let kindness win

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

No More Excuses

The new covid relief bill is in the making and millions of dollars are being slated to go to the Pentagon in one form or another. The Republican measure includes billions for F-35 fighters, Apache helicopters, and even more to appease military lobbyists.

The manufacturing corporations who will benefit are in states where Republican Senators may need to “bring home the bacon” in order to win re-election in the fall. And while my friends on social media explain to me that this is how it’s always done, I’m stymied by how ignorant many on Capitol Hill remain on the plight of the majority of Untied States citizens. And more importantly I am shocked that far too many of us are not speaking up to remind them.

In August, the federal eviction moratorium is set to expire. There is no moratorium relief offered in this newly proposed bill. By October, it is estimated that some nineteen to twenty three million – renter households could be in jeopardy of eviction – and yet the Republican HEAL act, as it is known, is flagrantly ignoring this potential upheaval of human lives.

There are those on the Hill who are still fighting the good fight. Senator Sanders is among them, but unless and until the majority of citizens join in the cries for economic and racial justice, greed will continue to lead the pack. It’s time for more people to come to the aid of the few who have never given up on what this country can truly be.

An election in November will not save us if the trajectory of division and greed prevail. A united voice of the citizenry that demands compassion and kindness over militaristic power must emerge.

For that to happen, sitting on the sidelines can no longer be an option.

PHOTO BY NANCY WONG compliments of wikipedia commons.

PROTESTORS LOCK ARMS IN FRONT OF THE INTERNATIONAL HOTEL TO PREVENT OFFICERS OF THE SAN FRANCISCO SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT FROM EVICTING THE HOTEL’S TENANTS IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS AUGUST 1977.

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.

Compassion Demands It

Circumstances have a way of teaching us who we are. Earlier this week ten chicks were hatched and the mother seemed stellar. But overnight she had pecked one of the chicks and it was nearly dead. I took it in and gave it water, warmed it and watched it revive. Two days went by, the chick strengthened and I thought, “let’s try”. Mom and babes were on a walk-about and I let the chick join in. All seemed fine, so I left for a short time. When I returned, there was the chick, pecked and disheveled in the dirt. I picked it up and this time it was much worse.

I couldn’t wrap my head around why. Sure, she may have sensed something about this chick that I could not see, but regardless of the why, the hen was being true to her nature…and so was I.

Compassion is a brilliant part of being human. It enlivens our heart and keeps us present to life.

Defund the policeversus keep the police just as they are, is the hot debate of the day. And if you follow the logic that says human nature is bad, then you are probably all in for militarized police.

But humanity is not single sided and if there is bad in us, there is also good. We have tried punitive measures. They have not worked. They have been used to harm people and surely they have brought harm to the men and women who wear the badge. What is being asked of us is to consider new approaches that could bring better results for everyone.

It may not be a smooth transition to restorative justice and community policing, but it is the path before us. Wisdom would say we should try. Compassion demands it.

Thanks to WDRT 91.9 Driftless Community Radio for continuing to air “Consider This” every Thursday 5:30 pm CD.T

Dear Graduate

Dear Graduate,

You are alive. You live in a most exciting time. You live at a crossroads in humanity and choices are very clear. You can continue to plug away at the dying systems you see floundering around you or you can reimagine and recreate something new and better for yourself and those who come after you.

To do this you must take stock of your strengths and your passions. You are alive. You hold within you great seeds of possibility that are yours and yours alone. There has never been another you. Cherish that. Honor the seed of your becoming and let it grow. Nourish it with kindness and respect. Allow wonder and remain a student of Life, regardless of what comes.

Give of yourself. Volunteer. Plant a tree. Tend a garden. There is so much awaiting your loving touch.

And allow your cup to be filled. Accept kindness. It comes from strength not weakness. Hone your gifts of humility, hope and courage. They will remain your steadfast friends throughout your life.

Do not curse your time, nor accept curses of others. You have potentials that have yet to be tapped waiting for you. Carry on.

And to those who fear for them: your fears are your own to unwind and discard. Do not pass the baton of fear. Systems crumble but from their ashes the phoenix rise. Do not doubt that something better can emerge from this unsettling time. It is never too late to reconcile errors of the past and make way for a better tomorrow. Forgive yourself for doing what you were told instead of discovering what was meant for you. In the time that remains you, find peace.

Menu