Category: Humanity

Roll Up Your Sleeves

It’s a new day only if we make it so.  Clear thinking, less words and more action are essential.  Love is imperative. 

The finger pointing must end – from all angles, because if you haven’t noticed there are more than two sides to this nightmare.  Somehow and by some grace we are being given another chance to make the promises of this nation manifest.

The word nation refers to people that populate a land and hold things in common. For us to be a nation we must do some house keeping and some healing.

For us to be a nation will require an honest acknowledgement of our treatment of Native Peoples since the beginning. It will demand our recognition of systemic racism and our deliberate eradication of it.  It will force us to undo the legacy of classism, which is allowing the pandemic to take the most vulnerable among us.

For us to be a nation, we will need to honor the land we walk on, the air we breathe and the water so essential to life. We will need to surge ahead ending our use of fossil fuels and do all we can to protect the earth.

For us to be a nation, we must care for the least of us. There’s no need for hunger or for people to be without shelter. Our food systems have drifted into industrialization. The true cost for this has been our diminished health. Yet the solutions are simple and present. We can grow food. We can help one another. The earth can feed and shelter all of us. 

For us to be a nation, we cannot rely on any one man, woman or vaccine. We are sovereign human beings coming together for the common good.

Roll up your sleeves. There’s work ahead.

A Wink and A Nod

Confederate flags, a noose and the cross referencing of Jesus and Trump signs were the images from the failed insurrection when five people died and some of us realized how vulnerable we are to white supremacy. 

It’s amazing how easily human beings can be led when given the dual excuses of racism and patriotism. Off duty police were part of the mob and called their fellow officers, who were there to protect and to serve, the enemy. Blue lives didn’t matter that day as one on-duty officer died of the beating he sustained. Allegiance to party disintegrated as calls for Pence to be hanged could be heard. No one is safe when the thirst for power is unhinged.

There it was displayed for the world to see the drama of white nationalism run amuck. But it’s the continued allegiance to the ignorance that has stymied me.  Republican Senators and Congressmen wouldn’t wear masks as they crammed into the safe zone at the Capitol, giving way to a rise in covid among them. And the calls to impeach are met with delusional grandeur by Congressmen still trying to sell election lies and defend the indefensible.

The wink and the nod is the way we keep our secrets.  The wink and the nod hides the insidious truths behind the façades of religious piety and a government that has never risen above the duplicity of violence and racism that was its foundation. 

It’s in the systemic corruption that allows peaceful protestors to be hosed, gassed and met with rubber bullets, while white terrorists are escorted in and out of the people’s house as they disrupt government proceedings. 

We won’t change it, if we don’t name it. This is not a partisan issue. It’s a human issue and we need to call it out.

The Arc Bends Towards Justice

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice”. Martin Luther King revived this Theodore Parker quote and the state of Georgia has reminded us again of its fundamental truth.

Reverend Raphael Warnock became the first Black senator of Georgia and the eleventh to hold that office.

In a week when the police murder of a Black child went unpunished; and a Wisconsin prosecutor declined to file charges against the officer who shot Jacob Blake – a Black man held by the shirt and shot seven times in the back, in view of his children and ultimately paralyzing him … We needed Warnock’s win. Not just Black people. All people, even the ones who remain defiant in their ignorance and claim white supremacy. We all needed this.

And then I forced myself to listen to Trump’s speech prior to the storming of the capitol by white nationalists. There is not a doubt in my mind that his words fed the anger and the actions of these terrorists. There is not a doubt in my mind that the on-duty force stood down as the insurrection took place. I have witnessed militarized police take action against peaceful protesters. There was none of that. The terrorists were determined to stop the proceedings and they succeeded. There was nothing peaceful about it.

Remember this: the arc of the universe bends towards justice – but it does not bend on its own. We need to stand firm against injustice. It’s within our reach to end the disease of hatred, but it will take each of us. It will take our honesty. It will take our courage and it will take our love. 

This country has tolerated the ignorance of racism since its inception. 

It’s time we end it.

2020’s Last Word

Many people are looking forward to midnight, as if the year’s woes will mysteriously disappear. Fairy tales and cocktails dull reality until it comes knocking at your door.

Covid upended us because we weren’t prepared. It isn’t covid. It’s our reluctance to accept that reality, as we know it is on rough waters. And instead of holding the helm deliberately through the storm, we relinquish it to division and fairy tales. 

And from what I can tell, in 2021 we’re poised to do the same. 

