hear the sadness and fear in the voices of my friends, I know we have come to the time of saying “Uncle”.

Saying “Uncle” dates back to the Romans and was uttered by children being bullied into submission. I don’t believe anyone deserves being bullied, nor do I believe in submission. But I do believe we have come to the end of a road. Climate change has intensified due to our energy choices and our inability to care. And while some are enjoying the high life, the truth is that a majority of us are being forced into poverty. We have come to the end of the road. The signs that pointed to prosperity neglected to tell us of the hazards along the way. Greed and indifference have taken their toll.

But as my young sapling reminded me today, it’s never over ‘til it’s over and a little care goes a long way. So here we are friends, with the opportunity to help one another. Let’s step up.

Take a Breath

The unrest continues in response to the police brutality used in the attempted homicide of Jacob Blake. White vigilantes fan the flames of racism on the streets of Kenosha. Too many on social media are applauding the seventeen year old who killed two protestors and far too many are defending the police who held a man by the shirt and shot seven bullets directly into his back.

And then there are the white commentaries bashing protestors for destroying property while omitting to comment on systemic and brutal racism.

Take a breath people. Jacob Blake’s mother asked that of us and I think it is a good starting point. And once you catch your breath, I think we should defect. To defect: to leave, without consent or permission, allegiances that we have espoused or participated in.

In this moment when insanity is breaking loose; we need to defect from our allegiance to inhumanity. We need to defect from the thinking that tells us there are many races and we need to embrace the single race of being human. We need to defect from the position that might is right and restorative justice is impossible. And most of all we need to stop judging one another and listen.

Over the years I have taken time to be with people different than myself. I have an Indigenous Grandmother, a Black Daughter, Sovereign Sisters and a Muslim Brother, not by blood or marraige, but by choice. And I choose to listen.

Our stories are different. Our hearts are the same.

So I’m defecting from ignorance and hate and I suggest you do the same. Peace is possible. Love is real and as we move towards that understanding, the world will change.

It’s up to us. It’s always been.

photo: wikimedia

Assert Our Humanity

For nearly four years we have watched a man upend human decency while far too many of us have cheered. Faith leaders have excused and even exalted him. Men have envied his power and women have given their power to him. We have heard him brag of sexual exploits and even boast that he could kill someone and get away with it. Well, from what I can see he has done far worse.

What could be worse? Fueled by our tolerance and by our loathing he has worked to dismantle human empathy, respect, and compassion for personal gain. But worse than breaking our dignity, he has modeled that behavior for imitators and children to emulate.

He has totally unleashed the “me, not us” attitude and has invited everyone to participate in the madness. He has turned a blind eye to those who are most likely to suffer from the pandemic. “It is what it is”, was what he offered. His bashing of anyone and everyone who is different should have ended his career in public office before it began. But Donald Trump is a master manipulator and we were ripe for the picking.

We have a long climb ahead of us to pull out of this gutter. But I believe we can do it. How we do it is key. We cannot keep throwing gasoline on the fire. We must find ways to mend the divide. His defeat in November needs to be a resounding thumping as we signal our return to “us, not me” and reject this era’s selfishness.

Let us keep walking into that “good trouble” as John Lewis invited. And remain vigilant. The time to assert our humanity has come. Let the richness of our spirit lead us. Let us not be fooled again.

An Election Won’t Save Us

It’s time for a do over. The bloody struggle with King George’s men did not give us independence. The king of corporate and wealth driven greed now enslaves us.

Every four years we get our hopes up that someone might in fact be listening and we engage in the destructive battle of joining sides. The pendulum swings and little changes. The two parties count on that.

We are an oligarchy*. Our leaders have always been chosen by power and money. Doubt it? Look up the letters to George Washington begging him to come to the Constitutional Convention. Apparently a Massachusetts farmer named Shay was tired of paying more taxes than even the King had asked. He formed a militia and demanded change. Fearing this mood of disharmony would catch on in other states, a convention was called. The Constitution was constructed to create and to strengthen the federal side of the union. It was deliberately designed to protect the wealth and the property of the wealthy. A representative republic was formed, not a one-man vote democracy.

It was not merely a slight of the era that Blacks, Natives and Women were ignored. It was a conscious and purposeful choice. Maintaining power is intentional.

Let’s be clear, I will vote against the puppet currently holding the presidency, but I am not jumping for joy at the alternative puppet.

I am also not advocating violent overthrow. I am advocating the most radical change of all: that each of us take the position of being human first; that respect and care for one another and for the earth becomes paramount; and that we live as if we are the recipients of a great gift and are choosing to leave a great legacy.

We have the means. Do we have the will?

ol·i·gar·chy

/ˈäləˌɡärkē/

noun

No Ordinary Love

We have a need. It may not be as obvious as our need for air, water, food and shelter, but it is there. Some call it peace, but it was there before the word “peace”. It’s a feeling and I’m quite certain it’s in everyone.

These days of unrest, of turmoil and uncertainty can suck life from us drop by drop. The image of the vampire was born of this. Horror stories of the living dead are meant to scare us. But to what end? Our efforts and our desires drive us to stay alive. We want to live. Yet the challenge before us is not to merely survive; our challenge is to flourish. And that can seem illusive and insurmountable as the walls come tumbling down.