In case you haven’t heard. There is a new viral strain. It’s the same as the old, but even more contagious. So your fairy tales of invincibility, or “we are all going to die anyway” will again be put to the test.

Happy New Year.

But it could be a happy new year. It could be a year we remember the Golden Rule: to treat others, as you would like to be treated. 

It could be the year we welcome the understanding that we’re one race and put an end to systemic injustice. Say his name: #TamirRice.

And wouldn’t it be grand if we stood in solidarity to protect the planet for those to come? #StopLine3

We could let it be the year of restorative justice. And while we’re at it, we could provide good clean food for everyone, while we provide health care and education as well. Keep at it Bernie!

The military will have to stop sucking up the money, religions will have to preach, “love thy neighbor”, and corporations will need to be held accountable. 

That’s not impossible; it’s within our reach. 

But it’s up to us to demand.

You may be isolated, but you are not alone. Flip desperation to hope and action. 

Let’s make it a good year!

This Tearing of Our Souls

For those wishing for a return to the way things were, it might be time to surrender. The old is giving way to the new. No need to look back longingly. There is no time.

This demolition of life as we knew it, this tearing of our souls, is right on time. 

It’s a moment of rebirth and reset and Life demands our attention, our love and our courage to meet it. Our collective histories have been plagued by violence, isolation and inequity.  We have been wounded, but we’re not lost. 

In this season, as we celebrate the victory of light over darkness, in whatever ways we do, remember to celebrate our own light. We can acknowledge our significance to the whole. And we can play this instrument that we are and the gifts that we have been given with the skill of a virtuoso. 

This is not a time to curse the darkness, but to be grateful for what it gives. We’re being driven to stillness. And our actions are required to be conscious and deliberate. These are great skills to hone. 

We’ve spent years and some of us decades waiting for a hero or placing others above ourselves. Our ability to adore is tremendous. But to what end? And now we wait for the hero vaccine. 

In the meantime the clock ticks. And the most precious gifts are yet to be opened. 

I will never doubt the power of the human spirit to do good or to cause harm. 

It has and always will be our choice.

And what we choose absolutely contributes to the outcome of this moment. Clinging to the past is folly; blind faith is fruitless. If you’ve not yet discovered how powerful you are, it is time. 

A Fart in Church

Someone called and invited me to contribute to a political party. I explained that I couldn’t support either party, as they are “wings of the same bird” and that unless and until one or the other stopped putting profit before people and the earth, I wouldn’t be offering my support. The caller became a bit exasperated. And I thought of my mother who would have said my comments were a “fart in church”. 

People don’t enjoy being challenged to think. It’s easier to cling to belief than to take the leap of faith into knowing. It’s easier to pick winners and losers and to gamble whom the winner will be, then to take into account our mutual interconnectedness and the consequences of our action or inaction. 

We have yet to accept we are one people, one planet.  And what befalls one of us is destined to harm us all. 

Take the covid nightmare that morphed into the mask versus freedom nightmare and now is the vaccine versus the enemies of the people nightmare. It would have been much easier to stand united from the start in the best interest of all, but that would have been a fart in someone’s church. Instead our march of death continues and history will remember us as fools.

Two billion people are suffering shortages of water, with two thirds of the world’s population expected to face water crisis over the next four years. Our solution? We have begun trading water as a commodity on Wall Street. There is not a hint of compassion in this capitalist response. 

It’s the religion of greed and the gospel of prosperity, which we need to put to rest. Solutions will come more readily when kindness regains the helm. Until then don’t be afraid to cause a stink.  

Our Ability to Love

They say that even with a vaccine we must be willing to stay distanced and wear masks well into spring. To some this is a great sacrifice. They scream of freedom lost and stand firm in their disbelief. To those freedom fighters, everything is suspect including the surging numbers of sick and dying.

The hardest part is that it didn’t have to be. The pseudo warriors have already sacrificed something greater than freedom. They have forsaken our inherent gifts of clarity and compassion. 

But I can’t waste time talking about ignorance. I want to talk to talk to the warriors who have not forsaken love and compassion.  I want to say, “Do not give up.” 

It’s not lost on me that scriptures share the phrase, “Leave the dead to bury the dead.” And I do not think for a moment this refers to our loved ones who have succumbed to this horrid disease. But there are those who have chosen to walk with the death of spirit in their hearts, forsaking the living. And they are very willing to lead us into their living hell.

But I am telling you, “Do not go there”. Do not live in the despair that makes one abandon heart and clarity.  Do everything you can to stay alive.

And what does it mean to be alive? It is to wake every day to the realization that life is a gift, and that we are, in fact, a gift to life. We hold within us the strength and the courage to persevere.  We hold the clarity and the wisdom to right the most grievous wrongs.  We can ask for help and we can receive it.

We have the ability to love. And it is time we use it.

Never Ever Give Up

One would think with all that we face, the politics of division would run its course, but splintering continues and divide and conquer maneuvers are at an all time high. 

It’s as if we thoroughly enjoy seeing the human race fail. We don’t have to hate one another. We don’t have to fear one another. As far as I can tell our needs  – not our wants – are the same and we would get a lot further with just a bit more respect and a touch of compassion.

People are dying. People are missing their loved ones and people are wondering if they will have a roof over their heads as winter looms. Some are not sure if they can continue to feed their children. And as the covid numbers surge, some will not be able to receive the care they need regardless of the disease that stalks them. 

We are succumbing to addiction and domestic violence and for too many suicide is the final solution. We have opened the door to madness and it seems we are unwilling to try and close it again.

But through all of the ugliness and all of the loss I choose to believe we can turn this around. The tears that come so easily these days are reminders of a heart still capable of loving. The efforts to create and to discover new paths are a testament to the resilience that we all share.

Our foundation is being cracked and that is as it should be. It was a house of cards. The winds have come to tear it down and for those who are ready to see there will be new growth, new life and new ways.

Love one another through this horrible nightmare, and never, ever give up.

Only If You Let It

The fall colors have been exceptional this year. It’s as if Nature is trying every trick to make us pay attention to what is important, to why we are alive.

I live in a sea of color. I also live in a sea of Trump signs. Where I live the predominant thinking is that covid is at best a hoax or at worst a political tool. The state mandate to wear masks is routinely ignored as we watch the number of infected rise. 

The majority of people here speak loudly about their religion, but seldom of their humanity. They are quick to point out their fear of Sharia law, but ignore the fact that they are ushering in their own brand of control.

Yet the colors of autumn are extraordinary, breathtakingly so.  

With very little effort you can understand the cycles of life, the withering of age and the preciousness of each moment. Ironically, most of the leaves will be gone by November 3rd along with much of the political hype. Then winter will set in and the echo chambers of beliefs will continue to be passed in churches, at gas stations, in bars and on and on.

Winter holds it’s own unique embrace. The silence can caress your weariness and the beauty of the snow can wash away your pain. But only if you let it, and only if you notice.

There’s so much we have forgotten to notice. We have forgotten the power of love and our interconnectedness with it and with all life. We have forgotten how to honor relationship; we have forgotten how to dream.

We live in the time of the dying. But death is nothing more than the beginning of rebirth. And now the leaves are teaching us. Pay attention.

Inequitable Justice

When a president cannot condemn white supremacy we have arrived at a pivotal moment. When he attempts to whitewash our history by sidestepping the Doctrine of Discovery and governmental acts of racism, we must demand truth.  

When his Supreme Court pick proclaims to be a strict constructionist and pledges allegiance to Constitutional Law, many will find patriotism in her words. But the founding fathers were fallible. Their constructs were laced with racism and misogyny inevitably creating an inequitable system of justice.

When Trump uses the rallying cry of “law and order” we must recognize that the judicial system in this country has always favored property over humanity. It’s not a broken system. It’s a system working as it was designed to work. It protects wealth and maintains control over individuals of lessor means through unjust sentences, impossible fees and physical might.

Change will come when the majority of us understand that we cannot fix this system. It’s stacked against us. Instead we must continue to create new ways of restoring justice. We need to develop better means towards rehabilitation and reconciliation. We need to take the leap towards what has been called “beloved community”.  We need to seek out and conspire with others in this human effort. And we must be willing to let the old system die.

This is why activists proclaim, “Defund the police”. Defunding the police is only one piece of dismantling a corrupt system, which must undergo transformation, if we are to survive as a people.

The farce of an election will play out. Lobbyists and other power brokers wait in the wings to have their say. But it’s not too late; it will never be too late, for we the people to co-create a better day. 

It is time to end the division cultivated by racism. We are and have always been one people.

The poster of the movie, “Birth of a Nation” is public domain. The Birth of a Nation is a silent film from 1915. It is three hours of racist propaganda.