Battle lines are being drawn on nearly every front. We are fractured and divided over the most ridiculous things. It’s weary making, if you let it.

Or we can follow our need. There is a place within us that is the eye of the storm and where we can find strength and solace. Love can take you there, but it’s not superficial love. It is the kind of Love that wells up inside when you least expect it. It is the kind of Love that calls for our attention and our care. The manifestations of this Love are kindness and compassion and with all the things that are demanding our focus right now, let us not forsake this Love.

The world is asking us to take sides. And we will take sides. But as we do, we cannot ignore the cry of our heart. We cannot walk into the battle without our armor. Take time to know the Love that holds you. It is no ordinary Love.

Tremendous thanks to Prem Rawat for helping me tap into the Love. You can find more at Timeless Today.

The photo is a poem of Hafiz

Through the Eye of a Needle

There is a lovely canopy of green that blankets my world this time of year. From May through October my cabin sits in the midst of it. My closest neighbors are deer, coyote and a variety of birds, small animals and insects. Through these months as I sit in the silence of an Internet and television free environment, I have the opportunity to think and to feel.

During the days, I catch glimpses of the news, and from social media I learn what many are thinking. For the most part we think about and are driven by what we believe. We have an allegiance to what we believe and so we seek the company of people and of the ideas that uphold those beliefs. This is the beginning of the isolation and the division we are witnessing today. We have become more invested in our beliefs than in our humanity.

Today I took a moment to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and was a bit surprised that I remembered it. When I got to “with liberty and justice for all” I was jolted by the memory of why I stopped saying it. For me, it simply wasn’t true.

The sentiment is lovely, the ideal is honorable but I couldn’t pledge allegiance to something that did not exist. It brought me to that incredible moment when belief and knowing collide and you must choose which you will follow.

To leave beliefs behind is not easy. It’s like passing a camel through the eye of a needle. But I have found a simple solution. I follow my knowing. And I am honing my knowing to some very basic things: our humanity is what we share and kindness is our greatest strength. “Liberty and justice for all” will be born of this.

Photo is a Czech movie poster to Czech film Velbloud uchem jehly (1936). A comedy film with an allusion to the “eye of a needle” aphorism.

Play To Your Strengths

Summertime social distancing is pretty easy when the venues are the open spaces. Living near Wildcat Mountain State Park and the Kickapoo Valley Reserveoffers immense beauty, incredible night skies, and lots of people seeking to escape their cities during the pandemic.

Nothing new, except for this: the gratitude that people are expressing for the land, the quiet and the simplicity. The appreciation is palpable. It’s as if, the world has had to come to a stop to help us remember how intoxicating living on the earth really is…

We’ve had a young man visiting who enjoys fishing. Nearly everyday he explores another of the wondering creeks that feed into the Kickapoo. When he returns, he recounts the trials of fishing but he also delights at the beauty he witnessed and I get to enjoy his enjoyment as I listen. Sharing this little piece of heaven is easy when appreciation gushes so readily.

People stop by, eager for conversation. Hoping to hear some good news and relieved when no hardships are discussed. Rural people are accustomed to solitude. We are accustomed to challenge. For the most part we love the land and try our best to do no harm.

And now in these summer months as people seek solitude and the immense beauty that is here, we can welcome them and invite them to be here conscientiously. Maintaining social distance and wearing a mask while entering our businesses is a sign of respect, not of weakness.

Autumn will soon be here and winter will be on its heels. If we’ve not yet learned the importance of protecting our selves and our loved ones, the cold months may bring a harsh visitor to our doors.

We have great strengths. Now it’s up to each of us to use them.

Nothing Less Will Do

Native peoples and environmentalists celebrated this week as a judge ruled that the Dakota Access Pipeline should be shut down pending a full impact review. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline has been cancelled and the Keystone XL Pipeline was stalled again in court. In addition, public pressure on a Washington, DC football team is forcing them to remove their racist name. Finally.

“Take your knee from my neck” is the silent and not so silent sentiment among people no longer willing to suffer senseless inhumanity.

While monuments of bronze and granite are being toppled, it is the ideals of colonialism and capitalism that are being unraveled. We are learning the torturous costs of building empire and the dismantling of it is long overdue.

Goliath does not go down without a fight, but the battle will not be won on his terms. The battle is won by conviction and the knowledge that there are better ways to coexist.

We do not have to fear this transformation. We have explored the brutal side of humanity; now let us lead with kindness and respect.

In these uncertain times, the certainty is this: to the people who have fought tirelessly for water and the earth; for those who honor their ancestry with a will to do more than endure; and for the ones who recognize that humanity is far greater than we have ever allowed it to be – this is our time.

Mainstream politics may not reflect it. Some religion may fight to conceal it, but this resurgence will not be stopped.

The strength and the resiliancy of our communities will be reflected by how we care for one another, how we listen to one another and how we honor one another. Nothing less will do.

Photo taken at Oceti Sakowin camp. My time in the camp continues to inspire and direct my course. Water is Life.

Category: Choice